gengwall

…but, I also believe that the presumption of head=authority has just as much to do with our dependence on or preferred treatment of English understandings of words. Mark is right if we only consider how “head of” is used in English. “Head of state”, “head of the company”, “head of the platoon”, “head coach”, even “head of the household” all conjure up authoritarian images to a person thinking in English terms. The problem is that “head of” in English contains no “body” counterpart as Paul uses the metaphor. Simply put, the English language and Paul are talking about completely different things when “head of” is used. It is our preference for English meanings that causes a presumption of authority and then we ignore the fact that authority is never even on the radar when Paul uses “head of”.