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Originally Posted by Recovering
I have wondered this same thing. My guess is that Witness Lee could neither hear nor pronounce a distinction between 'foment' and 'ferment', and either the editors didn't pick up on it, thought it was deliberate, or were too timid to correct him. I agree that was not his particular form of subtlety or cleverness.
I found a copy on my ministry shelf a year or so ago and threw it away along with a number of other LSM books, but now I wish I hadn't.
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I heard Lee at least once (in a conference or training) “complain” about John Ingalls, in John’s presence. Lee mockingly repeated John’s words “that’s not good English”. The exchange was funny, and was meant to be funny. I have no doubt that John did correct Lee’s written English. When “The Fermentation” was written, John was obviously gone, and Lee’s editors didn’t correct his “bad English.”
Another thing to consider is that Lee may not have chosen the word “Fermentation”. Lee wasn’t a writer. He was a speaker. Volunteers would edit the transcripts of his spoken messages, or dictated transcripts, etc. Regardless, “fermentation” is correct, but “fomentation” is “better English”
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Nell