Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <cctr114 AT it.canterbury.ac.nz>]

Joe Baker wrote:-

>It seems to me that "N'ARIM", in most of its uses, can be translated by
>English "lads". As both terms can be applied to a wide age group and carry
>similar connotations of behaviour.
>
>Terms like, "he's a bit of a lad", "the're a bunch of likely lads" and "put
>your backs into lads" describe louts, larrikans, conscripts, etc. Young men
>with nothing, or nothing to do and plenty of energy, banding/bonding
>together to establish an identity. Undisciplined and unruly gangs to
>outsiders, but within, keeping set rules of mateship. Sharing adventures in
>daring, love and war - boy's own stuff, etc.

This use of "lad" strikes me as being a local colloquialism. The only
place I ever hear the word is from an elderly Irish man who simply
uses it to mean "boy", no derogatory implications in his use of the
word.

Bill Rea, Information Technology Dept., Canterbury  University  \_ 
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