The Wonderful World Of Gaffa

[NelsonII@aol.com]

Hi all.  I've been following the recent thoughts/theories regarding what
Gaffa "really means."  Being someone who likes to get to the bottom of things
(but never really does), I posted the question to a group of friends at a
place called Rick's.  Here's what I got (it's a bit long, but funny):

.Ah, Ron smacks my buttons with his first post.  Unfortunately he quotes:
.> > I thought that I once found the term Gaffa in some kaballistic 
.> > text as one of the 10 positions on the Tree of Life.
.
.ERNT!  Thanks you for playing, random Usenet user!
.
.Ron hisownself asks:
.> Can anyone confirm/deny that tidbit of knowledge?
.
.The day we at Rick's can't handle a simple question on Qabbalism
.(everyone has their favourite spelling of the word, this is mine) is a
.day I don't want to know about it.  So now, with a tip o' the hat to
.the Gap-Toothed Wonder, I present:
.
.TOP TEN SEPHIROTH (POSITIONS ON THE TREE OF LIFE) OR UNIX COMMANDS
.
.10. MLKWTh
. 9. YSWD
. 8. HWD
. 7. NTsCh
. 6. ThPARTh
. 5. GBWR
. 4. ChSD
. 3. BYNH
. 2. ChKMH
.
.[drum roll please!]
.
. 1. KThR!
.
.(Note how this ties in with what Eco said about computing and religion).
.
.Since this is Hebrew we're talking, vowels are not included in the
.starter set.  Either buy the Vowel Points Expander Set or make up your
.own at home!  It's fun, Jews have been enjoying it for centuries, and
.the chance of drawing the Q(e)lippoth's attention by doing so are
.almost negligible. 
.
.Note, though, that number five is most likely the Sephirah the RUW was
.thinking of (I say this because it's the only one with a gimmel).  My 
.friends may remeber seeing it written on my cast once in order to
.speed the healing process. 
.
.> "Why in the hell are you asking about gaffa?" you ask.  Well, the Krazy
Kate
.> Bush fans on rec.music.gaffa are trying to pin down (yet again) what Kate
.> meant by her song "Suspended In Gaffa".  [ Look!  I've managed to bring up
.> Kate in a bar at Casablanca!  Talk about "dedication."  ;-) ]
.
.Obviously the referent is the city of Jaffa in the Holy Land.  The
.song must be a plaintive attempt to draw the world's attention to the
.plight of the Palestainians in the area.  Either that or about having
.one's invalid passport revoked when travelling.
.
.ShLWM ALYCHM!
.
.DNYEL

And another...

.Are you sure of the spelling? "Gaffer tape" is what we here in Aus (and
.presumably folks in Britain, from where Kate hails) call the stuff
.commonly referred to by Americans as "duct tape".
.
.It's called gaffer tape because gaffers (riggers, stagehands, etc) use
.it in all multitude of ways to hold together bits of stage equipment
.(including gaffs, or booms).
.
.I don't think I've heard "Suspended in Gaffa/Gaffer" but I would guess it
.might be some sort of comment on the life of a performing artist -
."suspended in gaffer" being a metaphor along the lines of "tied to the
stage.

That's all for now, folks.

Signing off,

-Ron
 nelsonii@aol.com