Comments on What War Zone???: SAY IT! SAY IT!

Benji, don't expect everyone in the world to be an...

2008-01-18T16:32:00.000+02:00

Benji, don't expect everyone in the world to be anglicized. It may seem to you obvious that the nickname associated with Benjamin is Benji. However, Benjamin is the anglicized form of Binyamin, a biblical hebrew name. So of course Israelis don't get it, why should they?
On the other hand, you overlook some linguistic rules in hebrew. One of them is that when one doesn't know the correct vowel (especially when the word is foreign in origin, and Benjamin for all intents and purposes is foreign to hebrew, (don't get insulted)), the default vowel is "a". That explains why you were called "bahnjee".

I can top that one. They CANNOT say Darla.....it c...

2008-01-06T19:37:00.000+02:00

I can top that one. They CANNOT say Darla.....it comes out, I swear to you, "dollar!"
They don't even bother to tackle my husband's "British" first name, instead they call him by his last name. How endearing. Not.

I would switch to my "Hebrew" name, but I detest it. Perhaps I'll re-name myself.

Benji, just give it a little more time -- once you...

2008-01-05T09:52:00.000+02:00

Benji, just give it a little more time -- once you're fully acculturated you'll realize, so what no one can pronounce your name ... YIYEH B'SEDER!!!

Oh, this really rings a chord with me! Here in th...

2008-01-04T23:32:00.000+02:00

Oh, this really rings a chord with me! Here in the US no one seems to be able to pronounce Sarit correctly. I get everything from Sah-RIT to She-REESE. Ugh. I LOVE going to Israel and being able to use my name instead of my husband's when making dinner reservations.
Seriously though, Ben (alas, you'll never be Benji to me...), there's no gimel in Benyamin, so why do you think Israelis would ever make the connection with your nickname?

This made me think of the many ways my last name h...

2008-01-04T23:04:00.000+02:00

This made me think of the many ways my last name has bene pronounced.

I think the worst is when Israelis add an "h" to a name where it shouldn't be, for example: Nathalia.

Oh this makes me laugh! I just blogged about the O...

2008-01-04T19:13:00.000+02:00

Oh this makes me laugh! I just blogged about the OPPOSITE. Finally here people have stopped pronouncing my daughter's name "Yale." We've been here 8 days and already met 3 other Yaels...