Whoops.

I've approached learning Luo with a bit of reckless abandon. Even if I don't know exactly what to say I'll try to use whatever vocab I have to carry on some kind of exchange. There have been quite a few humorous mistakes but these three are the best so far.

I wanted to say, "Adwaro nyoyo," which means, "I want maize and beans."

What I actually said was, "Adwaro yoyo," which means, "I want to suckle."

I wanted to say, "Tedo alayo," which means, "Cook green grams."

What I actually said was, "Tedo alayo," with incorrect inflection, which means, "Cook I urinate."

I wanted to ask, "Ichiew nadhi?" which means, "How are you waking?"

What I actually asked was, "Ichew nadhi," which means, "How are you fat?"

This last slip has happened a number of times but everyone has been gracious, either because they were confused or because being called fat is not such a bad thing in this culture.


PS. You know how at big sporting events, like the opening ceremony of the Olympics, they'll show a shot of the stadium from a blimp hovering above and you'll see an infinite amount of camera flashes? Now imagine each one of those flashes is a bolt of lightening. That was something like the storm two nights ago.