International Mother Language Day

February 21.  According to the Crazy Calendar, today is International Mother Language Day.  I am assuming it refers to someone’s mother tongue or first language and not the vocabulary of mothers.  If that were the case, they would mean saying things like: get dressed for school; pick up your clothes; set the table; do your homework.  But instead, I think the holiday is about the first language you used growing up.

Now while the language we use in our house is English, I often have problems comprehending it.  Like when I don’t want to do something.  In those cases, I HEAR the word, but do not understand it.  It’s kind of like a foreign language to me.  I actually think if my human spoke to me in POLISH, which would have been the language of my ancestors, I would understand her better.  For all you humans who are owned by PONs, here are a few words in Polish that you may want to try out.  My human found these on the internet and she also found what they would sound like.  For some she was not able to find a good example of the pronunciation – so your PON may not understand you.  PLEASE keep in mind that these are written by an English speaking human – so apologies to my Polish speaking friends – we are probably way off with some of the pronunciations!

The “typical” human vocabulary used with us canines:

Sit – Siad   (which sounds kind of like she-et)

Heel – Noga  (sounds like it looks)

Stay – Zostac  (This one is particularly hard for me to understand in English – especially when photos are being taken – it sounds like zostach)

Down – Waruj  (sounds kind of like vad-we)

This one I LOVE:

Fetch – Aport (another one sounds like it looks)

Love this one also:

Go outside - Na dwor (couldn’t find a good translator for this pronunciation)

I only like this one when I know we are going to be fed:

Go inside - Do srodka (another one we could not find)

I’m 50-50 on this one – my ability to comprehend this one depends on whether or not my human has treats:

Come here - Do mnie ( although various pages listed this, there was again no good pronunciation translator)

There is really no point in learning the Polish word in our house– as we never have to use this English word.  Especially with Frodo:

Speak – Glos  (sounds like gwus)

SOMETIMES I hear this:

Good dog! - Dobry Pies  (dobri pee-es)

But the most common words I hear:

No – Fe (sounds like it looks)

Leave it – Zostaw to  (sounds like zostesto)

My human decided that she is going to use the Polish word for “sniff” when I am doing my scent work – wachac – which sounds kind of like Vo-hutch. 

So there you have my words to celebrate International Mother Language Day.  I suppose since I live in Canada, I should also provide some unique Canadian words that people may not know – although they are not dog terminology:

Toque:  a knitted hat worn in the winter

Runners:  athletic footwear like sneakers or tennis shoes

Parkade:  a parking garage

Donair:  a pita containing spiced meat in –  a creamy sweet garlic sauce – A famous Nova Scotian treat!

Keener:  a person who is overly enthusiastic; a brown-noser

Two-four:  a case of 24 cans or bottles of beer

All dressed:  a type of potato chip with a variety of seasonings

Double-double:  Canada has a coffee restaurant chain called Tim Hortons – and a double-double is a coffee with two creams and two sugars

Toonie/loonie – a one or two dollar coin

So there you have some Canadian lingo too!  I had better sign off because my human is about to put on her toque and her runners,  and take us out for another walk.  Great fun, eh?!

Miłego dnia.  Have a nice day!

©  Linda Wozniak