On (corporate) mothers and daughters

Business language has its peculiarities, including expressions that only make sense to those who use it daily.  One interesting example is the description of that slave-like relation between the controlling company and the controlled company, .i.e. when one company owns 100% of another company.  Curiously, there seems to be slight but meaningful differences between languages on how to describe this relationship.

English refers to the company owning the shares as the parent company, reflecting the fact that non-animate nouns do not have a gender in English.  By contrast, since the word for company is feminine in Hebrew and French, the parental relationship is expressed through the mother with a small difference, i.e. חברת אם [hevrat em], mother company, in Hebrew and maison mère, mother house, in French.  Spanish assumes the blood connection and  emphasizes the main point, the power, using  empreza matriz, meaning master or founding company, derived from the word for womb. Russian, for some unknown reason, opts to express all the options, i.e. компания-учредитель [kompaniya uchhyeditel], компания владеющая [kompaniya vladtyushaya], материнская компания [materinskaya kompaniya], and родительская компания [roditelskakya kompaniya], meaning founding, leading, mother, and parental company, respectively.

On the other side of the coin, English refers to the owned company as a subsidiary, from the Latin subsidiarius meaning help or support.  Spanish follows this lead, referring to such a company as a subsidiara. Keeping with the parental connection, Russians and Israeli treat their subsidiaries as daughers, using the terms дочерная компания [doshernaya firma] and חברת בת  [hevrat bat], respectively.  The French call it a filiale, which is linked to the Latin word for son, but generally refers to children in general. 

If Turgenev about physical fathers and sons, who will write a book about mothers and daughters of the legal body variety?

The Foreign Feeling

Millions of people have immigrated as adults to countries whose official language is different from theirs.  The minute they say they open their mouths, people identify them as foreigners, regardless of how many years they have lived in that country.  As a personal example, my mother has lived in the United States for over 60 years while I am in Israel for 25 years.  We are still foreigners and identified as such.  Our experience applies to the millions of immigrants around the world.

Israelis are very accepting of immigrants since almost everybody is not more than a generation or two removed from that status.  Still, without intending to offend, some Israelis treat non-natives in frankly annoying ways. For example, they significantly slow down their speech and use overly simple words, as if we are small children with limited understanding. In other cases, they switch to my native tongue, English, not even giving me a chance to prove that I know Hebrew. The most annoying comment I have received is “You still have an accent.”  Most people who immigrated as adults keep their native accent to one degree or another, without any connection to their knowledge of the language.  Henry Kissinger was a good example of that.

Other attitudes don’t bother me.  I have no problem with a mortgage counselor reminding me to ask if I have any question. Even native Israelis have problem with legal/banking language, incidentally my specialization in translating. I don’t mind friends correcting my Hebrew mistakes.  Otherwise, how would I improve my language?   I find it completely natural to ask a native speaker to review anything I write in Hebrew.  I want to make a good impression and know that pride has a heavy price.  So, I ask my wife to edit my Hebrew.

So, for most immigrants who came as adults, the second language never completely becomes the first language.  We have our mistakes, hesitations, and accents, which nothing to do with our intelligence or knowledge of the language itself.  As Aretha Franklin sang so well, all immigrants want R E S P E C T.

Who's got that holiday feeling?

What is a holiday feeling?  To people born, raised and living in the same country all their lives, the emotions and rituals associated with each holiday, whether anticipated or dreaded, are part of the flow of the year and to a certain degree obvious.  However, to expatriates, foreign residents, and other culturally confused people, there is no obvious emotional connection.

I was raised Jewish and have lived in Israel for 25 years.  Yet, my manner of experiencing the national and religious holidays of Israel is different from Sabras.

I grew up in an atheist Jewish house.  To explain that apparent contradiction, my parents did not practice or believe in Judaism, but insisted on building my Jewish awareness through a minimal Jewish education, active identification with being Jewish, and basic holiday rituals, specifically Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Pesach.  Therefore, at least for those three holy days, I experienced their rhythm.   Granted, fasting on Yom Kippur meant only not eating, not as in Israel where it means not eating and drinking.  As for the rest of the Jewish holidays, they mean nothing to me, including the joy of Purim, the ecstasy of Shevuot, or the mourning of Tisha b’Av.  These days are emotionally ordinary days, not special days as they are for religious Jews.

In terms of national holidays, I did not grow up here.  Israeli is going through its week-long catharsis consisting of the Holocaust Memorial Day, Memorial Day for fallen soldiers, and Independence Day.  As my mother was in Europe during the war and lost her father, among others, the first does have meaning, even if I am slightly ambivalent about the endless run of depressing movies and documentaries.  In terms of the Memorial Day for soldiers, I did not serve in the military.  Moreover, I have never known anybody who died in a war.  My father was wounded twice in World War II, but luckily came home safe and sound.  So, I have no one to remember on this day. It is a heavy day in terms of the national feeling, but without specific thoughts for me.  Tomorrow is Independence Day in Israel.  The feeling of wonder and excitement of being a country that characterized this holiday in the early years of the country is gradually disappearing.  Instead, almost every Israeli takes part in a mass feeding frenzy of barbecued meat.  That reminds me of July 4, without the Boston Pops and Soussa marches of course.  So, I can relate to the national experience. 

As I once said to my parents, I have the privilege of being able to live in three different societies (US, France, and Israel) without belonging 100% to any of them.  In terms of holidays, being socially confused makes you an outsider on holidays.  It is a bit like being an only child: not a tragedy but a situation.  I just have a different holiday feeling.

Email, Telephones and Private Life

Viewed from the perspective of 50ish person, born in the 1960’s, modern life has changed in many ways, many of them quite positive.  Some of the more invasive features of the last twenty years are cellular telephones and email.  While they have clearly made the world smaller, they have whittled down our private life to almost nothing, unfortunately.

Before their invention and popularization, communication was through a telephone, line-linked object generally limited to three a house.  Because you had to sit next to it to speak, its location was of prime importance. In other words, if you were not next to a telephone, you were free or cutoff, according to your perspective.  If by chance people had to make a phone call outside their residence, they had to find a phone booth and carry small change or phone tokens, depending on the country.  As for international communication, both long distance phone calls and telegraphs were expensive and were generally used to inform people of deaths and births. Since international or national written correspondence took time to reach its addressee, there was simply more time between messages.

By contrast today, thanks to cellular technology, people can call from anywhere, even in remote wilderness areas.  Since the cost is minor in terms of people’s overall budget, people use the telephone even (or mainly) when they have nothing to say.  The classic example is the Sunday train in Israel, filled with soldiers on their way to their bases and buzzing with intelligent dialogue of this nature: “What’s up?  I’m on way to the base?  And you? See you there.”  This sheer mindlessness can go for two straight hours as the bored soldiers contacts each person in his or her directory.  Friends sit together and talk with other people on their telephone at the same time.

For us freelancers, the Internet and email have created constant and instant linkage with customers throughout the world as well as an unending, frantic pace of written communication.  Psychologically, my business day only ends when I arbitrarily decide that I am no longer obliged to respond to emails at a certain hour.  I fully understand the logic behind the new law proposal in France closing the employer/employee cellular communication at the end of the working day.  Slavery was made illegal a few centuries ago.

So, the revolution in communication has brought us all together, which is rather nice sometimes.  On the other hand, it has created a huge mass of noise, with too few quiet spots to think and enjoy the sunset or your thoughts.  Personally, for business purposes, I cannot live without email.  However, in terms of cellular phone use, I remain a happy dinosaur, not even knowing my own mobile phone number.  I try to protect my private time and enjoy the benefits of both worlds, the old and the new.

The What, The Where, but the Why?

Objects gain names for many reasons. These range from orders from God, at least according to the Bible, to poor translation (the poor White Rhino is actually grey but is quite wide, relative to its more common cousin).  Sometimes, the location of its source is so identified with the product that the place name becomes the product.  As time passes, if the object is much more famous than its place of birth, its “mother” becomes completely forgotten.

A prime example of this can be seen in clothes. In the winter, women can be seen wearing jerseys and Kashmir sweaters, depending on income of course, without them giving a thought about England and Pakistan/India.  By contrast, the guy wearing the Bermudas and the girl wearing the bikini talking to each other have no thoughts of distant tropical islands except possibly as a great place to go on vacation and get to know each other better.

At the bar, customers sipping cognac, champagne and Porto are enjoying their drinks completely ignoring that it is quite probable that they were produced in distant regions in France and Portugal.  Granted, there is a running dispute whether the latter should refer to the place or type of grape, but the French would insist on the first.  However, here at least, there is a connection between the beverage and its source of production.  By contrast, the patrons at the table swilling their Bronxes and Manhattans justifiably cannot see any connection between the name of their alcoholic concoctions and those boroughs in New York.  For that matter, if the designated driver is drinking coffee in a china cup, does s/he make any connection to the designers of the Great Wall?  It seems doubtful.

The world of cheese is filled with namesakes.  How many people know where Gorgonzola, Edam, Gruyere and Cheshire cheese are made, to name just a few?  To be fair, the answers are Italy, Holland, France, and England.  There is a significantly greater chance that a person has tasted all those cheeses than visited those places.

Occasionally, history seeps down and enters common language, linking obscure localities to complex ideas. If you have had your Waterloo, your game is over. On the other hand, after your Dunquerke, you will rise again, but it may take many marathon sessions to do it.  If you fail, you may get sent to Timbuktu, i.e. very far away.  I strongly suspect that most people could not find any of those locations on a map or even identify in which country they are located.

 Yet, it may not be that important to make the connection.  As long as we understand what item the name represents, the knowledge of its origin, however fascinating, is essentially a matter of intellectual curiosity and pride.  On the other hand, many otherwise forgotten villages owe their fame to their special product.  To quote Mark Twain, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

Loaded Words

Some medicinal plants can be both helpful and harmful.  It is a only a matter of correct use.  Likewise, many words that are appropriate and acceptable in one context should be absolutely avoided on other contexts. In other words, they carry a linguistic load that adds an unwanted meaning to the sentence.

One example is the word exploit.  It is clear and socially acceptable that every mine owner wants to exploit the maximum from that mine.  However, should s/he want to exploit the coal miners, it might lead to a strike or bad publicity since the word exploit has become a synonym for abuse when it comes to people.  Instead, an effective manager should try to get the best results from his/her personnel.  The same would apply to collaboration.  Two businesses or people may collaborate, that is work together, to achieve a result, often a highly effective and applauded effort.  By contrast, collaboration in politics implies the stench of working with the enemy and preferring short-term over national interest as many individuals and companies did during World War II under the German occupation.  Political leaders would better choose bipartisan politics.

Similarly, if a person has discriminating taste in wine or food, s/he can detect class and quality, which is quite good.  Should the person discriminate in the matter of people, the matter could end up in a court of law as discrimination in employment is illegal.  It would be better to have a good eye for people.  Likewise, every attorney knows and writes that a given relief does not prejudice any other relief available according to the contract and by law.  This means that just because I kick you out of the apartment for not paying rent does not stop me from demanding damages.  By contrast, an apartment owner that refuses to rent to non-whites shows prejudice, which again may have him/her in court again.

On a less criminal level, lawyers and prostitutes, quite a funny combination, have clients.  Most other businesses have customers precisely to maintain a good reputation.  Who would want to be associated with those professions, even if most people use either or both during their lifetime.  For those people who are careful buyers, If you buy something cheap at a swap meet or 5 & 10 shop, this is okay because expectations of quality are low in any case.  However, if you say that a product is cheap, this refers not only to the price but also to the lack of quality, which is not exactly a complement on your shopping skills.  By contrast, there is nothing wrong with buying inexpensive goods.  Persians and Scots would only admire you.

So, watch out when using these words.  You may end up saying something you did not mean and getting a bad name or worse.  A word to the wise is sufficient.

Friday, not your average day

No day of the week, with the possible exception of Sunday, is as linguistically busy as the fifth day of Western calendar and sixth day of the Jewish holiday.  Reflecting the heritage of English, the name of day is derived from the Norse god Frigg, wife of Odin, with a similar status to Venus.  Due to its proximity to Saturday and Sunday, the traditional rest days in the West, many events and connotations have attached themselves to it.

First of all, according to the old poem, a child born on Friday is loving and giving, generally a good thing.  Parents should be grateful of that. Many people also say TGIF, i.e. thank God it’s Friday, happy with the knowledge that tomorrow they won’t have to go to work the next day.  For that matter, to help celebrate, many office workers are allowed to wear jeans on Friday, appropriately called Jeans Friday or casual Friday.  Catholics would agree with Good Friday, although many question why Jesus getting crucified can be good day.  I suppose it is a matter of faith.  On the flip side, black Friday was an awful day in 1929 when the stock markets collapsed.  Similarly, Friday the 13^th is supposedly a day of disaster, as depicted in those famous/infamous Freddy Kreuger movies.

Interestingly, the French vendredi is also derived from a goddess queen, the actual Venus in this case. Maybe because the next day, samedi, was traditionally  a work day until a few generations ago and still is a partial school day, the French have less enthusiasm towards it.  It borders on blasé as the expression vendredi, c’est ravioli signifies that something is a fact.  No happy hour excitement there.

In Israeli,  יום שישי [yom shishi], meaning the sixth day, no goddesses here, is traditionally a busy day.  God had to finish the whole creation business so he could relax on the Sabbath.  Likewise, we Jewish mortals have to work hard to prepare forשבת  [shabbat], the only unnumbered day.  For this reason, the sixth day is known for סקס, pronounced sex, not for the procreation activity, but for סידורים, קניות ספונג'ה  [sidorim, kniot, and sponga], that is to say, errands, shopping and mopping the floor.  After a long day of that, not to mention cooking for that night and the next day, who has energy for real sex?

So, whether Friday is the gateway to heaven, the weekend, almost a regular day or the mad rush to prepare for the Sabbath, it is a day worthy of note.

P.S. This was written on a Friday.