When the dental assistant was getting ready to inject me with a dose of lidocaine yesterday she warned me that I would “feel a little pinch.”
Other medical practitioners have used the same expression on me in the past, and I have always wondered why they used that particular phrase. After all, a pinch consists of squeezing skin together and an injection punctures the skin—very different.
Then it occurred to me they might be trying to avoid saying “prick” because of its anatomical meaning. Suddenly “a little pinch in your mouth” became more understandable.
They could say “sting,” but nobody likes to get stung. It sounds unpleasant even if qualified by “little.”
A pinch of saffron can make a dish delightful. Hot food fanciers may like their peppers to sting, though most people wouldn’t use that expression.
“Pinch” can have other positive associations. In the days before makeup was considered quite respectable, young ladies would pinch their cheeks to give them a rosy glow.
Men pinching women’s bottoms used to be considered a jolly gesture and was frequently joked about, though now it’s quite rightly seen as sexual assault. Children can’t sue grandmothers who pinch their cheeks, though they might like to.
"Poke”? Too soft, nothing like a prick.
So there we are—pinched.
Looking for a respectable source for the headline on this post, I found this on the pious Got Questions Website:
Question: What does it mean to kick against the pricks?
Answer: “It is hard for you to kick against the pricks” was a Greek proverb, but it was also familiar to the Jews and anyone who made a living in agriculture. An ox goad was a stick with a pointed piece of iron on its tip used to prod the oxen when plowing. The farmer would prick the animal to steer it in the right direction. Sometimes the animal would rebel by kicking out at the prick, and this would result in the prick being driven even further into its flesh. In essence, the more an ox rebelled, the more it suffered. Thus, Jesus’ words to Saul on the road to Damascus: “It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.”
Of the better-known Bible translations, the actual phrase “kick against the pricks” is found only in the King James Version. It is mentioned only twice, in Acts 9:5 and Acts 26:14. The apostle Paul (then known as Saul) was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians when he had a blinding encounter with Jesus. Luke records the event: “And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 26:14 KJV). Modern translations have changed the word pricks to goads. All translations except the KJV and NKJV, omit the phrase altogether from Acts 9:5.
The conversion of Saul is quite significant as it was the turning point in his life. Paul later wrote nearly half of the books of the New Testament.
Jesus took control of Paul and let him know his rebellion against God was a losing battle. Paul’s actions were as senseless as an ox kicking “against the goads.” Paul had passion and sincerity in his fight against Christianity, but he was not heading in the direction God wanted him to go. Jesus was going to goad (“direct” or “steer”) Paul in the right direction.
There is a powerful lesson in the ancient Greek proverb. We, too, find it hard to kick against the goads. Solomon wrote, “Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path” (Proverbs 15:10). When we choose to disobey God, we become like the rebellious ox—driving the goad deeper and deeper. “The way of the unfaithful is hard” (Proverbs 13:15). How much better to heed God’s voice, to listen to the pangs of conscience! By resisting God’s authority we are only punishing ourselves.
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