The best – in other words

 

Most people strive to be their best at something, with some making more effort than others. There was the Kobe Bryant principle: you have to invest 10,000 more hours than your closest competitor in order to stay at the top. Languages, of course, have numerous terms expressing that ideal state, including English. They refer to nature, height, relative status or personal comparison. As for which is the choicest expression, that is a matter of opinion.

Nature provides a rich source of comparison, even if the context does not always make sense. The cream of the crop and the borrowed French crème de la crème refer to the rich part that rises to the top of the milk, the tastiest bit. If someone is the cat’s whiskers or the cat’s meow, there is no better if you are a cat lover. Similarly, dog purchasers can fully understand the pick of the litter as not all dogs are born equal.  By contrast, regarding a bee’s knees, it is difficult to observe a bee’s knees or grasp their perfection, but that is the term. On the inanimate front, some people are the salt of the earth, which relates to the importance and rarity of salt in pre-refrigerator days, which also explains the word salary. Being the gold standard requires a bit of historical knowledge. It took a while before people trusted “greenbacks” as US paper bills were initially referred to (maybe similar to the attitude toward bitcoin today).  A strange expression from long ago is the best thing since sliced bread. I am too old for that to make any sense to me. However, when I was a kid, we used to refer to peers with extraordinary skill as hot shit, most curiously, a positive expression. The natural world is a rich source of vocabulary.

Of course, the best are always above the others as reflected in a plethora of comparative expressions. To be head and shoulders above everybody is even better than being second to none because the gap is larger. If a person is top-notch or tip-top, the endpoint of a literal or figurative scale, they reach where others cannot. Thus, we look up to them. On a classical note, a person that is the Mt. Olympus in his/her field is almost godlike. In a similar vein, a person can be a real Michael Jordan, Mark Spitz, Mickey Mantle or Michael Jackson, to name a few, who represent the pinnacle of success in their profession at a given time. Alas, age takes its toll. By contrast, if an object is isolated from contact with the environment, it can remain in mint condition, as perfect as it was when it was produced.  The point is that these people were the epitome of perfection in at least one aspect of their lives. The higher, the better.

Yet, success is relative. It is fantastic to be an all-star but it is better to be a GOAT, the greatest of all time. (Michael Jordan or LeBron James?) Likewise, to be recognized as a real pro is an honor but being called a pro’s pro is a cut above. Every student knows that parents appreciate the words “cum laude” but top of the class brings a shine to the face of the entire family (as well as leads to future scholarships and attractive jobs). Such people are in a class of their own. It is great to be a man among boys. Interestingly, as far as I have ever heard, nobody ever says a “woman among girls” but maybe I am wrong. For all I know, women may use it today to describe the queen of their circle. Success is relative

As Carly Simon sang so poignantly in the James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me”, it can be said about some people in some areas of life that “nobody does it better”. Not only that, in English, it is possible to express that compliment in so many ways.

Med veg vettings or curious cases of vegetable nomenclatures

 

Mediterranean cuisine is known for its use of vegetables. Curiously, many of the most typical vegetables in the cuisine are not native to the area, meaning they were imported and had to be named. As any player in a telephone game knows, fascinating versions of the original can arise, which can now be seen today in green grocer’s sign in any given country. As an example, the history of the naming of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants shows some of the methods of the madness of naming.

Tomatoes are a staple of Italian and most southern European cooking. They originated in South America. The Aztecs referred to them as tomatl, a name that the Spanish brought back to Europe and is reflected in English and French, among others. However, the Italians received the yellow version of the fruit. As with all exotic foods, marketing is key. Therefore, it was called a  “golden apple”, i.e., pomo d’oro, which became pomodore in one word. The Hebrew story is even more wild. In the late 19^th century when Eliezer Ben Yehuda and others were re-establishing Hebrew as a daily language and inventing words for modern terms, Eliezer Ben Yehuda decided on the word עגבניה [agvania], which is derived from the root for passion or great pleasure. As in most matters in Israel, many people disagreed but eventually agvania became the known and accepted term of this omnipresent vegetable. Marketing and accidents of import had an impact.

Peppers, another South American immigrant to European kitchens, also took a curious path. Europeans had used pepper corns, an imported nut, to spice their food for a long time. With the arrival of peppers, both hot and sweet, the Europeans added an element and confused the matter. Specifically, the word pepper refers both to the plant and spice. See paprika in Hungarian and peperoni in Italian, which also designate the plant. In English, the easy solution was the addition of bell or the color to the vegetable name, e.g., green or bell peppers. However, in Israel, agriculture is a passion. Local agronomists have always sought to improve variants, e.g., the cherry tomato. For example, Israel stores always carry a light green bell papper, ideal for stuffing. It is known as a Nahariya pepper because it was developed near Nahariya, a small town on the coast near the Lebanese border. Israelis are also major consumers of gombot, a red bell pepper. The name derives from an Italian variant, a gamba, and now refers to most large red bell peppers in Israel. Of course, each country has countless variants of this pepper, which is far more than a spice.

Last but not least is the royal eggplant. Probably originally from South Asia, it traveled via Persia, North Africa and Catalonia to reach European kitchens. The word origin is the Sanskrit vātiga-gama, which means “the plant that cures the wind”, and Arabic al-bādhinjān. That last version explains the French “aubergine” (with the Arabic “the”, al, being absorbed as a root). As for the English eggplant , it appears that initially the English in India were rather fond of a white skinned variant, hence the eggplant. As usual, Hebrew presents the most confusing story. Based on a post on the subject, חציל [hatzil] is a new Hebrew word invented in the late 19th century based on a rare Arabic word, حَيْصَل, [haizal]. As usual, many others suggested alternatives. The eggplant does enjoy a wide variety of calling cards.

It is hard to imagine Mediterranean cooking or any other kitchen without these basic vegetables. Yet, they came as immigrants and experienced the same name confusion as many human immigrants have experienced. A rose is a rose is a rose but it may have a local name, which is all the fun. Nomenclature is a product of both intention and accident also in Mediterranean vegetables.

All pictures from Pixabay

Exotic or alien – when does a foreign word remain a stranger

 

All speakers and writers choose their words. Linguists, including authors, editors and translators, may invest more time and energy in this choice but even the most basic user seeks the best term in terms of register, connotation and impact. Essentially, the chosen word must sound right, which is a matter of accustomed sound. Words with unusual phonetic signatures sound strange. However, in terms of word choice, as there are no “pure” nations in terms of racial background, there are no pure languages in terms of roots. An exchange of words occurs anytime one culture meets another. In some cases, the words become an integral part of the language and lose their foreignness. In other cases, people use these words despite their non-local origin because there is no substitute in the original language. However. in many cases, speakers of different generations and points of view may disagree whether a given verbal immigrant has any raison d’être as there exists a highly adequate term. The processs never ends.

Some foreign words have been a part of a language for so long that they have become native. For example, in Russian, the word for beach, пляж [plajh], comes from the French plage while the term for a train station вокзал [vokzal] is derived from the English Vauxhall, the name on the first locomotive in Russia (from St. Petersburg to the Tsar’s village). This use of Western terminology does not bother the most nationalistic Russian. Likewise, an insulated American has no problem calling a nice sidewalk eatery a café, as distinguished by its poorer cousin, the coffee shop. New York brokers, Jewish or not, often consult a maven, a word derived from Yiddish and Hebrew, if they need an expert opinion. In Israel, Jews whose family came from Tunisia or Ethiopia use the words קיוסק, kiosk, and צ'ופצ'יק [chupchik], a whatchamacallit, whose origins are in distant Russia, without batting an eyelash. These words have become a basic part of the language.

Other foreign words still sound like immigrants but the language needs them. For example, a party can be fancy or posh but the French chic adds another dimension to the description. For describing a corrupt military dictatorship, there is no better word in English than junta, Spanish in sound and origin, and so succinct. In France, the left-wing parties are now considering holding les primaires, a gem taken from the Anglo-Saxon tradition of primaries and a relatively recent development in French politics. Hebrew is an active borrower of English terms to describe concepts that its limited root system struggles to cope with. For example, business people use the word אֵפֶקְטִיבִי [effectivi] [effective] to emphasize one aspect of the Hebrew word יָעִיל [yail], which encompasses both effectiveness and efficiency. Many Israelis have become quite skilled in terms of their ability לנרמל [lenormel], to normalize, the current situation. Languages must keep up with the times. Sometimes, it is easier to copy than to invent a word.

Nevertheless, foreign adoption can go too far, at least in some people’s eyes. The average American or Brit, depending on socio-economic background, may find it pretentious if a person said a pied-á-terre for a vacation home or “what do you think of my new coif” instead “How’s the haircut?”. The average French may have seemed to accept “le weekend”” and “le shopping” but French intellectuals and writers are far from happy with such terms, especially when the French terms are perfectly sufficient. As for Hebrew, many Israelis cringe when chefs say “crispy” instead of פריך [parich}. Even worse, in the ears of many lovers of the Holy language is the adoption of לקחת חלק [lakahat helek], the literal translation of the English take part, instead of the solid Hebrew word להשתתף [lehishtatef]. Many people believe that speakers should be proud of their language (regardless if so many of its words are derived from foreign roots).

The use of foreign words is a matter of both ideology and usefulness. Clearly, no language academy can determine which foreign word will go native and which will always be a stranger. However, the introduction of foreign words is one of the basic tools for intrinsic language development and occurs quite naturally. The answer to the question whether using a foreign word is chic or a faux pas is subjective by definition, as all language users, including translators, know.

Devised device names – a tri-lingual look at appliances

Innovative products require descriptive names. In practice, languages use completely different roots to describe the same technology. As an example, French and Hebrew apply different approaches to describe a vacuum cleaner, iron and car as compared to English.

In the case of the vacuum cleaner, each language emphasizes a different aspect. The English term for the vacuum cleaner, developed in the first decade of the 20^th century, focuses on the physics of the device, i.e., by creating a vacuum, pressure differences cause the air to rise up into the bag, taking with any trapped dust with it. The French aspirateur is derived from the root to breathe upon, which is strange because the appliance actually inhales, not exhales. The Hebrew שואב אבק [shoev avak] literally means “sucks dust”, which is exactly what a hoover does. Different strokes for different folks.

An iron is a far more ancient device, used by the Greeks in 400 BCE and developed gradually until the invention of the electric iron in the 1880’s. The English term identifies it by its standard material, iron. The Hebrew term מַגְהֵץ [maghetz] notes its function, smoothing out clothes. The French equivalent takes no chances, specifying both – un fer à repasser, literally an iron for ironing. Ironically, the French term is the clearest.

Cars have been part of modern life since the end of the 19^th century. The modern English term for a motorized vehicle is an automobile, having long laid to rest its predecessor the horseless carriage. The meaning of the English term is a vehicle that moves itself, i.e., without the need for horses. The French voiture refers to a carriage, something that carries objects, which a car does resemble to an outside viewer. The Hebrew term מְכוֹנִית [mechonit] merely states that it is a machine with a possible implication of being small or feminine. This lack of precision apparently has not prevented people from easily attaching the Hebrew word to the object. Humans are clearly quite adept at abstract thinking.

These examples demonstrate the multiplicity of approaches to devising words for new devices. The powers that make these decisions can focus on the shape, material, process or purpose, among other elements. Regardless of the case, through repetition, language users learn to equate a word and object and even stop thinking about the reasons for the name. Yet, understanding the logic provides a peak into human thinking. 

The words behind the speech – English terms for oration

 

[silver frame]

Speech is silver, as it is said, and is as malleable as the metal. Humans shape words to express a variety of meanings and purposes. English, as do all languages, reflects this complexity by having specific terms for a verbal compositon, each one reflecting a locale, purpose and/or organization.

Some speeches only occur at specific locations. For example, a person gives a keynote speech only at conferences and similar events, thus introducing the topic of the gathering. To give an address requires a crowd to whom the speaker wishes to make a point. The most famous address in American history is Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Reporters, official or de facto, provide live reports from a disaster scene, telling listeners what happened and/or is happening. At a school assembly or cultural event, a person may give a recitation, a rendering of a famous speech or poem. Smaller children may do a show and tell, which is an opportunity for younger children to present their interests to their peers. Likewise, at schools of all levels, teacher give lectures, which parents also do, for the purpose of explaining some matter with a wide variance in the level of attention by the audience. In sports, coaches in the locker room often give a pep talk, either before the game or at half time, in order to motivate the players, e.g., Knute Rockne’s “win it for the Gipper”. Apparently, sometimes it helps. Finally, who needs an audience at least formally? A monologue is when a person, often an actor, speaks to himself/herself on stage in front, granted in the presence of an audience. Unfortunately, many matrimonial arguments sound like simultaneous monologues. Shakespeare’s “to be or not to be” from Hamlet is the most famous soliloquy, a stage word for a monologue. The proper choice of word may depend on where it is taking place.

The correct term must also reflect the purpose of the speech. When praising people, it may be a panegyric or a eulogy, if it at a funeral after the person died. By contrast, a diatribe is a short directed critical speech while a harangue tends to be a bit longer. More is not better in this case. A strange mixture of both praise and criticism is a roast, in which various people humorously and publicly discuss the personality aspects, both good and bad, of a famous person, which can be positive if you accept Oscar Wilde’s comment: “the only things worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” If the purpose of the speech is a call for action, it is called an exhortation, something that Communist leaders were rather fond of. On a more specific level, an appeal calls for some action from the heart, such as the giving of a donation, while a pitch tries to persuade people to buy a product. The “why” of the speech may determine the correct word.

Finally, the choice of word may express the level of organization of a speech. A discourse is an attempt to provide a complete picture while a presentation tries to show the important aspects in an understandable way. By contrast, a rant is an almost stream-of-consciousness, i.e., chaotic, release of ideas such that the listener has a hard time following the ideas. A tirade generally has a clear point but suffers the loss of its focus and that of the listeners due to its duration.

All speech involves the oral use of words and sounds. Yet, these words involve many other aspects of communication beyond their literal meaning, including the location, their intent and their structure or lack thereof. Thus, speech is as important and differentiable as silver.

Home furnishings – an (almost) full house of English expressions

 

[house plan]

Home is where the heart is. Apparently, as in most domestic situations, all those feelings are somewhat at the expense of logic and consistency, at least in terms of language. While non-native English speakers can easily remember the names of the various elements of a house and their literal meanings, they often struggle the more figurative senses of these terms. It is possible to understand these expressions through the prism of a meeting of a board of directors or the exact material involved but more often only by context. In my opinion, this partial logic makes English an entertaining and human language.

In a formal meeting of directors, the chair, i.e., the person leading the session, may table a motion. Curiously, in the US this term means to take it off the agenda while in the UK it means to discuss it. In the first case, the reasons for avoiding a discussion range from it being so off-the-wall, ridiculous, that it would be absurd to waste time on the matter or, more sinisterly, the chairperson received money under the table, a bribe, not to discuss it. The criminal involved would rather sweep it under the rug, make it disappear, at least visually. On the other hand, if the members do discuss the issue, some may consider it a window of opportunity (even though most people do not enter a house through a window if you think about it). It could open the door to a better future, allowing it to happen. Opponents, by contrast, fear that it would slam the door on a better opportunity. The mere thought of adopting the motion makes them hit the roof and get very angry. Of course, interested people wait for white smoke to come out, meaning that the board has made a decision one way or another.

Sometimes the material or location provides a clue to the meaning. A pioneering person can break a glass ceiling, a illusionary limit that a society has placed on that person. In matters of window covering, a curtain call involves a very large amount of fabric as used at the theatre. So, it means getting a second round of applause at the theatre. On the same note, if it is curtains for the villain, the curtain has come down, ending his/ her plot or even life. On an even larger scale, the iron curtain was the political and military barrier separating the Soviet Union and its allies from the West. Today, its form tends to be electronic and virtual but that is a matter for another discussion. Regarding police matters, a stool pigeon may see a bit vague until you see a pigeon tied to a stool in the field as was done in the 1800’s to hunt those birds. The police still use this aviary tool in a way by placing an informer. Back to the house, if your sports team is in the basement (which is the almost annual place of my favorite teams), they are in last place in the division. By contrast, a bargain basement is where department stores sometimes concentrate their discounted products to get rid of them and implies cheap items. Details matter.

Alas, there are terms that simply have to understood in context. A couch potato rarely moves from the sofa, watching TV and eating all day. Regarding the ground below you, flooring a pedal means pushing the accelerator to the maximum while being floored by the news involves falling to the ground. Pharmacies can sell an over-the-counter  (OTC) drug without a prescription. Since the 1940’s and Curtis LeMay, some Airforce generals insist that carpet bombing, the general destruction of a city or country,  will persuade a population to surrender. Remember the classic definition of insanity: doing something over and over again, expecting a different result each time. If you are in the dog house, it means that you are not feeling loved and welcome at home. Of course, every pub visitor loves it when the drinks are on the house, i.e., free. These expressions make some sense in a certain sense.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the house and will find it easier to navigate through the rooms. If a home is a castle, an English house is rather peculiar, with many quirks but also much character (which is a synonym for wooden beams on real estate TV programs). If English is not your native language, I hope I furnished you with some knowledge of useful idioms. It make you feel more at home in the English language.

Words and their derived meanings – how far does a ball roll in different languages?

[Effy the kitten with ball*)

 

If we look at the idea of a word, it is fundamentally a concept that human beings apply to various objects, real and theoretical. The Chinese language is the perfect embodiment of this vocabulary building approach but the process also occurs in alphabetical languages. For example, a round object is called a ball, balle, шар [shar] and כדור [kadur] in English, French, Russian and Hebrew, respectively. While each refers to the ball that is the fascination of children, puppies and kittens (especially mine currently), the word also is used for many other round objects with slight differences.

While the origin of the word ball in English is rather fuzzy, its primary meaning is quite clearly, i.e., according to the Oxford Dictionary, a solid or hollow spherical or egg-shaped object that is kicked, thrown, or hit in a game. Clearly, a really heavy one that requires explosive power to launch is a cannon ball, not an object to play with. On a smaller basis, balls can be loaded into cartridges and cause terrible casualties. For that matter, a great ball of fire is also rather threatening. On a less serious note,  ball in baseball can mean that the pitch fails to cross the plate between the knees and numbers of a player and within the side boundaries of the home plate. Not surprisingly but quite differently, testicles are sometimes referred to as balls., This may explain the application of the word to describe the willingness to take a great risk as in the sentence General MacArthur had the balls to land at Inchon. Confusingly, derived from a completely different root, a ball is a formal dance from which probably the term having a ball, i.e., having a good time, may have been derived, although my forementioned kitten might disagree.

The French balle also is generally used to refer to the toy as in the short form of ballon. However, it refers to pills, which are round, and bullets and slugs, which generally are not. In the days of the French Franc (pre-Euro), it was another term for that national currency. In agriculture, a balle refers to a bale in English and  applies to any similar bulky packaging, round or not.

Russian is even more generous is the use. шар [shar] refers to the toy but also to a globe and bowl and other round objects. In the plural, it is another term for eyes. It is used as a term for a lightbulb. Russian even uses it for a vote or ballet. (If a language refers to communication tower as an “object”, everything is possible).

Hebrew almost equates ball and round in the word כדור [kadur]. Sports equipment, pills and tablets and well as spheres and planets are balls. In line with the old traditional ammunition, so is ammunition for rifles and machine guns (despite their modern long shape).

So, as true for many languages, words evolve to expand their meaning to directly and not-so directly connected items and sometimes retain the use when the original shape of the object changes.  Balls really roll far away sometimes.

* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.

On misfeasance, browsewrap and exhaustion or the fruits of summer school

 

[Exhausted man in office*]

For many non-retail businesses, August is a sleepy month, to put it mildly. In Israel, it even used to be called the “season of cucumbers”, the equivalent of the English "silly season",  due to its lack of relevant news. For me, this August is no different. Thus, I have directed some my spare time to reading the law digests I receive every week and don’t read. After all, continuing education is an essential task for any professional, legal translators included. Not being an attorney, I discovered some new terms, specifically misfeasance trading, browsewrap and horizontal and vertical exhaustion. I may or may not encounter them in the future but, in the meantime, it is fun to learn new terms.

In Wright vs Chappell, the court found the directors guilty of misfeasance trading as compared to wrongful trading. The former implies that directors breached their duties, including in regard to compensation, conflict of interest, due diligence and creditors. The former refers to actual trading when the directors know a company is not solvent. Clearly, both offenses refer to illegal acts, but the malfeasance is easier to prove.

Of a wider impact was the California Appeal Court decision regarding browsewrap, which refers to the “I agree” clicks on websites. The decision affirmed, among other arguments, that a clause stipulating arbitration was not enforceable if a “prudent user” would not have noticed it. This line of thought reminded me of the various “plain English” laws for consumer contracts that require key elements to be visually highlighted. To be clear, it did not say that these Internet agreements were non-valid but only that the site must present them properly.

I was quite fascinated by the discussion of horizontal and vertical exhaustion. These terms do not refer to the effects of training for the decathlon but instead to the conditions for applying for secondary insurance benefits. In many insurance policies, it is impossible to initiate a claim under a secondary insurance policy until the full payout, exhaustion, of all primary policies. That is horizontal exhaustion. By contrast, if an insured party has reached the limits of one of many primary policies, it may receive the benefits from a secondary policy under that same exhausted policy whether or not it has completely collected the benefits from the other primary policies, i.e., vertical exhaustion. Even if that sounds tiring to understand, the knowledge may be useful in the future.

For those busy in August or, even better, on vacation. I wish you happy days. For those waiting for the phone to ring physically or virtually, even if you know everybody else on too busy working or playing to need your services, August is a great time to gather “useless” knowledge. Nobody knows when you may need it, especially translators.

* Picture captions allow the blind to fully access the Internet.

Picture credit

Names of seasons – A linguistically dynamic spectrum

 

[pomegranates and grapefruits*]

All civilizations and, therefore, all languages label their seasons in one way or another. In practice, there are multiple approaches to this nomenclature, which can change over time and distance. To illustrate the spectrum of views on the seasons, I will present how English, French and Hebrew have related to the times of the year. Agriculture is often the key factor in this process.

In English, as in many languages, the spring is literally the beginning, whether of water or plants. It is the time they spring up, the start of the year for farmers. By contrast, summer is derived from the ancient word for year. I can postulate that the summer defines the year in terms of crops, i.e., if the fields produced in plenty, there was plenty to eat. By contrast, the autumn, a term more often used in the UK, signified the passing the year at which end the fields were bare, more or less. The American fall emphasizes the obvious physical aspect of the season, specifically the falling of the leaves. As for the winter, it was the wet season, literally.

As typical of Franco-British relations, the French view this situation differently. Le printemps literally means “first time”, which would imply that the world is born anew. L’été relates to burning, presumably to the effects of the sun. L’automne is the time for enriching, especially for the farmers as it harvest time for many crops. Finally, l’hiver is the rainy season, a variation of the wet theme.

Hebrew, a far more ancient language evolving in a far drier region, has a long and complicated story in regard to the seasons. Originally, there were two seasons, the fig harvesting season קיץ [keitz] and the wet, סתיו [stav], a bit like the same nomenclature in many countries in the equatorial regions but without the figs. At some point, writers referred to the season in terms of the name of their first month, i.e., תשרי [tishrei], טבת [tivet], ניסן [nisan] and תמוז [tamuz], starting from the autumn. The terms eventually evolved to identify  a separate spring season, אביב [aviv], which relates to young plants. Furthermore, Hebrew speakers began to use the word חורף [horef], which refers to picking fruit, for winter, another sign of how moderate the climate is in the eastern Mediterranean. The previously mentioned סתיו [stav], the rainy season, now was limited to the fall. On another level, the year was once defined from the spring to spring but the new year changed to the month of  תשרי [tishrei] in the fall. In Hebrew, the seasons do also change linguistically.

These are just a small sample of how cultures and languages relate to seasons. It is clear that weather and agriculture, the most basic of all industries, strongly influence the specific choice of words but climate also has an effect. In any case, there is no unilateral way to describe a season. Seasons" greetings.

* Picture captions help the blind fully navigate the Internet.

Picture credit

Stupid lexicon analysis or the art of insulting someone’s intelligence

 

[bunny*]

Vocabulary development among languages is neither evenly distributed or uniform. Yet, people around the world appreciate the art of a good insult, especially of another person’s intelligence. Simply put, calling someone stupid or an idiot or whatever the word in the local language, simply does not cut it. The audience, if not the victim, expects creativity and style. In practice, the approaches to questioning other people’s intellectual ability primarily involve making remarks about the material between their ears, the ability to process information, medical conditions and any resemblance to somethng or someone considered unintelligent as well as a few wonderful lexiconic inventions. I will provide a small sample of such terms from English, French and Hebrew as well as present my favorites.

A common way of explaining stupidity is speculating on the lack of grey matter between the ears. In English, it may appear that the interlocker is a blockhead , meathead or dope, a thick soup in Dutch. If we believe there is nothing, an airhead is appropriate. If we know that there is something but its nature is unclear, nitwit, an older word for a drink with unidentified ingredients, can apply.  Possibly, the person may be just dense, i.e., too solid for the brain to function. The French seem to focus less on this aspect. Cul (ass) implies that an error occurred in anatomical placement while cloche, a clock, applies a hard outside but hollow inside. Modern Hebrew, despite its relatively young age, places such materials as floor tiles, cabbage and sweet potatoes between the ears as in the expressions ראש בלטה [rosh balata], ראש כרוב [rosh kruv] and ראש בטטה [rosh bottata], respectively. Of course, it the head is filled with beech wood בוק [bok], thoughts also do not come easily. All these are material insults.

Sometimes, the problems appears to be how the information is actually processed. If a person is dull, half-witted or simpleminded, thinking is not an easy task. Nitwit, a word actually derived from Yiddish, a language particularly rich in insults, implies no ability at all. The French consider being heavy, balourd, blocked, bouché, and off-angle, obtuse, excellent causes of stupidity. In Israel, having a room that is sealed off is a positive feature during a war but having a brain that is אטום [atum] is a definite handicap. For such people, even when there is a will, there is no way.

Of course, medical conditions do affect mental activity. Despite the fact most people cannot identify such conditions and, even if they do exist, they are not the fault of the person, off-handed diagnosis makes for great insults. Calling someone retarded may be true statement but not in most instances.  The French use of the word crétin technically refers to chronic iodine deficiency, a rare condition today.  As for sanity, the words sot and abruti cast doubts about the mental stability of the individual. The Hebrew curse פוסטמה [pustema] comes from a word for pus, whatever the connection is. טוםטום [tumtum] is a term to describe ambiguous physical sexual identify. which may or may not be obvious to the casual observer. On occasions, anybody can become a doctor.

Of course, metaphors are both direct and creative. Somehow, Anglo-Saxons think birds are not very intelligent, which may explain the term birdbrain. (The raptors of the world may be angry at this comparison). For that matter, asses, the animal, are very adept at surviving unlike humans accused of being like them. The French compare idiots to both animals, bêta, and lower-class people, rustre, agricultural workers with low intelligence. Hebrew sources comparisons come from all period of the history of the Jews.  אוויל [avvil] is simpleton in the Bible;  גולם [golem] is a unfinished Frankenstein-like creature from medieval myths; and דפר [dapar] is one of the initial psychotechnics tests that the IDF gives to new recruits. Apparently, a very low grade implies stupidity. These metaphorical comparisons can be very nasty.

As for my top three choices, picked on the basis of creativity and sheer weirdness. In English, I now appreciate dunce for its amazing history. Originally, people considered the 13th century theologian John Duns Scotus and his followers very intelligent but rudely rejected them their approach several centuries later, regarding them and their hats look as quite stupid. The French duconneau literally means from Conneau. Apparently, somebody was not very bright in that family or area. Finally, in Hebrew, in a TV commercial, one of the banks used the expression לא עיפרון חכי חד בקלמר [lo ha’iparon hachi chad b’kalmar], meaning not the sharpest pencil in the pencil box. Now, that’s a witty insult.

Please be assured that I never use such terms directly to a person as I am very polite but in the privacy of our own brain, we can think what we want. As Pascal said, man (and woman) are thinking reeds. He did not discuss how much critical thoughts dominate. The fact is that human beings love to criticize other people, especially their intelligence. One of the beauties of human thought is the level of creativity and innovation we apply in doing it. Insulting is an art.

 

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Fossilized footprints – modern words with ancient roots

 

[fossilized  human foostep in stone*]

Very few people strive to understand the basic elements of their life. For example, Only paleontologists seek and find fossils or even ancient footsteps on rocks that most of us merely treat as a static and firm foothold. Likewise, writers, translators and editors consider words as distinct units, each with its unique past and characteristics, beyond its role in the context of a sentence. Here are five examples of words in English still used today that have retained their historical roots.

[compass]

Orientate – This word means to find one’s way. The Swedes used it practically to describe navigating blindly at sea to arrive at a specific point. However, it actually comes from the Latin oriens, meaning “the rising sun”. In other words, you need to find your “east”, not your north as they would say in Hebrew. By the way, the French town of Lorient was named after a ship, "L'Orient' that was built to sail eastward to the French colonies in India. Go east, young man.

[bale of straw]

Threshold – This word today means “on the edge of”  as in the team is on the threshold of gaining respectability. Its origin is actually as it sounds, i.e., it is the barrier that held the thresh, generally known as straw, within the floor area of medieval houses. Tiles and other hard materials were for the rich. For many centuries, the poor had to be satisfied with straw. On the other hand, replacing the floor was much less expensive and faster than it is today.

[dripping faucet]

There will be the devil to pay – This expression sounds rather straightforward: if you break the rules, the punishment will be serious. Actually, it probably comes from the nautical tradition, where the devil was the bottom beam of a ship that had to be tarred, paid, from time to time to prevent leaking. It was hot and unpleasant work and reserved for those sailors that were not sufficiently cooperative. I was told that on modern ships, it is necessary to periodically paint the engine room, also a quite difficult environment. However, at least now those tasked for this job get extra pay.

[kitchen pipes]

Plumber - All of us have had to call a plumber, a person that actually knows how to attach those pipes under the sink. The interesting aspect of the name of the profession is the root plumb, which refers to lead, the metal. People forget that for centuries lead was the metal of choice for many household items, including pots and pans, because it was strong, light and easy to shape. Today, plastic, iron and ceramic are the standards because lead is actually a slow-working poison but hindsight is always wonderful. To paraphrase a well-known movie, lead and lace in the kitchen is not a healthy combination.

[coach with 4 horses]

Teamster – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a powerful union representing truckers and warehouse workers, among others, in the United States. The word team in the title does not refer to any sports organization but instead grouped beasts of burden, e.g. horses, oxen, donkeys and mules, that were used to pull heavy loads, with the driver of such arrangements referred to a teamster. It has been a few generations, at least in the Western world, since motor vehicles replaced these animals but the name stuck. The horsepower remains even without the horse.

Like an ancient footstep immortalized in hard stone, many words show their past as well as the past of the humans that created them to those that keep their eyes and mind open. The process is still continuing. It is possible in the future that people will pen their thoughts without knowing what a pen is. For linguists, these roots add to the pleasure of language.

 

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In solving C – the mental travails of translator

 

[cartoon face with tongue sticking out*]

Every crossword solver hates the moment: the word is on the tip of your tongue but it refuses to come out. In my latest case, it was “inability to pay" – starting with “in”.

While I also enjoy crossword puzzles, I experience this phenomenon on an almost daily basis as I am a professional translator. Aside from subtle issues with the language from which I am working, I face the problem of finding the exact word in the language to which I am translating, which happens to be English, my native language. It should be easy as pie (easy-peasy as the British might say) but sometimes I simply cannot recall the exact word.

As I often do not have the luxury of waiting for another clue or waiting for later and hoping the word will come, I have to resort to mechanical means. As usual, the Internet serves as one savior. When the context is general, Google Translate or Reverso provides some options with the former less effective as the result  is limited to one option. When the context is specialized, online dictionaries (WordReference.com, Multitrans.ru and Wellisch.co.il  are my favorites, depending on the language combination) provide a quick list of synonyms. Sometimes my printed dictionaries are the fastest and most accurate reminder. My last trick is typing “synonym for xxxxx”, which give me a list of words, which usually jogs my memory. (BTW – I used the last technique to remember the verb jog in the phrase.) With that challenge overcome, I can now continue translating until the next memory challenge.

For those that could not think of the word, it is insolvency. Do not feel bad if you failed to identify it. Translators after many hours sometimes struggle to recall much simpler words. So, translation buyers, don’t ask your translators to work 12-hour days. Imagine trying to do crossword puzzles for that long. To paraphrase Nat King Cole, a person may be unforgettable but words, especially after many hours, are quite forgettable.**

 

 

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** According to my numbering system, this is my 600^th post I have written. Time flies when you are having fun.

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