We all have those language moments.
You know, when you say something that you didn't mean because you changed a letter or so.
Like when I tried in Estonian to say "closed street" and said "mitten street" instead.
Or when I tried to say to an elderly Israeli woman during her visa interview that "I thought" something. Turns out, transposing the syllables changes "I thought" to "I f*cked."
Oops.
So I did that again today. I was trying to say "It is time to begin class."
I didn't use the right verb for "to begin" anyway...it is an issue my classmate and I both have...there are two verbs commonly used for "to begin" or "to start," hakkima and alustada, and I inevitably use the wrong one.
But today, I not only used the wrong word, but I changed the word by ONE LETTER.
So instead of it being time to begin class, it was time to, uh, poop, in class.
Nope, not what I meant to say. Not even on my bad days.
Ah, language.
In college Russian class years ago, my dashing young male professor was teaching us how to form imperatives. We were practicing by telling him to give us things. I meant to say "(give me) деньги" (money) but I definitely said "(give me) дети" (children).
ReplyDeleteLet's see, in the last 2 weeks I have lamented the presence of condoms in processed food, and offered the ambassador a very special cheese made from the milk of an ass. Language learning is, um, special.
ReplyDeleteThanks y'all! That makes me feel better!
ReplyDeleteI have a bad habit of talking about the "armed bacons" instead of the "armed forces."
ReplyDeleteHow about the word for "bored" in Turkish becomes "I'm f*cked" if you changing the pronunciation ever so slightly (a long "i" to a shorter "i")
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, I am never bored in Turkish!
Shoot ... I make these mistakes all the time in ENGLISH.
ReplyDelete