weird
so chris and i are at my parents' house because there's a wedding shower down here in a-town tomorrow and we thought we'd keep my dad company, since my mom is in florida for her brother's funeral.
anyways, i just heard my dad speak in German to me, conversationally. i asked for a pen, and he said "there are a whole bunch of kugelschriebers (ballpoint pens) and (whatever the word for pencil is) in the holder over there".
he was doing it intentionally and deliberately, not a freaky pre-dementia cognitive slip or anything, but it still threw me a little. i know that German was his first language, but even when his parents were alive (and they spoke to each other almost exclusively in German) i never heard him speak it. i ask him to read it sometimes for me, but he's always very hesitant. i remember that my grandmother was absolutely crushed when i took French instead of German in high school - but hey, it wasn't even offered.
i guess this is a good thing?
anyways, i just heard my dad speak in German to me, conversationally. i asked for a pen, and he said "there are a whole bunch of kugelschriebers (ballpoint pens) and (whatever the word for pencil is) in the holder over there".
he was doing it intentionally and deliberately, not a freaky pre-dementia cognitive slip or anything, but it still threw me a little. i know that German was his first language, but even when his parents were alive (and they spoke to each other almost exclusively in German) i never heard him speak it. i ask him to read it sometimes for me, but he's always very hesitant. i remember that my grandmother was absolutely crushed when i took French instead of German in high school - but hey, it wasn't even offered.
i guess this is a good thing?