Pen-Elayne on the Web

The Word For Fish is Fish, Spake the Fish

When my uncle was taking us back from the services in Nyack (see my postings from 3/14 and 3/15), he mentioned that my mother had been inquiring as to the Yiddish word for "fish." Then this happened. Coincidence? I think not. (New Square is, like Nyack, in Rockland County.) Honestly, Mom, when you ask about fish you should've known you were going to open up a can of worms. (Insert any and all fishy puns in your comments. My favorite will always be Firesign's "Probably a Pisces, working for scale," but it loses something taken out of context.) Update: I love Neil Gaiman's reaction to this item: A story I find disturbing only because they killed the carp. I mean, for heaven's sake.... Does no one read any fables any more? You're meant to marvel and then place the fish into a safe place, and take it to the king, not bonk it over the head and turn it into gefilte fish. And then it's brought before the king, and either it talks again or it doesn't. And if it talks it offers a little sage advice, and then it's put in a pool and looked after well until the end of its days, and it never talks again. I find myself muttering "What do they teach them in these schools these days?" like the Professor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.