Gift:

From the Old English “asgift,” meaning, “payment for a wife” in the singular and meaning “wedding” in the plural. The Middle Dutch “gift,” now written as “gif,” meant the same, but today means “poison.” The Old High German “gift” also became “poison.” From the root “geb-”, from which in English we get “give.” There is another German word, however, which incorporates the word “gift”, but which retains the older meaning of “payment for a wife”. The word is “Mitgift”, which is the modern German word for “dowry”.

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gift (g ft)
n.
1. Something that is bestowed voluntarily and without compensation.
2. The act, right, or power of giving.
3. A talent, endowment, aptitude, or inclination.
tr.v. gift·ed, gift·ing, gifts
1. To present something as a gift to.
2. To endow with.

[Middle English, from Old Norse; see ghabh- in Indo-European roots.]

I used the term ‘gifting life’ in a somewhat facetious sense when relating it to humans at the moment of their primal ecstacy, having little thought to the consequences for the most part for themselves and society in general. It’s said the first and the last child are generally a mistake with those in between planned, although that’s up for debate too when dealing with welfare mothers with eight plus children spanning from age 14 to their late thirties. Ah…the cost of maintaining a ‘civilized’ society…no? / : |

Carl Nemo **==

My point was entirely about the debate surrounding “when life begins” as a biological, not spiritual, function. “Intent to reproduce” is not the controlling issue regarding the newly created human being; it is only the fact that procreation has happened at all that makes the question meaningful with regard to terminating that life. Logically speaking, life must have existed prior to the “coupling”… ergo, if the debate about the ending that life via abortion is a legal question that hinges on “when life begins”, it must in fact be answered – at the moment of impregnation.

Under natural law, the upshot of such termination would be murder; under societal law, it’s who has the best politics. We know the current answer to that one.

On a related front, perhaps you can help me out with something I’ve been puzzling over for some time now: I thought “gift” was a noun and “give” was the verb. How did gift squirm its way into verbhood?

It would probably work if both parties had the intellect and self control of “Spock”…no?

Carl Nemo **==

Sex ain’t really the Big Bang.

Carl Nemo **==

Exactly when and where life begins is highly debateable. Some say life only really begins when you retire.

J.

Here’s a link with a time table from initial fertilization to the full development of a child in utero.
http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/fetaldevelopment.html

Masturbation into a ‘sock’ is simply an act of sexual self-titillation with no possibility of another being coming from the process. So it’s like comparing oranges to less than apples. / : |

I’m not pro life due to the burgeoning overpopulation of planet earth. If societies don’t make an effort get haphazard procreation under some type of serious control then the citizens of earth will literally eat themselves out of their home, the earth. Currently the planetary population is around 7 billion with 10.5 billion projected by 2050, possibly sooner. Inflation alone will result in the price of commodities to skyrocket which will foment civil wars and unrest across the globe. The end result will be mighty resource wars competing for the last easily exploitable resources, an ugly scenario indeed.

Carl Nemo **==

J.