As crowds watched the plumes of white smoke that announced the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, some were moved to ask themselves if the signal wasn't in fact the 'holy smoke' of popular terminology.
Though the wispy beacon arising from the Sistine Chapel was both holy and smoke, this ancient mode of announcing a new pope isn't the source of the idiom. The Oxford English Dictionary records the earliest print sighting of "holy smoke" as found in "The Epiphany," a 1627 poem by Sir J. Beaumont: "Who lift to God for vs the holy smoke Of feruent pray'rs." ("Who lift to God for us the holy smoke Of fervent prayers," for those better accustomed to more modern spelling.)
Holy Smokes, I Need A Day Off!!!
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In that 1627 work, the phrase is used as a picturesque way of describing the burning of incense. It is not until 1892, however, that it is recorded as finding employment as an exclamation or mild expletive; that is, as a saying wholly divorced of anything literally to do with something being burned or the smoke it would give off. In that year, Rudyard Kipling and his American agent Charles Balestier used it as an independent vehemence in "The Naulahka:" "By the holy smoke, some one has got to urge girls to stand by the old machine." From that point forward, "holy smoke" began appearing in the literature of the day as a generic exclamation.
The divergence theory is supported by the number of other "holy" exclamations in existence, such as "holy Moses" and "holy cow." These sayings are not inserted into conversation for their literal meanings, but as ways of punctuating surrounding statements or situations in general (e.g., "Holy Moses! Did you see the look she gave me?"; "Holy cow, I'm going to be late!") Looking beyond just the exclamations and examining the broader scope of two-part "holy" terms, one quickly sees that a great many use as their completers words that have a strong "O" presence: "holy joe," "holy moley," "holy Toledo," "holy horror," and "holy roller," as well as the previously-mentioned "holy Moses" and "holy cow." "Holy smoke" fits this alliterativeness, this joy-filled pursuit of the rolling "O."
Now, it's possible that I'm misreading this, and that I need to divide by the larger, more recent number (1,529,224). If so, that would make the payment rate "only" 87.8%...which is exactly what I've been using as a rule of thumb for nearly a year now. However, even if that's the case, that would still be a substantial improvement for California specifically, which only hit a disappointing 81.7% last year.
Guests can head to holysmokeschs.com to grab a ticket to a barbecue experience to remember, but they need to move fast as there are just a small number of General Admission tickets remaining.
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This illustrates perfectly the point to which we have come in our society. Certainly there are decisions that must be made quickly, but they are few and far between. Most decisions now fall into the category of instant gratification. This has reduced our capacity to slow down and be deliberate. What does this have to do with smoke? As I sit and contemplate in my garage, the smoke that issues forth from my pipe is exactly the slowing down that I need. This is the state of mind that allows one to concentrate on something of importance. As my smoke rises higher, so do my thoughts and prayers, ever so gently riding the currents of air until they have disappeared in the heavens. 2ff7e9595c
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