It is interesting how one letter can drastically change the meaning of a word and the feeling that it evokes or solicits.
Here are a few:
1. Interment and internment
Interment is the burial of a dead body, whereas internment is imprisonment of someone for political or military reasons.
We feel sad if someone we care about is being interred or being placed in a grave or tomb. On the other hand, we either celebrate or get angry if someone is being interned as a prisoner.
It would be funny, if not disgraceful, when a funeral announcement was made about our dear departed being held as a prisoner.
2: Fiancé and fiancée
Fiancé is an engaged man. On the other hand, fiancée is an engaged woman.
Experts of etiquette, or even the engaged woman herself, will squirm if we inadvertently say “Congratulations!” instead of “Best Wishes!” She didn’t WIN him in a contest!
I am sure there are other examples which we continue to unknowingly use. Confusion, surprise, or, heaven forbid, anger, can ensue if we use incorrect words in evoking or soliciting our intended responses.
And personally, here is one.
First of all, there is this beautiful aria which is sung by a soprano in Puccini’s opera “Gianni Schicchi”. It is one of the many arias that I was immediately enamored of when heard for the first time years ago.
Since I had always thought that the aria was a lullaby, I looked forward to seeing how it was going to be staged as I clicked open a YouTube video performance of the aria three nights ago.
As the orchestra played the introduction of the aria, I anxiously watched to see whether the soprano would go to a crib to sing a lullaby to a child.
My eyes followed her as she walked towards the door on the left side of the stage.
“Is the crib by the door?” I asked myself.
My eyes narrowed as the camera focused on the door. No crib in sight, but protruding through the door was an outstretched hairy arm!
“What? Whose arm is this at the door? Where is the baby? Where is the crib?” I exclaimed, stopping the chewing of my dinner of leftover fried rice at my kitchenette table.
With eyes glaring, I moved my face to get closer to my laptop monitor to see what the English translation was going to be when the soprano would start singing.
“O my dear papa,” flashed on the screen as she warbled the first notes.
“Huh?” I muttered. With the soprano still singing, I immediately opened a Google search page on my laptop to check what “bambino” was in English. I had an inkling about what it was, but I just wanted it verified.
“Bambino = Child” 5 letters, short and simple; just as I expected.
“What? Was there an error in the subtitle? Shouldn’t it be “O my dear child?” I again asked myself.
The soprano by then was slowly pulling an elderly man by his hairy arm towards the center of the stage as she continued with the aria.
Unmindful of the continued flashing of subsequent subtitles, I opened a 2nd Google search page to eagerly check the opening lyrics to the aria.
“O mio babbino caro…,” appeared on the search page.
Now more confused, I opened a 3rd Google search page to check what “babbino” was in English as the soprano’s vibrato trailed off.
“Babbino = Daddy” 5 letters, short, and simple.
“Whoa! It is not a derivative of or synonym for “bambino”, therefore, there was NO error in the subtitle!” I exclaimed.
The soprano was indeed singing, “O my dear Papa” and the elderly man with the hairy arm was supposed to the father of the woman the soprano was playing! It was not “O my dear child”, hence no crib and no baby!
With the full realization hitting me like a ton of bricks, I broke out into a guffaw, spraying chewed fried rice on my table.
Here I was, thinking for years that the lyrics were “O mio bambino caro” or “O my dear child”. A preconceived lullaby to a “bambino” which always had me in such a rapture. It was such a twist in my reality.
I washed my dinner down with a full glass of water, wishing the ending of social distancing so I could get new bottles of my favorite wine.
“O mio babbino caro” is still a beautiful aria, but knowing now that it is about a lovesick girl pleading to daddy to help her marry the man she loves, it has become somewhat sad.
Therefore, I will stick to my own selective interpretation. Incorrect though it may be, but “bambino”, and not “babbino”, is THE word that will continue to evoke a wonderful, warm feeling in me. As long as I don’t consider the true English translation of the subsequent lyrics as the aria continues, I think I will be fine.
Now, do you have an example of your own to share where a letter or two in a word you unknowingly used evoked or solicited a response which was different from what you intended?
