Weird words
on November 3, 2006
in weird words
1. The word evangelist comes from the Koine Greek word “euangelion” via Latin “Evangelium”, as used in the canonic titles of the four Gospels, and thus The Evangelists are the authors of the four Gospels – traditionally known as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (also known as the Four Evangelists).
2. The term is also used in a non-religious sense to describe an individual who takes up a cause and convinces others to it. Guy Kawasaki, an author and venture capitalist, describes Evangelists as individuals who promote a particular product. At Apple Computer, he was part of a team of Apple evangelists that convinced programmers to develop software on the Macintosh Platform. In “The Human Fabric”, Bijoy Goswami describes the “Evangelist” as one of three core energies in people and society.
More often than once in a while such missionaries cross teachers’ paths too. Those are EFL evangelists, employed by major publishing houses (with deep pockets). Without their efforts any new coursebook would most likely be a flop, and sales of titles already on offer would dwindle faster then ever. Before the moment you get an invitation to a workshop in your mail, they will have packed their equipment, fresh teaching ideas, gadgets, and tons of freebies, to follow yet another itinerary across the country to promote a revamped edition of a ‘hugely successful X series’. 100% new!
