When ideas fail, words come in very handy (Goethe)

  All languages make up new words as they go along. Sometimes it happens because our life style changes and we suddenly need new words. Brunch was invented because we weren’t hungry enough at breakfast but couldn’t wait till lunch. So we blended the two words. Linguistics call this process blending. Motel is also a blended word (motor+hotel). We bet blog (web+log) immediately came into your mind, didn’t it?  

When we are not blending, we sometimes combine two words together. It’s called compounding. There is almost no limit to the kinds of combinations of words that occur in English: boyfriend, rainbow, landlord; newborn, undergo and sailboat are only few examples. At times of greediness we even make up three compound words, such as mother-in-law (god bless her) and sergeant-at-arms.  

Shortage of time leads to shortcuts, a process known as clipping. We say gym instead of the longer gymnastics; gas instead of gasoline; bike (bicycles), pop (popular) and math is short for mathematics. 

Acronyms can be viewed as other type of shortcuts. They are words which derive from the initials of several words put together to create a new word. Radar (Radio detecting and ranging); Laser (Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation); OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). 

How does the term “onomatopoeic words” sound to you? Too long? Hard to pronounce? Quite right! (let’s clip that one…) Anyway, it means words that imitate the sound of their meaning: cuckoo( Hebrew: Kukeeya – קוקיה ), bottle (Hebrew: Bukbook- בקבוק), boom, whisper (French: chuchoter) , splash, click, buzzer (Hebrew: zumzum - זמזם)  swoop, hiccup (Hebrew: sheehook - שיהוק) and the cat purrrrrrrs…. 

Can you guess what Fallopian tubes, boycott, July and August all have in common? They are all eponyms - words deriving from names of persons or places. A separate article will be dedicated to eponyms as there are many different types of them. 

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It was a great shock to hear that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated earlier today. Only a few days ago we posted our article “Please Don’t call me Judas” where we  chose to include Benazir Bhutto’s name and its translation; Benazir meaning “without comparison” (in Urdu) and to pay her our respect. 

We wish to send our deepest condolences to the people in Pakistan and to Benazir Bhutto’s family.

May her soul rest in peace.

Language is a communication tool and the invention and addition of new words is an ongoing process in all languages of the world. 

Often enough we find ourselves misunderstood even when the listener speaks the same language. At times words get in the way, and at other times we can’t find the right words to express ourselves.  

So even if we all speak the same language there is no guaranttee that we will succeed in delivering our true meaning to the other person.

What happens when we try to talk with someone who doesn’t speak our language? Are we doomed to continuous misunderstanding? Not necessarily, although it could (and more than often does) lead to misfortunate mistakes, funny at times but hurtful at others.

I remember my experience as a nine year old Israeli residing in England. My name was mispronounced and very often I was called Piano or Pernina or even Pina instead of Pnina.  When I was asked how I wanted my eggs at dinner, I didn’t understand why my grandfather who didn’t speak any Hebrew didn’t know what an “eye egg” was. For me it was so obvious but I could see him  smiling at my new language innovantion. I kept saying “eye egg” and wasn’t understood. How was I to know that the expression is “fried egg”? In Hebrew it’s called “eye egg” because the shape of a “fried egg” resembles that of the human eye. Well, at least that’s how Israelis see it… How was I to know that English people saw things differently? I even remember pointing to my eye again and again to emphasize the meaning…..

And why did my teacher correct my spelling when instead of “breakfast” I wrote breakfirst? For me it was clear: breakfirst was the first meal of the day therefore I heard break first…..

And how was I to know that a boyfriend is not a friendboy………. who cares for word order, the important thing is to have one!!!

Many times the first sentence you learn to say in a foreign language is: “I don’t speak English/Dutch/French”. I remember on my first day at school my teacher, Mr. Kaufman, wanted to give me something to read and I said “I don’t speak English”, he didn’t appreciate the fact that it was the only sentence in English I knew, even if it sounded as if it was coming out of a native English speaker… 

That reminds me of two highway workers who were busy working at a construction site when a big car with diplomatic license plate pulled up.
“Parlez-vous français?” the driver asks them. The two workers just stared.
“Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” The two continued to stare at him.
“Fala português?” Neither worker said anything.
“Parlate Italiano?” Still no response.
Finally, the man drives off in disgust.
One worker turned to the other and said, “Gee, maybe we should learn a
foreign language…”
“What for? That guy knew four of them and what good did it do him?” 

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Word of the Day

Word of the Day
provided by The Free Dictionary

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day
provided by The Free Dictionary

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Our name is almost always given to us by our parents and we bear it throughout our lives. We are identified by our names therefore naming your child is of great importance. Why are most of us so fussy about their names? Why are we annoyed when our name is mispronounced? Why do many people take great care to make sure they pronounce another person’s name correctly, especially in introductions?

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There are people who believe that there is much more to a name than just its sound, origin/meaning, or numerology. Some even go as far a believing that when you name your baby, you are creating the baby’s future. This is a hell of a responsibility, isn’t it?

The sense of personal identity and uniqueness that a name gives us is at the heart of why names interest us and why they are important to us as individuals and to our society as a whole. In spite of their importance, though, most people know very little about names. In a very real sense, we are consumers of names, and we sometimes have a need to know about the psychological, magical, legal, religious, and ethnic aspects of our names.

There are people who love their names and there are those who don’t. I personally know people who actually hated their names and even believed their name harmed them, so they have decided to change it.

The study of names is called onomastics, a field which touches on linguistics, history, anthropology, psychology, sociology and more, although one should bear in mind that not all names are historically traceable.

When people refer to the “meaning” of a name, they most likely refer to its literal meaning.

So let’s look at six names and their meanings:

Benazir (Bhutto) - “without comparison” (Urdu)

Condoleezza (Rice) - Condoleezza (from the Italian musical expression, Con dolcezza, meaning “with sweetness”)

Golda (Meir) - “gold” (Yiddish)

Hanan (Ashrawi)  “mercy, compassion” (Arabic)

Hillary (Clinton) - “cheerful” (Greek)

Indira (Gandhi) - “beauty” (Sanskrit)

This is our way of paying respect to these prominent women.  

We all know that many names derive from the Bible like Joseph, Rachel, Matthew, Jonathan, Mary and God forbid Judas (Greek: Ιούδας) which is the anglicized Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Yehudah (Hebrew: יְהוּדָה).

Ancient mythologies are also sources of many names, for instance: Brigit – anglicized form of the Irish name Brighid which means “exalted one”. In Irish mythology, she was the goddess of fire, poetry and wisdom; Dylan - in Welsh mythology Dylan was a god of the sea. The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and the musician Bob Dylan (real name Robert Zimmerman) are famous bearers of this name. Aurora - from Latin, meaning “dawn”, the Roman goddess of the morning and  Jason - from Greek, meaning “to heal”. Last and probably most adored is Venus, the name of the Roman goddess of love (equal to the Greek goddess Aphrodite).

Names affiliated with nature such as flowers and plants: Iris, Daisy, Rose, Violet, Jasmine and Daphne; natural phenomena: Yam (sea in Hebrew), Agni (fire in Sanskrit) and Aputsiaq (snowflake in Greenlandic); gems: Crystal, Pearl, Achlama (Hebrew) and Sapphire.

Names meaning feelings: Joy, Amy (beloved – from Old French), Baruch (blessed – Hebrew).

Each generation has its popular names. Women in today’s maternity wards whose names are Loren, Karen, Linda, Lisa, Hillary, Michelle and Kimberly - and whose mothers are Barbara, Mary, Jane, Helen, Dorothy and Betty - name their daughters Megan, Alyssa,
Hannah, Brittany, Haley and Jasmine.

In recent years androgynous names have become quite popular, in English (Taylor, Madison and Cameron) as well as in Hebrew (Tal, Ophir, Lior, Daniel). This trend can make our world a more equal place: it’s harder for employers to tell a job applicant’s gender when reading a résumé.

Looking for a gift for a newborn baby? Play it safe by picking androgynous colors (white is good, yellow is optional) adding some humor to it and you have the perfect original gift.

Having said this we assume that next time someone is introduced to you, you’ll: a)  Pay extra attention to the pronunciation of their name. b)  Appreciate the choice made by their parents: they probably had a good reason for choosing it.  c)  Refer them to our blog to read this article….. :-) 

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  At the age of 12 I already knew what I wanted to do when I grow up. I wanted to become a simultanuous translator and work for the UN. I sometimes wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that my mother spoke German, English, Romanian, Yiddish and Hebrew and my late father spoke Polish, Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew and Latin. Yours truly spoke Hebrew with her parents and when they did not want me to understand they “Yiddished” between themselves. Hence, my passion for languages. At high school I excelled in two foreign languages: French and English. 

Yet, mastering two languages is not sufficient to be able to translate. It is a fact that most people who study foreign languages do not become professional translators. So I took up linguistics to be followed by translation studies.  

The ideal translator is preferably one who has a vast knowledge in a large variety of topics, as he/she often must integrate many different subjects their work. The more knowledgeable one is the better translation one produces. 

Although today the notion is that the world belongs to the young, I am happy to announce that life experience is an advantage. 

Being able to enjoy research and willing to spend long hours alone in front of a computer screen are a necessity for a translator who is a detective. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word “balshan” (a linguist) stems from the same root as ”balash” (a detector), which I believe proves that a good translator must have a strong background in linguistics.

That’s not the end of the list: translation needs persistence (stubborness?) when searching for the right word (or phrase, or idiom etc.)

Being suspicious will also help you to carry a good translation work, as you must learn which dictionaries / reference books and other support material to trust, since there are so many of them and unfortunately they are not all trustworthy.

Ask yourself, or better ask others, if you are a good listener. A translator reproduces someone else’s thoughts therefore it’s vital to listen carefully to what is being said and how. 

So if you still wish to become a translator, last but not least, always strive to improve your writing skills. Being able to write well (not forgetting to proofread) will help you express someone else’s thoughts as eloquently as possible in the target language. 

Be-huts-lacha (Hebrew for “Good Luck”).

As a qualified and experienced translator I warmly recommend the NYC-based translation company, Transation Services USA. Their experienced translators will translate for you into more than 100 languages. Whether you need to translate a simple one-page document or a large software localization project, Translation Services USA will always be happy to do the job for you. That’s what we like about them. They also have a translation forum where you can ask questions.

People around me assume that at any given moment they can throw a Hebrew word at me and I’ll blurt out the English translation. Well I can’t. It’s not that simple. I remember long moments of digging in my mind for the exact word but unfortunately it was located deep in my memory disc and was unavailable. For those moments when you need a word in a different language, Babylon is the perfect solution. I’ve used it many a time and as I’m a language freak, I often search for foreign words. It’s fun.
 

We linguists engage, among other things, in comparing languages and exploring their histories, in order to find universal properties of language as well as to account for its development and origins.

Languages are sometimes genetically related, i.e.  descended from the same mother language. For instance, Italian & Spanish are “sisters”, having both Latin for a “mother”. The same goes for English and German, although these two are “cousins”, both belonging to the West Germanic branch. As you have probably noticed, genetically related languages belong to the same family and are described in terms used to describe family members.

Problem is, there are many cases where one identifies similarity between two languages and mistakenly assumes they are genetically related. For instance, the word “mucho” in Spanish and the English “much”, both sound quite similar and share the same meaning, yet English and Spanish are not genetically related.   

Comparing the vocabulary of the English language with that of French can be even more deceiving, as in fact almost 60% (!) of the English vocabulary is originated from French. This is due to the fact that during the Norman Conquest (starting in 1066) English was displaced by French, which became the language of the ruling class – of the Court, the nobility, the Church and the schools. During that era, a vast amount of French vocabulary entered the English language. That is called borrowing. Hence, “noble” (adj.), distinguished by rank or title, entered the English when it was called Middle English from Old French and from Latin before it. Similarly, the word “judge”, can be traced back to French and Latin.

Therefore, when trying to establish a genetic relation between two (or more) languages, one must not rely on comparison between their lexicons (vocabularies), although it’s very tempting to do so, because it may lead to the wrong conclusion.

Words in different languages may quite often sound the same. This has nothing to do with sharing the same origin or borrowing words form one another.  

Hebrew and English are certainly not genetically related. Once this is established,  we will reveal to you some words which sound exactly the same in both languages, yet have completely different meanings. Let’s start with the English “who” which in Hebrew is “he”; the English “he” is in Hebrew “she” and “me” is the Hebrew “who”. Are you laughing (crying) yet?.

Maybe it will be less confusing in table, as follows: 

English “who” is Hebrew “he”; English “he” is Hebrew “she” and English “me”  is Hebrew “who”.

Here are some more weird phonetic twins worth memorizing:

The English “sum” is “drug” in Hebrew.

The English “kiss” is “pocket” in Hebrew. (Save your kisses for me…)

The English “gun” is “garden” in Hebrew. (Was this the idea behind Guns N’ Roses?)

The English “butt” is “girl” in Hebrew. (Interesting???!!!)

The English “dear” is “shed” in Hebrew while the English “shed” is “ghost” in Hebrew.

The English “shore” is “bull” in Hebrew while the English “bull” is “stamp” in Hebrew.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to try and write a short paragraph composed of the above English words, and then translate it into Hebrew?

Did you know? That:

Hebrew is written from right to left.

The original Hebrew script developed alongside others in the region during the course of the late second and first millennia BCE; it is closely related to the Phoenician script, which itself probably gave rise to the use of alphabetic writing in Greece (Greek). It is sometimes claimed that around the 10th century BCE, a distinct Hebrew variant, the original “Hebrew script” (”Ktav Ivri”), emerged, which was widely used in the ancient kingdoms of Israel and until they fell in the 8th. and 6th. centuries BCE (taken from: Wikipedia).

There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, amongst which 5 are written differently when they appear at the end of a word (then called “final letters”).

The Hebrew alphabet has no vowels (!!!). When learning Hebrew, in order to acquire the right pronunciation, one is introduced to a system of dots and dashes called nikkud (points). Most of these points (nikkud) indicate vowels. 

Most texts in Hebrew are not written with vowels, as when you know the language vowels are not needed in order to read a text. When a certain text does include nikkud it is called “pointed text” (e.g. children’s books).

Each letter in the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical value. Final letters have the same value as their non-final counterparts. The numerical value of a word is determined by adding up the values of each letter.

Gematria is an entire discipline of Jewish mysticism that is devoted to finding hidden meanings in the numerical values of words. For example, the numerical value of the word “Chai”, meaning life, is 18. This is very significant; therefore you should bear in mind that if you wish to donate to Jewish charities it is common that the donation is made in denominations of 18. (i.e. 18, 36, 180)…

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Funny Quotes of Serious People 

“England and America are two countries separated by a common language” (George Bernard Shaw)

“A house does not need a wife any more than it needs a husband“ (Charlotte Perkins Gilman, when asked on the term ‘housewife’).

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt” (Mark Twain) 

“The difference between Literature and Journalism is, that Journalism is unreadable and Literature is not read” (Oscar Wilde)

“If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?” (Steven Wright)

“I am not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens” (Woody Allen) 

“I don’t want to tell you how much insurance I carry with the Prudential, but all I can say is: when I go, they go too” (Jack Benny) 

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and stupidity, and I am not sure about the former” (Albert Einstein)

“I am living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart” (E. E. Cummings) 

“Women might be able to fake orgasms, but men can fake a whole relationship” (Sharon Stone)

   I always knew that if and when I’ll have a blog, part of it will be dedicated to elephants. Amazing creatures, aren’t they?

In fact, elephants and humans have a lot in common. Did you know? that:

Elephants cry, play, have incredible memories and laugh.

Physical contact is very important in elephants’ social life; they often touch one another with their trunks or rest against and stroke one another.  

Very young elephants frequently place their trunks in their mouths, rather like children who suck their thumbs for comfort.

Elephants have greeting ceremonies and they seem to mourn their dead.

And what about language? How do elephants “talk”? How complex is their communication system?

Although I intend to post a separate article on the issue of animal communication systems vs. human languages, I’ll state here, that no matter how complex a communication system between animals is, we (linguists) do not define it as “language”. That is because communicaiton systems used by animals are finite sets of gestures, sounds, etc, while languages used by human beings are infinite and dynamic.

Coming back to elephants, it seems that they use a variety of communication tools, such as sounds (including infra-sounds! similar to those used by Dolphins), gestures (e.g. position of the trunk or ear flapping) and modes of behavior.  As they are highly intelligent and sensitive, they are able to express quite a wide range of emotions. 

You know what they say about the memory of an elephant. I can tell you one thing: I will never forget how sad and sorry I was realizing I won’t be able to bring back home with me the cuttest baby elephant that I met in Kenya back in 1982. You know, there was this minor overweight problem, so I had to give up the idea….

P.S. If you are fond of elephants, please let me know and I’ll let you “peep” at my ever growing elephant collection.

Meet Mushi (pronounced like sushi), Liat’s pet. Although she is only a kitten (about 4 months of age) she already instinctively purrs fluently in five different languages (none of which we understand).

Here is where you come into the picture: if any of you could recommend a good “cat lingo” disctionary, we’d be more than grateful.

Besides reading, we (Pnina & Liat) share our passion for puzzles (or various kinds, e.g. crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, brain teasers, etc).

The photo below is a jigsaw puzzle featuring Mushi’s great aunt. Click on it to visit a treasure world of puzzles.

Learning a language can be quite a task at times. When English is your mother tongue, Hebrew is double Dutch to you, isn’t it? Do you think German is easier to learn? Despite the common belief, no ‘language’ is actually more difficult than another. In fact each language is unique in its complexity yet it also has its simple sides. Very often a native speaker considers his language the easiest to learn. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to learn a new language like we did our mother-tongue. Yes, it would. But, let’s go back to the real world and we’ll do our best to list a variety of the language schools and programs we have encountered.

   A pun - “The humorous use of a word, or a combination of words so as to emphasize different meanings, or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.” (The Random House College Dictionary - revised edition).

A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat!

He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

When you’ve seen one shopping center you’ve seen a mall.

Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat.

Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery.

When two egotists meet, it’s an I for an I.

As word lovers we naturaly love to play with them and recommend a great game: wordspot. Centuries ago, letterpress craftsmen meticulously arranged thousands of letter tiles on a single tray, creating printed documents for the world to read. The masters of this craft hid words within a block of text that would go unnoticed by the casual reader, and then challenged each other to find the hidden words. Word spot duplicates the idea: each player has to find as many words as he/she can. One can score by finding words that are listed vertically, horizontally, diagnolly, frontward ot backwards. The first player to use all 25 Word Spot tokens is the winner.

Mind Tools

Etymology probably sounds like a disease to you, unless you are a Linguistics graduate. In fact, Etymology is the study of the origin (history) of words which is based on scientific tools. Linguists do that because it’s part of their job  and it’s important for better understanding the nature of languages.

The word hazard(n.) danger; (vb.) to risk or expose to danger, for example, evolved from the Arabic al zahr, which means the dice. This word made a long way until it settled into English. In Western Europe the term came to be associated with a number of games using dice, which were learned during the Crusades whilst in the
Holy Land. The term eventually took on the connotation of danger because, from very early on, games using dice were associated with the risky business of gambling and con artists using corrupted dice.

WritingClasses.com

As for Malaria (n.) (infectious disease characterized by chills and fever and caused by the bite of an infected anopheles mosquito). This word comes from the medieval Italian mal (=bad) and aria (=air), describing the miasma from the swamps around
Rome. This ‘bad air‘ was believed to be the cause of the fever that often developed in those who spent time around the swamps. In fact the illness, now known as malaria, was due to certain protozoans present in the mosquitoes that bred around these swamps, and which caused recurring feverish symptoms in those they bit.

Pedigree (n.) A line of ancestors; genealogy. Believed to be derived from the French ped de gru, which meant crane’s foot (the modern French equivalent is pied de la grue). The crane’s foot is said to resemble the /|\symbol on genealogical trees. It has also been suggested that it comes from par degrés, the French for by degrees. A pedigree chart records the relationship of families by degrees.

Folk Etymology  is a commonly held misunderstanding of the origin of a particular word. Language is  dynamic and  in the course of history, certain words were misheard or misunderstood. As a result,  people made the wrong analogy and another word was born.   Needless to mention that folk etymology exists in every language and is not unique to any language in particular.We may look into the spelling of the English word lethal which reflects a belief that it is derived from Lethe, the river in the mythological kingdom of the dead. In fact it comes from the unconnected Latin word letum, meaning death. 
 

The word cockroach was created  when English native speakers heard the Spanish word for beetle: cucaracha. What they processed in their minds were sounds familiar to them, which is what humans tend to do when they hear sounds they are not accustomed to. So, by analogy they started saying ’cockroach’ (combining the two different animals: cock & roach.)  

By now I am getting hungry, so let me end this article by mentioning the English word ‘hamburger’, which is originated from the German hamburger, meaning someone or something originally from Hamburg (a city in North Germany). English speakers thought, mistakenly, that hamburger is comprised of two words: ham + burger. Therefore, it did not take long until cheese burger entered the language and of course double-cheese burger…..

“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people” (Thomas Mann).

Language is composed of words. Many words. Both David Crystal, in the
Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language and Tom McArthur, in the Oxford Companion to the English Language suggest that there must be at least a million words in the English language. That’s quite a number.

Bearing that in mind, each person has a different size of vocabulary. No, let’s not try to asses it.  You probably posses quite a volume of words if you are reading this article. So, are you set to start writing? All you actually have to do is arrange these wonderful words in the right order, right? Not really, we all know that. Some of us are natural writers, most of us are not. What a shame! One is overwhelmed nowadays by the variety of different types of writings everywhere: manuals, business reports, love letters to name only a few. Each of these types certainly needs a different focus. At school most of us were taught the basics of language but were not led to discover the art of writing. It is an art, be it a love letter or a CV, a poem or a news article. Like any other art you can master it if you learn its skills. The good news is, that it is never too late…

“Some editors are failed writes, but so are most writers“ (T.S. Elliot)

If  you prefer to do it on your own, at this stage, we recommend a great book by Anne Lamott: ‘Bird by Bird’, some instructions on writing and life”. It is both human and funny. This book actually teaches you how to get about it, by the author who specializes in teaching creative writing. It has been an inspiration for us and we believe you’ll enjoy it too. 

Here’s Our 7  Writing Tips to Get You Started:


Write spontaneously without criticizm - let your mind rest and let your soul take over.

When blocked, go read a book you really love. It will get you in the mood and inspire you. 

Don’t reread what you have written the minute you put your pen down, let it rest and let youself rest. The longer the better.

Notice sentences that inspire you when you’re reading, even well known ones. Copy them and use them as starters for your own writing, you can always erase them once your own words come out.

Carry a small notebook with you at all times and write down, on a daily basis, sentences you  overhear and value.

Don’t worry about mistakes, spelling or punctuation, you’ll have plenty of time to get it right later. Click here for Professional Editing & Proofreading Service, you’ll always need one, no matter how good your writing is. We are always blind to our own mistakes, and it’s a must to let a professional see your work.

The true secret is what not to write……… choose the sentences that you can do without.  As Mark Twain said: “If I had more time, I’d write a shorter letter”.