Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Hebrew Gains Something In Transliteration

When my daughter was around 6 years old, she was in the car singing something along the lines of:
"Bringing lots of nachas--Kibbud Av V'Em (honoring your father and mother)"
Not knowing when to leave well enough alone, I asked her what "nachas" meant.

It means "pleasure"
My daughter responded that it meant 'snake' (which is nachash in Hebrew)

Good to straighten these things out--I wouldn't want her bringing a dead snake to the doorstep, thinking it would give me pleasure (already had a cat that did that with dead birds).

Today, my daughter (age 12) and I are in the car. I was talking to her about medications and the placebo effect. Along the way, I used the word bias.

I don't know why, but I asked her what "bias" meant.

Without hesitation, she answered:
House (in Hebrew, 'house' is bayis)
Someday, I will learn to stop asking questions and just enjoy our conversations...

(As someone just pointed out to me--that would add a whole new meaning to the phrase "Shalom Bayis")

Technorati Tag: .

1 comment:

Michael said...

This wouldn't happen if you taught your daughter sefaradit pronunciation. :-)