1 SHAMASH.ORG /usr/www/wwwhc/listserv/archives/heblang February 2000
2 101 65_RE: BIN (may) Never mean BEN! Another Approach --> BiNaH in Engli10_Jerry Blaz19_ffdog@earthlink.net31_Sat, 19 Feb 2000 12:05:34 -0800584_us-ascii I am reminded of a Hebrew song that was sung in Israel, that had a repetitive line in it meaning the "The tamarisk trees are standing," (atzei shitim om'dim) which was brought over to America, and by the time I heard it in diaspora it had been changed to mean, "The olive trees are standing," (atzei zeytim om'dim), lest some of younger folk-etymologists would get the impression that tamarisk trees (atzei shitim) were dirty trees with a bad odor. This etyomology would go something like this, "The Hebrew word "shittah" became the Anglo-Saxon four-letter word "sh--." [...]