Monday, October 03, 2005

A goodbye is a false friend

When I was learning French and Italian at school, my teachers introduced me to the concept of a 'false friend'. This is a word that you THINK will mean one thing, but turns out (upon translation) to mean something completing different. For instance, in Italian, the word CALDA actually means HOT. Didn't see that one coming, eh? Bit of trivia for a quiz night I guess.

But I AM going somewhere with this.

Am sitting at Milan's regional airport contemplating the word GOODBYE. Far from being a misnomer, I would say that it is an English 'false friend'.

It doesn't feel GOOD to say it, and it doesn't feel GOOD to hear it.

And in the words of Forrest Gump, that's all I'm going to say about that.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aw Gahbi,

don't be sad.

One day we will all be like peas and carrots again. When you see us you'll hear "Run Gabi, Run" and before you know it we'll be sharing ice cream "Icream, Lt Dan, Ice cream!" and because life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

(trailing off in the distance)
shrimp salad
shrimp cocktail
shrimp soup
(trailing off even further)
tell him about the rabbits George
Tell him about the rabbits

Anonymous said...

See, you've gotta learn Latin. Then you would know that Italian CALDA derives from Latin CALIDUS which is an adjective meaning hot, and you'd recognize the word immediately.

Ciao!

mikeyboy

Unknown said...

It is surreal that the blog post from the depths of my despair prompted a decision to recommend my sister to a therapist, AND a quick lesson in the evolution of language. Love it all. And I am feeling much better about my lot.

Anonymous said...

Kimono comes from the greek work Himona........

Unknown said...

Everyone one knows that all words are founded in Greek - it's apples and oranges no matter how you look at it.

P.S Buy Windex when you get to Chicago - it's a first aid staple and good for squirting in muggers eye's.