![]() ![]() That's why Madonna rhymed "It's like a little prayer" with "I want to take you there." It's why William Wordsworth in 1829 could write the couplet, "Along a scale of light and life, with cares / Alternate carrying holy thoughts and prayers." Just check a dictionary to confirm this: The established pronunciation of prayer (and prayers) has one syllable - if there's a two-syllable version listed, it's an alternate. Prayers is one syllable (unless you mean "people who pray"). But for those who first used the phrase, and for most people who use it now, it's dah-dum- dah, full stop. If it were ' prayers and thoughts' it would be dah-dum-dum- dah." This would be a reasonable argument if it were true. " Thoughts and prayers," they say: " dah-dum dah-dum - the 'and' mimics to the '-ers' in prayers. Some people make the case on the basis of rhythm. But it must have gotten that way for a reason! It's just the way it is - and has been for more than two centuries. Saying it in the other order is about as comfortable as lacing your fingers together with the wrong hand on top. It's become a common collocation, like peanut butter and jelly (who has jelly and peanut butter?) or in and out (you rarely see out and in). Why indeed? If you look in Google Books, you will find that the ratio of thoughts and prayers to prayers and thoughts has been at least 10 to one since before the year 1800. The question no one seems to ask - except, one time on Twitter, by Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post - is why it's not "prayers and thoughts." ![]() (You don't succeed.) But let's set all that aside for now. ![]() Screenwriter John Brownlow calls it "the verbal equivalent of tossing a panhandler the smallest coin in your pocket." There's a website, " Thoughts and Prayers: The Game," that invites you to try to stop mass shootings using thoughts and prayers. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said Monday - or even sometimes a smoke screen for having been part of the cause. Many people see it as a substitute for real action - "thoughts and prayers are simply not enough," Sen. It's the stock phrase of tragedies, like "condolences" for a death, "congratulations" for a wedding, and either one (depending) for a divorce.Īs common as it is, not everyone likes the phrase. ![]()
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