'Mother' should not be used to describe a bomb, Pope says

[Igel]

7. The "mother church"

has a bit of blood on its hands, as well.

Sometimes il papa strikes me as a bit addlepated. (Okay, that's a bit of an understatement. And so's that.)


However, "mother of all ____" was popularized in part by Saddam Hussein ("mother of all battles&quot , but it wasn't new with him. Muhammed termed liquor or alcohol the "mother of every evil". The phrase is pretty much passe in English, the moment is past (but documents documenting the expression are timeless when necessary).

I guess the Pope thinks the prophet Muhammed was shameful in his speech. Calling the Qur'aan shameful, and so soon after restoring ties with al-Azhar, tsk-tsk. (Or perhaps he thinks it's properly el azar "chance"?)

Then again, I'm sure everybody will now reserve the word "mother" (or it's Southern-pronunciation/spelling "mutha&quot as a term of respect for those who give live. Meaning we can finally ban that wretched Beegees song, with it's "whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother" line.