I’m only with my Icelandic relatives for a few minutes before I catch their tone of voice, their hesitations, and drawls. In short, I suffer from Contagious Accent Syndrome.
Today, I met a new friend whose main language is French. We all find it charming when she says square rolls when in fact, she really means squirrels. And by day’s end here I was pointing at the square rolls in my yard!
I have been known to spout the King James Version of the Bible while I teach. Class members are used to hearing phrases like this.
Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
(From Genesis 3:11, KJV)
Thankfully, I generally catch myself and rephrase into an English version like The Message.
“Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?
Do you catch onto the words of others in the same way? At least, let them be good ones!
Ah, friends, the jokes we play on our very own selves without even realizing it.
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