No, that’s not it.
Teaching April 15th. 2008, 10:01pmToday I was trying to explain the difference between animals. I had to explain what a rattlesnake was, but I didn’t know the word in Korean. Instead, I was going on the description of “A snake that has a rattle on it’s tail that it shakes to warn predators.” Seems simple enough, as long as they knew the word “rattle”.
I said “Rattlesnake” a few times, and one student tried translating for another in class. She told her friend that I was talking about a “Pyeonji baem”, which was a really bizarre translation I knew was incorrect.
“Pyeonji baem” would be “Letter snake.”
I drew an envelope with fangs and two eyes to explain what she had told the other student.
“No, that’s not it,” she admitted.
She has problems with her “L” and “R”, so my “Rattle” was her “Letter.”
Her classmate was caught up on what a “rattle” might be. “Is it a castanet? A maraca?” I don’t know how students know what those musical instruments are, but don’t know the word rattle. Eventually I drew a baby holding a toy, which luckily no one confused for a snake.
Once they understood the word rattle, then they knew what a rattle snake was. “Oh, a RATTLESNAKE. We know THAT.”
Ugh.
For anyone curious, after the class I went to look up the words I had needed. The word for a “babies rattle” in Korean is 딸랑이 (ttallangi), while the Korean word for “Rattlesnake” is “방울뱀” (bangulbaem). The “방울” (bangul) part of “rattlesnake” actually refers to a small tinkling bell, like you’d see on a reindeer harness or puppy’s collar. Their word is just as musical as ours, but I think the sound of a rattle more accurately describes the sound a rattlesnake makes.
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April 15th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
When I was five, first my sister (four) was bit, and then I was bit by young rattlesnake. It never made a hiss, much less a rattle before my uncle destroyed it. He had a tough time of it though becuase we were at the beach, and he was using an old single bar, tire iron. Then we were rushed us to the hospital.
My sister was looked at first because she took a bit of venom; however, the snake had just fed and used most of the poison on a rodent of some sort. They gave her some anti-venom while I got skipped over in line because a young woman was brought in barefoot (why isn’t it barefeet?) from the island (South Padre) with about 25-30 three-pronged fish hooks stuck in her feet. It looked beyond painful. Later on, they looked at my wound and put on a band-aid. The doctors figured that after three hours and no ill effects, I must not have received enough poison to justify any of that syrum of theirs.
The only other time I came in contact with a rattler, the snake was having a fit and rattling up a storm as my new dog was in its face barking at it. Somehow my dog survived his first encounter with the pit viper. A few days later, he tried his luck once again. This time he was a goner. Stupid dog probably thought all that rattling was a toy.
Funny thing is when I leave for home in a few months, I’ll be moving into a very brushy area full of rattlesnakes, ticks, coyotes, bobcats, bats, skunks, and other cool animals.