She stood at the trap door examining if any mosquitoes wanted to get out of her bedroom. She was always very compassionate in that sense. Why kill them when you can simply remove them from your life? But there were no mosquitoes this night. No more, that is, after having crushed the only one in the room who had allegedly ruined her fickle sleep.
And while scanning the wire mesh sections of the trap door, she thought of how her students had tried to wish her a happy new year in French and Spanish. And how she had replied to them respectively. Particularly how she had replied in Spanish - "¡Buen año nuevo a tí y tu familia! Adios."
The word "adios" stuck out. An innocent word to say 'bye'. Always being interested in the etymology of a word, she guessed that adios was actually a+dios, which means "to God". And that's also what adieu meant. And what about "khuda hafiz" - May God keep you safe?
How smartly language had been customised to carry strong religious conditioning. One would have to say "bye" a million times through the day. Each time one would end up acknowledging God. That must be some trouble for atheists, no? How must they say bye? Perhaps terms like "Catch you later" and "Hasta la vista" were introduced by them to serve the purpose of closing a conversation.
Satisfied with her conclusion, she got on with her first day of the new year, telling her private thoughts, "Hasta la vista."
And while scanning the wire mesh sections of the trap door, she thought of how her students had tried to wish her a happy new year in French and Spanish. And how she had replied to them respectively. Particularly how she had replied in Spanish - "¡Buen año nuevo a tí y tu familia! Adios."
The word "adios" stuck out. An innocent word to say 'bye'. Always being interested in the etymology of a word, she guessed that adios was actually a+dios, which means "to God". And that's also what adieu meant. And what about "khuda hafiz" - May God keep you safe?
How smartly language had been customised to carry strong religious conditioning. One would have to say "bye" a million times through the day. Each time one would end up acknowledging God. That must be some trouble for atheists, no? How must they say bye? Perhaps terms like "Catch you later" and "Hasta la vista" were introduced by them to serve the purpose of closing a conversation.
Satisfied with her conclusion, she got on with her first day of the new year, telling her private thoughts, "Hasta la vista."
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