Language Addiction

Kifallah! 

That's how you say "hello" in Egyptian Arabic, which adds yet another greeting to Fiorella's ever-growing repertoire.  She learned it from the golden-haired  clerk who checked her out in H-E-B a couple of days ago, then solidified it in her brain by repeating it to the woman yesterday when Fio realized she'd wound up in the same register line.

Where did Fio's fascination with languages come from? Maybe from the early exposure Fio has previously described--her great aunts and uncles teaching her a "soft Russian" phrase ("God, give health") to use when she sneezed, maybe from a Louisiana-born neighbor teaching her to say "I love you" in French, another neighbor teaching her hose to count to ten in Spanish, her mother teaching her how to count and recite the alphabet in German. Maybe from moving from Ohio to Texas and having to learn a whole new version of English. Maybe from her desire to communicate with everyone she meets, or from her own weird brain, which seems to be attracted to unraveling intricacies.

Whatever, Fiorella is hooked. The next time she goes through Goldie's line, she'll ask her how to  say "thank you."

Weirder and Weirder

Back to that genealogy thing again, Fiorella's ggmother is proving to be something of an enigma. Some records say she was born in Farmerstown, Ohio, but she said she was born in Switzerland.  She said she was an orphan, but records show her mother was still alive when she was a child.  She told her grandchildren that her father was an Egyptian, but her last name was Bergdorf.  She also told them that the aunt who supposedly raised her was a witch who haunted a house, then bought it up cheap.  Also, the two photos of her that Cousin Sue and I have don't match up.

Were there two women with the same name living in that area of Ohio back then?  Or has Fio come by her talent for fiction all too honestly?