The Winter/Holiday/Christmahanakwanzika thread

[Sylux]

The Jewish celebration of God's blessing of eight days' worth of light from one day's worth of oil.

[Peteman]

I thought that was Hanukah not Chanukah?

[Sylux]

I'm Jewish, dude. I think I know how to spell my own holiday.

[Peteman]

Chill man, forgive my ignorance.

[Fenn]

You said winter holiday which encompasses the Solstice

Oh sorry I didn't know that's what those songs were about. I don't know much about the Solstice, other than it doesn't have very many original songs apparently.

[Sylux]

Oh sorry I didn't know that's what those songs were about. I don't know much about the Solstice, other than it doesn't have very many original songs apparently.

Lol man it's not a real holiday, it's just a Lovecraftian joke hahaha

[Kodos]

I thought that was Hanukah not Chanukah?

It's either, really. It's a transliteration of a Hebrew word and so there's no real 'correct' English spelling. My father's side of the family is Jewish and I was raised Jewish, and honestly I've seen it used alternatively by either end.

Part of the thing, I think, is the fact that the sounds involved in the correct proncunciation of the word don't quite have analogues in English, hence the Ch.

Basicaly, TL;DR: Transliterating Hebrew into English is wonky, but it's not quite the clusterfuck that Arabic transliteration is.

[Sylux]

Baruchatall'a'la aru aru a'deli

[toast]

I have never met anyone who celebrates Kwanzaa. Sure, I've seen it plenty of times in kid cartoons and movies, but never irl. Anyone?

[Japxican]

It's either, really. It's a transliteration of a Hebrew word and so there's no real 'correct' English spelling. My father's side of the family is Jewish and I was raised Jewish, and honestly I've seen it used alternatively by either end.

Part of the thing, I think, is the fact that the sounds involved in the correct proncunciation of the word don't quite have analogues in English, hence the Ch.

In linguistic terms, I believe it's a uvular fricative, a sound that doesn't exist in English, like you said. We have to compensate with the next nearest sound, which is "h", hence why we often write it as "Hanukah".

I'm looking forward to going home for Christmas and spending some quality time with family. Instead of excessive presents, we're planning on doing family activities like swimming, bowling, sledding, etc.