9.02.2011

No word for that.

Sometimes it takes a miscommunication to become a sharp rock in my shoe, reminding me just exactly how wide the cultural gap is between my mother and I.  Often times, there are words in the English language that do not exsist in her native tongue, and well, she has a hard time understanding what I do sometimes.  In my bright idea to try and communicate to my mother about what it is that I do.....I happened upon a magnet on my fridge at about the same time my mother was crossing in front of it.  The conversation went something like this.

"Hey, mom.  You know how we've been talking about the ...uh, weird things that I do."

Four foot asian woman: "Hmm."

"Well, see this magnet?  See the lady in the black?  What is she called in Thai?"

"Who'n," she answers promptly in her sing-song language.  Emphasis on the H, o is drawn out, and drawls into an N.

"Cool.  Okay.  What about the lady in pink."

My mom blinks.  "What is she?"

"Well, she does the same stuff the lady in the black does, but she does GOOD stuff..."

"There's not a word for that."

Damn.  Fail.

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