I think I’ve already posted about this, but it just keeps getting funnier.
Our rabbi was away this weekend, so various members of the congregation led services. I volunteered for Friday night. Sarah and family were there as well, since Jake had agreed to assist me (on condition that we sing “Adon Olam” to the tune of “The Ants Go Marching,” which is also known as “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again” here in the former capital of the Confederacy).
After we sing the Alenu, there are a few lines of another prayer at the end that we say. It ends with the Hebrew words “oo-sh’moh echad”, translated by my Siddur as meaning that God shall be acclaimed as One. Max and Rebecca, Sarah’s eight-year-old twins, have been mispronouncing that line for months, and Sarah and I find it so cute and funny that we refuse to correct them. We figure they’ll catch on eventually. In the meantime, every time they attend services, they sing, “MOO-sh’moh echad” which, loosely translated, I think, means “The cow is one.”
A week ago Friday, we were all at services for the first time in a while, what with various vacations. The twins belted out “Moo sh’mo,” and Sarah and I started laughing so hard that Max wanted to know what was so funny, and I had to fib to him that it was a grownup joke.
Last night, I was facing the Ark during Alenu, so I couldn’t see Rebecca’s face, but she also belted out “Moo sh’moh” at the proper time, and I struggled and struggled and struggled not to laugh out loud while leading services.
I succeeded, but man, that was hard.
I’m going to be so sad when Max and Rebecca finally sing the prayer correctly, but at least I’ll have the memories.
Just to let you know, the second paragraph is part of teh Aleinu prayer. The “shmo echad” still means “his name is one”, the “moo” just removes the “and” Your joke is funny though. If you wait too long, they might get embarassed when they learn to read it for themselves and see what it means.
It remids me of the “Jose can you see?” in the American anthem and the “translation” of the psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd, hollow is thy name”.
Sorry, a typo. I meant the Xian prayer that contain “Hollow is thy name” and the song written by Steve Harris for the 1982 Iron Maiden album The Number of The Beast.
For humour in a similar vein, Jon Caroll’s Mondegreen columns have fun with misheard lyrics of pop songs, and Richard Lederer often notes the funner points of English. Lederer’s history of the world (according to student bloopers) is a classic.
Unfortunately, Carroll is a raving antisemite.
Fixed and updated to reflect your correction, Sabba Hillel.
I don’t think they’ll be embarrassed. I think either a teacher or fellow student at Hebrew school will finally hear that they’re singing “moo sh’mo”, and correct them, or they’ll figure it out for themselves.
And when they’re all grown up, we’ll have a very funny story to tell at get-togethers.
There appear to be two Carrolls. One is Jon at the SFGate, the other is John at the Campaign Outsider blog. I haven’t seen anything anti-Semitic from either of them. Need a cite, Gary.