Silly Child

Around the beginning of my Eighth grade school year, I made a friend I still have to this day. We were servicemen together in different branches but always the buddies learning to grow up together. He was my first bilingual friend, and I had a very serious question for him since I had no idea how to speak anything other than American English. I asked him how can a man and woman understand one another if there is a masculine and feminine form for most words? He simply blinked at me for a moment, knowing now it was in complete astonishment, and he then laughed and said,"It just works that way." Now, after having taken Spanish, French, Japanese, and Greek language classes, I understand that there are multiple forms of some words to more accurately describe things in that tongue. Sadly, It took many years to realise this, and I still become a little rouge in the cheeks if it comes up in general conversation.