Post 71: Love by Any Other Name

Post 71: Love by Any Other Name


English may be a richer language than Hebrew, but both have the same problem. They have a word called "love" (Ahava in Hebrew (noun); Le'ehov (verb) to describe several kinds of situations.

There is something wrong with this!!! How can you have the same word to describe your feeling towards eating ice cream to your love of your parents???

• I love ice cream.



• I love my son.



• I love my mother.



• I love hiking.



• I love to sing.



• I love my baby.



• I love my cat.



• I love my friends.



• It's even a score in tennis meaning ZERO.
  

It's just not the same thing!!! In English you can like, admire, adore, lust....but why is there only one word for love? Some people say that the Inuit have 100 different words for snow (although check the Internet - this is debatable). And why is the problem of one word for love evident in so many languages? But there's got to be a different between sexual, physical love and platonic love at least!!! How did this word develop? Why are there so many words in Hebrew, for example, for bodily secretions, for flowers and trees. There's even more than one word for a basket that you use for the Shavuot holiday? And that's only one or two days in the entire year?



And some say that come of the Eskimo lanaguges spoken by Inuit people have hundred of words for "snow", although this may very well be an urban legend.

The word LOVE has definitely been neglected. It's sung about, written about, defined, sold, bought, traded, used for advertisements, hidden, exposed, counted, sorted, measured, weighed, lost, won, forgotten, regained, relinquished, abandoned, etc. etc.

You may the song "As the Years Go By" by Mashmakhan. They also sing about the meaning of love at different ages. You can watch it here (external link) or embedded here.. I like this version as they show scenes from Canada, but you can watch different versions on YouTube. This is the first time I've embedded a video. There may be hopes for me yet until the techology changes again.

I don't know what love is, but maybe I'll finally understand once someone gives the word another name.

This post has been inspired by Jacob, a friend of this writer, who would "love" to give him a well-deserved credit.

Post 7: There is sushi. There is sunshine.

originally created as column 7, October, 2000

There is sushi. There is sunshine.

Lately I’m simply a bit tired of thinking about men. So I met Dafna and Liat for sushi one Friday afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day. No one asked if us if we were thin or fat, what we looked like and why we got divorced. We sat for a leisurely lunch and I didn’t have to worry if Dafna would call me again or whether Liat would try to kiss me. And I can call either one of them without them thinking that I am being pushy. We don’t have to define our relationship because we are all friends, and I won’t get jealous when they date other men or meet with other women. They will compliment me on my clothes and hair and forgive each other for losing or gaining weight, because there are more important things in life after all.

After lunch, I went home and bought myself flowers and put on some quiet romantic music, and then I took a nap. At least when there is no sex, you can sleep peacefully. So on some days, men, we just don’t need you. When there’s no sex, there is sushi, and there is sunshine.

This writer eats tuna salad, chicken and other, less exotic food. Sushi is a treat.