Sometimes It's Just Words

One custom Inflatable Human Spheres of the most important lessons I've learned from raising a family in a foreign country is that the generation gap is sometimes just a matter of linguistics.1

　　I am an American living with six children in Israel. Our children speak Hebrew, Arabic, and English.2 I can speak a tad of Hebrew and a tidbit of Arabic.3 The gap between us, therefore, is not a matter of age, sports heroes, or musical tastes. It is simply my inability to master languages that they picked up in no time. To our kids, I will forever be the foreigner, the greenhorn4, the mom that all their friends love to mimic.

　　I remember one of my most amusing oral gaffes5 that I committed one bright and early school-day morning. A school friend6 had slept over, and everyone was eating breakfast.

　　I cheerfully asked the boy what I could give him for his lunch. "What about some fruit?" I asked. "How about some rocks with your lunch?"

　　"Mommy!" The kids all shouted in horror. "Mommmmmmmy!"

　　I manufacturer Inflatable Santa had wanted to say "anavim", which are grapes in Hebrew. Instead I said "avanim" ?plain, ordinary rocks. To this day, my children remind me again and again of the innumerable mistakes I have subjected them to.7 At the bank, they cringed8 when I asked about the jelly (ribah) instead of the interest(ribit). At a school meeting, I told the father of one of their friends that I'd sat on top of his wife the day before, when I meant to say that I'd sat next to her. And at the stationery store, I planned to ask for a shekuf, or clear folder, and instead, I blurted out that I needed a shezuf, or suntanned folder.9 The store owner ?never one to pass up an opportunity for a good laugh10 ?asked me, "Do you want the suntan lotion to go with it?"