You said what?

It's always been a fear of mine that I would say something horrible in a another language just by mispronouncing something.

For me, it was speaking Navajo to Mr. Salt a few weeks ago.

As I said to Diva in the comments below, Navajo (Dine bizaad) is a tonal language, meaning that where you put the emphasis in a good portion of the words can totally change the meaning of the word. Say it one way, it means this. Say it another, it means that.

So, when we were at the softball game I referenced a few posts ago, there was a grill fired up to cook burgers. Mr. Salt referenced the smoke coming our way in Navajo. Repeating him, I attempted to say the word for smoke. Mr. Salt immediately corrects me.

What I said wasn't smoke.

I had said shit.

Ah, for the joys of learning a new language.

It does has it fun moments. For instance, you can talk about people that give us evil looks (Angry Black Cat referenced this in her blog), and they can be totally confused because they expect Spanish(due to Mr. Salt's coloring). It always throws them for a loop.

Saying "over there" in Navajo can be fun too. The distance to get to o'er there where something is can change from two feet to ten miles depending how long you draw out a certain constant.

And, of course, misspeaking the language isn't always limited to me. Mr. Salt says that when he was little and learning the language, SaltMama had sent him over to his grandma's house for onions. So when he gets there, he tries to ask for onions using Navajo.

He didn't say onion. He said the vulgar word for a woman's lower anatomy.

So grandma was offended and was mad at SaltMama for teaching Mr. Salt dirty words.

Oh, and Mr. Salt's first learned English word?

Shit.

-DineBoo

Rezzed Out...aaayyy!

Over time, Mr. Salt and I have developed our own unique way of talking and mannerisms. Some words we use are taken from the Rez, the Navajo language, and black slang. I'll start with the word 'john' from my previous post.

'John': Mr. Salt says this means a really bozzie "ghetto" Navajo. Yes, they can be ghetto. More relates to the way they live on the Rez and life itself.

"...aaayyy!" Attached to the end of the sentence, it's how women flirt on the Rez. "That guy was giving you the eye, aaayyy!" RezDog.com has a great shirt with this saying on it. I want one.

"...and everything!" Attached to the end of sentence, it rolls up what could goes on with a person or a situation into one word. "He was drinking with his friends and everything!" "He was running around and everything!" Most people know what the "Everything" is.

"O'er there!" Basically, "over there!" Also point with your lips when you say this to give the right directions. Mr. Salt rubbed off on me because now I say this every time I give out directions.

"Ckys!" Put your tongue at the roof of mouth and make the 'ck' sound. Basically used when you have a "Are you kidding me? No way!" moment.

'ennit': No explanation necessary. Really.

Indianuity: Whenever Mr. Salt figures out how to rig something to make it work or make it work better. Similar to N*gger rigging.

-DineBoo