The hardest part about not being Orthodox any more is how to pronounce words like Hanukkah/Chanukah. If I say "Chanukah" but am clearly neither Orthodox nor Israeli, I'm self-conscious because it's like I'm being pretentious. And people will actually make fun of me. And saying "Hanukkah" just feels wrong.
Biblical names are also fun. I'll be in the middle of a conversation every now and then and have to think, "How do you pronounce Esau, anyway?" "Laban? Is that Lavan in English?"
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6 comments:
"The hardest part about not being Orthodox any more is how to pronounce words like Hanukkah/Chanukah."
Really? The hardest part? I oughta try it! :-)
"If I say "Chanukah" but am clearly neither Orthodox nor Israeli"
You could always be Russian...
Shouldn't that be Khanukah?
ahh, when I finally remembered it was chanukah (only a day late!) I used the proper pronounciation to my kids - it never hurts to educate them and I can't stand lazy speach:-)
my idiot mother handed out hannuka gelt though. One or the other please! If you are anglicising it anglicise the whole lot. Othyerwise it's just basatrdisation of both languages!
LOL. So funny. I always struggle with this too. The strangest one for me has always been chummus and techina. I CANNOT bring myself to say hummus and tehini... but when everyone else uses those pronunciations it's sounds downright snobbish to say it any other way.
One of my favorites work stories is when one of my non-Jewish co-workers came up to me one day and said, "I've got it." I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, so I asked him to clarify. He said, "I know how to say it now. It's Chhhhhhh.......Hanukah." Yep, he had it :)
"A festivus for the rest of us!"
"It's now time for the feats of strength. Festivus isn't over until you pin me, George."
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