Pat in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, says that when his brother Paul was young, he misunderstood their father’s references to Miami. Paul always thought his dad was referring to his own personal ammy, and the family still refers to that South Florida city as Dad’s ammy. This is part of a complete episode.
That’s so cute! This reminded me of an anecdote that comes up in my family often. We’re Dutch, and when my brother would ask my mum when his birthday was, my mother would reply it’s on dertien mei (May 13). As it happens, in Dutch, the month of May is pronounced exactly the same as the personal pronoun ‘mij’ (used in the same places as English ‘my’). I bet you can guess where this is going. When my brother then told somebody his own birthday, he replied it was on ‘dertien mama’ (thirteen momma’).
In English, you can express skepticism with the classic saying when pigs fly. In Tagalog, a similar sentiment is expressed with a phrase that translates “when the crow turns white, when the heron turns black,” and there’s a Hungarian phrase that...
Dax in Santa Cruz, California, wonders: Now that we’re into the 21st century, when will people stop saying that initial 20 when referring to a year such as 2028 the way we dropped the 19 in the term 1980s and just started referring to the ’80s? This...
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That’s so cute! This reminded me of an anecdote that comes up in my family often. We’re Dutch, and when my brother would ask my mum when his birthday was, my mother would reply it’s on dertien mei (May 13). As it happens, in Dutch, the month of May is pronounced exactly the same as the personal pronoun ‘mij’ (used in the same places as English ‘my’). I bet you can guess where this is going. When my brother then told somebody his own birthday, he replied it was on ‘dertien mama’ (thirteen momma’).