Of Things Peculiar

I knew quite a lot about Mormon culture and Mormon history prior to my conversion.  When Mormons refer to themselves (with some degree of pride) as a "peculiar people", I understand a good deal of what that means.  And I like it.  Most non-members think the emphasis on genealogical research is pretty strange, but it makes perfect sense in the light of Mormon beliefs about the afterlife.  So that wasn't something that ever made me scratch my head.  But I must admit that there are a few other "peculiarities" that still occasionally cause me to wonder what I've gotten myself into.  So in the name of good, clean fun, here they are in all their peculiar glory:

Food storage.  I haven't actually gotten much of this in my ward yet.  We did have a lesson about how to put together a "72-hour kit" for emergency situations, but I know that doesn't really count.  Non-members understand the wisdom of having medical supplies, food, water, and fuel on hand for emergencies.  But having a one year supply of surplus food stored in your basement really is strange no matter how you cut it, and even stranger if you let it slip that it's sort of a religious obligation to have it on hand.

Jesus was born on April 6.  I had never heard of this AT ALL until Elder Bednar alluded to it at the last General Conference.  I chided the missionaries for never filling me in on this.  They acted like it was on par with not drinking coffee, i.e., something that everyone outside the Church just knows about Mormons.  "It's right there in section 20!" they told me.  So I checked out section 20, which I had read several times before, so how could I have missed it?  And, lo and behold, there it is, plain as day -- if you squint your eyes and blink a few times.

The Sunday "dress code."  I'm not talking about dressing up for church.  That's not peculiar.  What's peculiar to me is that the old guys (high priests) wear full-on suits and the younger dudes (EQ and Aaronic priesthood) wear white shirts and ties (no jackets).  It could have put me in a quandary fashion-wise because I'm an old guy but still in the lesser priesthood.  But I hate wearing white shirts.

Thee, thou, thy, etc.  I still have trouble with these archaic pronouns when I say prayers in meetings.  I have no objection to them in principle, but I just forget to use them.  Once I've mastered them, I will move on to stuff like "insomuch as" and "wresting." 

"Even."  Another linguistic quirk -- the word "even" is occasionally used to preface a redundancy, as in, "Our Lord and Savior, EVEN Jesus Christ."  Whenever I hear this, it makes me smile. 

I'm sure I'll be adding to this list later as other things occur to me.  What are YOUR favorites?