Today’s words are a quote from Mohandas Ghandi. Often referred to as mahatma which is not a name but a epithet meaning “great soul.”

I find that we are all such sinners that it is better to leave the judging to God.

~ Mohandas Ghandi

I wasn’t able to confirm the context of this quote. But if we rely on the movie, the quote was intended to remind his fellow leaders that they were fighting for independence not to punish the British.

I stumbled across today’s word in Wikipedia. It is used in the entry for Madame Bovary, a scandalous 19th century novel by Gustave Flaubert. ( I was looking up Madame Bovary because the book was featured prominently in last night’s Desperate House Wives).

The word is exegesis. It is a noun that means an “extensive and critical interpretation of any text, or especially of a holy scripture. An exegete is a person skilled in the science of interpretation.”

In Wikipedia’s Madame Bovary entry exegesis is the title of section that examines the scandal the novel caused and and some of the techniques Flaubert employed. In my opinion the 171 word section isn’t extensive enough to be an exegesis. But that is the nice thing about Wikipedia this entry can grow and be improved.

Actually I first learned this word from Stephen Jay Gould- one of my favorite writers. I am sorry I can’t recall which book or article it was in. But if you read his work, you will come across exegesis frequently. And he most certainly uses it correctly.

I got a few questions about a word I used in yesterday’s Today’s Podcast. Maybe I should refer to Today’s Podcast as just TP or maybe something else?

Anyway I used a word yesterday that raised a few questions. The word was provenance. It is a noun meaning place of origin or where something came from. It can also have the connotation of authenticity such as the quote I used yesterday. Where did that quote really come from?

If you were listening to today’s podcast hoping to learn the provenance of podcasting. Long story short, Adam and Dave did it.

If you want a little more detail you can visit Wikipedia’s entry on podcasting and learn all about the beginning of podcasting.

Today’s quote might be a chinese proverb. I spent a few minutes looking for its provenance and found conflicting reports. Maybe its chinese, maybe its native american. Who knows? I bet most cultures have some proverb like this one.

Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.

I have tried to explain podcasts to many people but only a few have understood. Sometimes when I show them ipodderx and itunes they start to get it. But I think until a person subscribes to a podcast and then listens to it away from their computer I don’t think they understand it.

So get a friend to download an ipodder and subscribe today so they can get it.

Or better yet get them to start their own podcast. Chris Brown are you listening? How about doing a weekly show together? 30 minute show tops.