Does anyone else have TBM family members that frequently use Mormon lingo in everyday conversation? A group of neighbors were outside talking last night and a Mormon woman brought up "secret combinations". A non-Mormon woman stopped the conversation to ask what she was talking about. It was priceless to see the blank stare on this woman's face as she realized that this was a term coined by horny Joe and it was a term that didn't mean anything to non-mormons.

More people in this world know about the "secret combinations" of the unadvertised, off the record, menu at Inn and Out Burger than people know about mormon mythology. And, that's a good thing.

All sorts of subcultures use in-house lingo, be they Mormons, cops, physicists, Scientologists, or fast food workers. No big deal. The interesting, and sometimes fun, thing is when you know their "private language" and can use it against them.

I was outside the local "church" of Scientology some decades ago emptying a blue mail box (in my spiffy USPS uniform) when two guys got out of their cars and started fighting--a case of road rage. A few people sort of intervened and broke it up. They returned to their cars and drove off, exchanging hostile words. But it just so happened a few Scientology "Sea Org" folks (VERY high up), in their silly pseudo-maritime uniforms, happened to be walking by just then.

"Wow!" I said very audibly. "Looks like somebody's redactive mind got out of control there!" My use of their nomenclature sure caught their attention, and we talked a minute or two--I knew that cult better back then.

"Do you know Dientics?" one asked.

"Everything I need to know," I said. Then, I started picking imaginary lint off the guy's sleeve, and he looked at me funny. "You've got some body engrams there," I said. "You really need to do something about that."

I bade him good-bye, pulled the cord on the mail sack shut and got in my truck. The bunch of them stood there, sackjawed.

Everything is now a paraphrase from long ago, but that really happened. I still laugh to myself over it.

celestial kingdom, garments, ward, stake, primary

Yeah. The phrase "secret combinations" gives scriptural justification to MORmONS that believe in all sorts of crackpot conspiracy theories.