frogs_of_war

I question my coworker from Morocco to make sure baba was the correct Arabic word for daddy and after a moment, I realized that we were talking across each other. When I asked for Daddy, he asked whether I wanted it in Arabic or English, but I knew that he couldn't write it in English, because the alphabet a word is written it doesn't change what language the word is from, so I asked him to write it in Roman letters, but he said he couldn't do that.

That was when I realized what he meant and just nodded. It was time for me to clock in from lunch and I what did it matter what he called it? I asked him to pronounce the word he wrote and romanized (a word I picked up while learning Japanese) twice as Abi and Aby and just to check (because I had Googled it first) I asked if this was the word for Daddy, the word a small child would use. He said no, Abi is father (what Google had told me) and he wrote and romanized Baba, which he insisted was the same word and had the same meaning.

I didn't question this either, but really I don't see Daddy and Father as the same word. Yes, they could potential mean the same person (but so could uncle and brother, depending on who said it) and they both do mean a man parent, but angry and irate and livid and steamed and riled and rabid and incensed all mean mad, but they aren't all the same word at all.

Someone else asked why I wanted it and I said it was for a story, used by the four year old sons of a Lebanese man and my Moroccan coworker smiled and said someone from there would definitely use these words. So I got both real world confirmation of my use of Arabic and a reminder that I use words that others don't (and have no reason to) understand.


Title: Mage Partners
Status: Complete
Genre: Fantasy, slash, magic
Length: about 3.4k
Summary: As a magic holder and not a mage, Gyorgy can’t use any of his power to save himself and those he cares for. But when rescue comes he finds more than he sought.
Note: According to name sites Gyorgy is pronounced Dyor dee (like Georgie with d's) or Dward ee (it’s Hungarian).


Gyorgy cringed and squeezed little Piroska tighter as the door thudded in its frame. The monsters had been attacking the house since sundown, but the fear of what would happen if they got inside made sleep impossible for the children. Gyorgy huddled with the other three in his group at the back of the entryway, probably the worst place to be, but he needed to know that the monsters hadn’t yet broken in.

( The world flared white )