the context: This morning I was reading a review of Missy Elliot’s album in the Boston Herald and was amused at the fact that the reviewer said her song ‘Toyz’ is about “erm, onanism”.

the matter at hand (uuhhh): Which led me to think of the root of that word — Onan … who was a son of Judah in the Bible. And I had to look it up, of course, to see what the Bible says (Genesis 38:9) about his, erm, self-love. What did he do, I asked myself, that made his name so … meaningful?

the link: And I found this about Onan in NotTheBible. Absolutely illuminating.

And Timmy’s story is just heart-rending. Please read it. Caution your friends, I pray.