Cognate! … Not so fast.

-So a month or so ago I heard someone use the phrase, “It is like comparing apples and pears.”

-“OK,” I thought. “They got the exact wording wrong. It should be can’t compares apples to oranges. But the idea is the same that one should be careful not to compare two things which
are dissimilar.

-I smiled and moved on.

-In hindsight, perhaps my smile was a bit smug, almost like I was saying, “Silly people. You have so much to learn, unlike me, who knows how to correctly say such a simple and common phrase. Oh, you little, silly people of Finland.”

-It turns out there may be more to the pear and apple analogy than meets the eye. For those learning languages out there, one of the sweetest words is that of 'Cognate.' A Cognate is a word that is very similar in form and meaning. For example, in Spanish artista means artist in English. “Finally,” thinks the overburdened and stressed language student, “A word I can understand and use. Look! I am speaking a foreign language!”

-This brings us to Finnish. Here’s a cognate for you: appelsiini. Your initial, gut reaction is to reach out and take that cognate and keep it as your very own. Much like Chewbacca in Return of the Jedi, finding the temptation of an easy meal looking inocent and inviting. The prospector buying a claim at the first glint of yellow. Or like the trepid explorer taking a confident stride into a muddy clearing. Like cooking with mushrooms that looked almost like the one in the picture book.

-A trap. Fool’s gold. Quick sand. Poison.

-By now the astute reader has sensed a problem. As you have undoubtedly guessed, appelsiini is not Finnish for apple. And yes, many of you saw this coming. Appelsiini is Finnish for orange. Not the color. The fruit. No. The color orange is oranssi. See. That one is a cognate.

-This makes clearer contrasting the differences between apples and pears. Because in Finland, you CAN compare apples and oranges. Or as it were, compare apples to appelsiinis.

-Stupid quasi-cognates get me every time.


Don't skip Jessica's older post on riding the Metro, below. (Started in November, published now for your reading pleasure.)