Today, in response to Mehrban’s poem where she, as a child, confuses ‘’Two Candidates’’ with ‘’Two fianceés’’ (nothing to do with vowels,)
http://iranian.com/main/blog/mehrban-9
I shared with her a childhood story about my problem with TWO, which I’d like to reproduce here.
The episode of my predicament with an unwritten vowel in a Persian word happened when I was seven. We were visiting my mother’s aunt and I was out in their alley. There was a house with open door just opposite our hostess’s. Above its door was placed a sign with words I had great difficulty understanding. To me, it read, ”Fereshteh’s Two-Lives!!’ (Fereshteh’s Do-Zendegi.)
For hours, I was wondering if ”Do-Zendegi” meant having two front-yards, or two sets of families, or one life during the day and another at night. And I was thinking why on earth should anyone announce their Two Lives to the public? I did not ask my parents what it meant, as I thought I was expected to know it by then! I realised its meaning the next time we were guests in our relative’s house.
Yes, you guessed it right: the sign read: Fereshteh’s DOOZANDEGI (Fereshteh’s Sewing Shop!) LOL!
As a child, or while in Akaaber :-), have you ever had a predicament with unwritten vowels in Persian?
Cheers,
Azadeh