Kanske | Teen Ink

Kanske MAG

February 6, 2012
By RedheadAtHeart ELITE, Mountain Home, Idaho
RedheadAtHeart ELITE, Mountain Home, Idaho
109 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love with open hands. - Madeleine L'Engle


My father calls it maybe.
My mother says vielleicht.
I say kanske.
Not can-ski,
not can-skeh,
kanske,
cahn-sheh,
maybe.
Kanske,
like chance,
but more mystic,
infused
with Nordic inflection,
smacking of the accent
I have grown to love.
If you pull it apart
(to find out how it works)
it's a delightful word,
maybe,
may be,
may (or may not) be,
is possible,
might occur,
happenstance,
perchance,
kanske.

The author's comments:
Yet another piece about my multilingual home. My mother is a thirty-year speaker of German. I've meddled in Swedish. (Putting in my dad as the English representative is only poetic justice.)

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This article has 1 comment.


on Aug. 23 2012 at 8:13 am
Helena.of.Karatha DIAMOND, Saint Paul, Minnesota
79 articles 0 photos 21 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You're a great wizard, Harry."
"Not as good as you."
"Me?! Books! And cleverness! There are more important things, Harry--friendship, and bravery, and--oh, Harry, just be careful."

Jättebra gjort. (Swedish, you other Teeninkers, for "well done.")