babelfish

Panta Pei,

Just wanted to let you know my heart is hurting for you (if I was religious I'd be saying a little prayer for you right now).

When we get together, my MIL always has us say grace and thank God for our food. She has people take turns. When it's my turn I'm always tempted to thank the farmers for growing the food, the grocery store for selling the food, my husband for working for the money to buy the food, and my MIL for cooking the food for us, Amen.

Haven't actually had the guts to do this, yet...

BigJim

So what do you say Bablefish?

"Good food, good meat, good God, let's eat!"

"Over teeth, over gums, lookout guts, here it comes, Amen"

The Other Michael

Hi Babelfish,

I'm pretty sure that Ingersoll had something similar to that, but I sure couldn't find it. Perhaps someone else knows a ref to it.

cheers,
Michael

babelfish

It is very difficult for me to admit this, but this is what I ALWAYS say:

"Bless us oh lord and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through christ our lord amen."

It's what I was taught to say as a child.

babelfish

Hi there Michael!

And here I thought I was being so original. Oh well....great minds etc., eh?

FreeToThink

WOW! I am still a closet atheist, and I get away with a mumbled "dear god thank for this food in your name amen". And yes, I say it without any punctuation or emphasis just liek its written

bonduca

You could always ask everyone to join hands and then belt out a verse of something like "Good Golly Miss Molly." You get some interesting reactions.

Godless Dave

"We thank Mother Earth for providing us with life."

Ray K

You know, my wife occasionally did that in our more vocal disagreements, and it was completely unfair.

I got tired of it and told her that I was not going to stay married to someone who used our marriage as an arguing tool. If she was that unhappy, then she should leave.

I think she realized that she was way out of line, especially since she really DIDN'T want a divorce. Not only did she not ever threaten divorce again, she was a hell of a lot more "nicer" to me in general.

The ultimatum worked for me, but your mileage may vary. Use with extreme caution.

I ate Pascal's Wafer

Babelfish, on the rare occasion that I have to pray vocally that's the prayer I use as well. I'm a closet Atheist around my family, so when they ask me to say the blessing that would be it.

Otherwise, usually someone else says the blessing and I just bow my head, look at the food, and decide what I'm going to eat first.

Around my house it's a nonissue since nobody prays before meals.

-Nick