Fourth in Line: Shades

Friday, May 09, 2008

Anonymous said...: I don't recall now if this was the time someone was trying to say "kapakipakinabang" for the Panatang Makabayan.

It does lead to the recollection when Mother made J and I read out the script to her slides. We had a little bell (the one we used for prayers) to ring at the end of the page.

We alternated turns reading pages, generally remembered to ring the bell, and all was well... until we came across an unpronounceable, never-seen-before word: Beef Bourguignon.

He was reading it first, and I was surprised at his stumble. He gave it several tries, and I chafed at his slowness, convinced I could do better.

That is, until he let me have the book and I actually saw the word for myself. We gave it several tries, and got as far as beef boorghee... borgi.. borgig...nuff, and collapsed in peals of laughter.

We confessed to Mother that we just couldn't read this crazy word, but Mother used that tape in her class anyway. I can only imagine what her college students thought of 2 kids solemnly reading and carefully ringing the bell at each turn of the page... until our tongue twisted and we couldn't continue for laughter.

She has unfortunately since lost the tape (and it would be magnetically wiped by now, probably), but J will remember the incident, too, I'm sure.

love,

Z; June 1, 2013 at 6:40 PM