Chimney Sweeps & Wish-I-Could-Bleeps

Go waaaay back and think Mary Poppins... remember the chimney sweeps? That image came rushing back to me on Friday when an honest-to-goodness chimney sweep showed up at my door. He looked exactly like this (including the hat, I kid you not):

Now I hire a chimney sweep service in Iowa and it was a couple colleged kids in t-shirts and jeans. Not the ultra-humble, exceedingly polite and deferential version I found on my doorstep. They didn't speak German either, come to think of it.... He said he'd be back next year. I may ask to take his picture.

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"The payer will pare the pair of pears." You can imagine how this will trip up a new English speaker. Aha! German has some similar challenges. Knowledge is double-edged sword which means I try to say a lot more - as I know more - and I inevitably embarrass myself. Sigh.

For example. I learned this week that every single time we were out walking with the kids and ran across a dog owner out with their pet I asked, for the benefit of my interested children "May she paint your dog?" When my teacher was able to speak again after wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, she explained that the word for "to paint" (streichen) is close to the word for "to pet" (streicheln). Only German ears /tounges get the difference as that one measly 'l' in the petting word is basically silent. Grrr.

And to top it all off I was bragging to a German friend at church, in German, how I was "so proud of myself for SHAVING the grass this week." He stared at me blankly a bit and then burst out laughing. By this time I had caught the mistake and found the correct word - very close but no cigar - and was trying to stop him from telling everyone in the vicinity what I had said. Gah! What's that saying about 'pride cometh before a fall....?' I can tell you with absolute certainty that this is true in regards to speaking a new language. But you will amuse your new friends.