Today's English lesson was about families, which went pretty well. I showed the class pictures of my family, including my sister who was wearing an immodestly short skirt (I could see her KNEES, the horrors, the vapors), but I still introduced her as my sister and not that harlot from next door who likes to photobomb family portraits.
Oh, and then there was this conversation, which it completely legit and only edited to translate it into English:
KADIJA: How do I say my father's wife.
ME: Your mother.
KADIJA: No. My father's wife.
ME: ... Your aunt?
KADIJA: No. *says a word in Darija I don't know*
A DIFFERENT STUDENT: Not her mother, her father's other wife.
ME: Her father's other wife...? Oooh, right, the whole polygamy thing. How many wives does your father have?
KADIJA: Two.
ME: Well, I can honestly say this is a linguistic situation I've never encountered before.
I went with stepmother, although that implies divorce, not polygamy. What is the correct term for your father's polygamist second wife?
sister-wife
ReplyDeleteI though sister-wife referred to a fellow wife. Is it also a general use term?
ReplyDeleteIt would just be.. my father's wife... or my father's second wife. Keep it simple. :)
ReplyDelete