The phrase “Dilly, Dilly” has become quite popular due to its commercial use.
I’ve even had a couple of our members who are trying their best to get me to use the phrase in a sermon. They have been without success thus far.
But I heard something on the radio this morning, and I had to check it out for myself. It turns out the Texas Rangers baseball team is adding a new item to their concessions menu this year. It is called the “Dilly Dog.”
The Dilly Dog is a dill pickle which has been cored and stuffed with a wiener (hot dog, if you don’t get wiener). It is then breaded and fried like a corn dog. Which raises the question, if you go to a Rangers game and ask for a “Dilly Dilly” are you actually ordering two Dilly Dogs?
All of this silliness to make a point about the meaning of words. What does “dilly” mean? Webster says it has an old meaning of “diligence”, with a more current meaning of “delightful.” The folks who wrote the commercial said they were using it in the sense of “cheers.”
A more frequent answer to its meaning seems to be, “it means whatever you want it to mean.” That is actually true with many of our words. They are defined according to popular usage. So words are constantly changing meanings depending on how we use the words. For example, how would you define these words: mouse, bat, ball, base, etc.?
But when God writes a book, the Bible, we need to be careful to learn the meaning He intended for the words He used. God did not write a book that means whatever you want it to mean. He wrote a book to reveal Himself and His will for us. We need to make sure we handle the words in it with great care.