Some days it seems like I'm getting extra help with learning Khmer.
This morning I set a lesson plan to learn around twenty new verbs. One of the things that came up with my tutor is that there is a different word for dropping something on purpose and dropping something accidentally. As soon as my lesson finished I went to a shop/ house around the corner to buy rice for breakfast. While I was standing there, cash in hand, I dropped one of the notes. One of the ladies serving rice exclaimed, "You dropped something accidentally!" (just the single word in Khmer) and I turned to pick it up. How convenient that after seven weeks of shopping every day and not dropping any money (that I am aware of!) I should accidentally drop something five minutes after studying the verb.
Language is so interesting! In Hindi there is a word for 'causing something to fall' (i.e. dropping something) but it's much more common to say merely 'it fell' without laying any blame.
ReplyDeleteHey joe-
ReplyDeleteYeah... I'm starting to understand how people become passionate about languages because of the clues it gives about the peoples that use them.