meeskite
adj.— Note: “Jolie-laide” is the French term for it. «Little, purebred dogs are certainly among the easier animals to find homes for, but Rosie was a bit “mature” when she entered my shelter as a homeless stray. A somewhat crusty old lady, this little Shitzu was in fact a mess when I first brought Marilyn to meet her. The Yiddish word “meeskite” meaning “someone so homely she’s actually cute,” the proverbial face only a mother could love, that was Rosie.» —“Rosie & Marilyn” by Ken White SFGate.com (San Francisco, California) May 12, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Ahmed, a native speaker of Arabic who also speaks French, wonders how he should pronounce words from those languages when speaking English. For example, should he model the pronunciation for the name of the writer Kahlil Ghibran the country of Qatar...
Lucy in Louisa, Virginia, recalls that if her mother was exasperated when the kids were misbehaving, she’d announce I’m going to put you both in a wet paper bag and see who falls out first! This is part of a complete episode.
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