For my Jewish friends:

[judecorp]

I saw someone post this in pifflegrrl's journal and I am still dying laughing so I thought I would share.

Hey Ya, Hanukkah-style.

Comments

[grrlpower.livejournal.com]

that's wonderful! but, uhm, I couldn't see anything after Michael Jackson...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Really? I didn't have that problem at all. Maybe Michael Jackson broke your computer with his ugly mug?

[grrlpower.livejournal.com]

perhaps... :) I was trying to figure out if it was symbolic

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I think it's a conspiracy!

[snack.livejournal.com]

ok i'm not jewish but i was dying. and what's up with the spelling- ch vs h? oy! (oy is just yo backwards)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

There seem to be two different ways to spell it: Hanukkah or Chanukah. I'm not sure why the two spellings or where they come from. Perhaps a Jew can answer this for me? I'm just a punk who was raised Catholic.

[oxlahun.livejournal.com]

Silly Rabbi[t]. There's more than one way to transliterate ח. Hebrew has two "h" sounds: ה is like English h, and ח is like Greek χ or German "ch"—a sound we don't have in English any more. So some people write it "h" and just learn which words it's pronounced differently, and some write it "ch" since Hebrew doesn't really have a sound like the "ch" in "cheese". Why the German orthography, instead of picking some other confusing letter like q or x? Hint: many Jewish folks have ancestors from Germany.

Wow. I'm pedantic early today. This may not be a good sign. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Wow - how do you know this stuff? Are you a closet Jew??!?!

[oxlahun.livejournal.com]

No, I'm a closet alphabetician.

The idea that things in our head can be represented/communicated/shared by making noises and/or little black marks on a piece of paper (or computer screen, &c.) has always been fascinating to me. There's nothing inherent in the noises or the little black marks that makes them special—different groups of people settle on different sets of noises and little black marks, and they all work just as well. Still, I like looking at what they picked.

I didn't actually know which little black marks went with those sounds, but I knew that most languages from the middle east have multiple h- and k- and related scratchy-throat sounds (going back at least as far as ancient Egypt), and I knew where to find the right little black marks. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Dude, you are SO seriously a nerd.

Good thing I [heart] nerds.

[jadefu.livejournal.com]

No, he just learns stuff like that so he'll win at Trivial Pursuit. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I bet you're right. It's a conspiracy! DAMN HIS BLACK HEART!!

[mostlyhere.livejournal.com]

That was great!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[smurfbrother.livejournal.com]

Why don't you come to meet my Rabbi? He isn't such a bad guy!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

***ALL ACCOUNTANTS***

[poopsmoothie.livejournal.com]

Holy shit.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

:)

[darksulia.livejournal.com]

I wanted to be offended, but I was laughing too hard.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I checked to see if it could be construed as offensive at all, but I couldn't find any offense. Unless you're Michael Jackson. Then you could be offended.

[vorpalbla.livejournal.com]

I'm so offended, my people will now go back to drinking your babies' blood. And it's all your fault.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Damn! I am a bad, bad person.