Lift up your split peas, too

I'll blame it on sleep deprivation: I was up past midnight getting ready for my morning class. When the lector at noon Mass said, "Lift up your lentils, O ye gates," I was flummoxed. Immediately the vowels started trying to rearrange themselves in my foggy brain. What's that word? Not mantel. Another thing that goes on top of the other thing that ends in -tel. Lintel! Lift up your lintels!

Unfortunately I missed half of the psalm trying to figure that one out. (It was a short psalm, but still.) A few years ago I wrote a passionate post about not dumbing down the language of the liturgy. Clearly, I was overestimating myself at the time.