Think back, waaaaay back to your high school French classes. You may vaguely remember that after finishing a meal you say "J'ai fini" (I have finished) rather than "Je suis fini" (I am finished) since the latter means that you are dead, or almost so. Screwing this up has led to some funny conversations with the waitress at my favorite bacon and eggs diner in Montreal.
Well, Hebrew also has a few of these fun translation problems as The Chicken found out last night when he returned to the lab with a sample from the NMR machine.
"Gamarti eem ha NMR" (I am finished with the NMR) he said to his labmate, Michal, whom was next in line for the machine.
She gave him a funny look, giggled, and said, "James, you must not say this. You must say 'Siyamti eem ha NMR.' (I am done with the NMR) What you say means you had orgasm."
We all know The Chicken loves organic chemistry, just not THAT much.
12 years ago
2 comments:
who knows? after a 17-step synthesis with numerous failures, extractions and columns, anyone will have an orgasm when they see their very desired product on NMR. i've yet to encounter such episode. i should give it more love and tenderness...
This story sounds as if two 13 year olds are involved. This juvenile response James got is not accurate. You can use the verb "LIGMOR" (to finish) just as you can use the English verb To Come. The "sexual" meaning and the giggling due to the use of the verb is really childish and stupid - and really makes you think about the maturity of the person.
You and James can keep on using this verb safely, and if you see giggling, you will know that you are standing in front of an adult with the mental maturity of a teenager.
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