The Last Word

M & B have one Sidama word left in their vocabulary. A word they use often. Fa-sa. The polite translation would be something like, “passing gas.” It is the one word we haven’t corrected or provided the English translation for. I am not sure if we will ever use the slang word in our household again. I know the kids at school will teach them soon enough, but for now, I am ever-so-grateful that they haven’t quite picked up on American slang word. Case in point: we were having a family dinner this weekend in a nice, local restaurant. We were chatting, eating our apps, when Muse exclaims, “Muse fa-sa!” and proceeds to laugh hysterically. I can’t imagine what others around us would have thought if he instead exclaimed, “Muse farted!” I can feel my face getting red just thinking about it.

Before too much time passes (I can’t believe how quickly their almost 1st year home has gone by), I wanted to jot down some words that I remember from the first few months in the U.S.:

Sock-a-lee: bicycle

Sha-lay-la: boat

Kwass: ball

Jamma - more, more, more

Bacca - no more, stop

Dabo - bread :)

Amo - Come (come here)

Ca-see: socks

Geer-a: fire

Basu: cat

Woo-sha: dog

Wet-tet-ee: milk

Wa: water

Ga-goo: baby

Eye: no

Ow: yes

Shinty: pee

Ca-ca: poop

Mas-tee-ka: gum

Ma-cain-a: car

Wasa: collard greens

In-ne: me, me, me

Ish-ee: okay, its okay

Eye-tal-ya: any object

Ga-la-tame-o: thank you


And, the infamous fa-sa: fart