Observation
July 8, 2020
Why Do Israelis Have So Many Words for “Wear,” and Which One Applies to Wearing One’s Coronavirus Face Mask?
By PhilologosIn English, one “wears” just about everything, from clothes to hats to perfume. In Hebrew, there's a different verb for each of these items and more.
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How many ways are there to wear a coronavirus face mask? There’s the right way, of course, with the strings looped behind your ears and the mask covering your nose and mouth. And there are the wrong ways of either leaving your nose uncovered or your mouth uncovered too, with the mask somewhere beneath it like a chin strap.
Three ways, with possible variations. Yet in Hebrew there are at least four, none having to do with what you cover and what you don’t.