Many Years Ago when I began my business career, I worked in the oil industry. I soon learned that when someone in that industry referred to his or her employer, it was customary to shorten the company name to one word. One might say, "I work for the Gulf" or "for the Shell" instead of the Gulf Oil Company or the Shell Oil Company. At that time there were several prominent oil companies with names usually identified with moral qualities—companies such as Humble Oil, Pure Oil, Placid Oil. Their employees would identify their employer as "the Placid" or "the Pure."
When oil was first discovered in east Texas, oil wells were being drilled extensively. Landowners were excited over the prospect that oil might be discovered under their property. One Sunday at a local church, a minister was extolling the virtues of moral qualities, and said in his prayer, "O Lord, remember the pure and the humble." At that point a man in the congregation interrupted by shouting, "And don't forget the Shell. They have a lease on my property!"
Clearly, to the minister the words pure and humble meant something decidedly different from the interpretation the landowner placed on them. Often that's the case with words employed in everyday usage. I once told a newspaper reporter that Christian Science teaches that we are not actually material, as we appear to be. She was confused, because to her the word material meant the substance used to make clothing.
