bark mitzvah n. a (13th birthday) party held for a dog. Editorial Note: Usually jocular. The event itself usually has few, if any, serious religious components and are less coyly known simply as cat mitzvahs and dog mitzvahs. In many cases, the 13th birthday is figured in dog years, usually said to be a ratio of seven dog years for every one human year. Etymological Note: From bark ‘the onomatopoeic sound a dog is said to make’ + bar mitzvah, the Jewish ceremony for a boy’s arrival at the age of manhood and religious responsibility, or bat mitzvah, the equivalent ceremony for a girl. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The word cria refers to “a baby llama,” and derives from Spanish criar, meaning “to rear” or “to raise” a young animal. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Cria, the Llama Baby” Grant, I just learned the meaning of the word Kriag. C-R...
A listener who grew up in Newfoundland remembers her grandfather declaring the fog was thick as burgoo. Turns out burgoo was sailors’ slang for a gray, gelatinous oatmeal—exactly the right image for an impenetrable Newfoundland fog. The word appears...
Are more and more Jews
celebrating “Bark” Mitzvahs? I’d like to hear
from anyone who has
celebrated this type of
affair.
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Wolfeny@webtv.net