Tired Ducks

I know this is supposed to be about soldiers and mothers, but sometimes, I just can’t resist expanding it a bit. Last night was one of them. Aliza called me to tell me she was home; that she was exhausted. She came up with the cutest of phrases, “I’m more tired than a duck that’s never slept.”

I asked her to repeat it; and she did. I tried to think how to say that in Hebrew and if it was, perhaps, some Hebrew phrase. There are so many phrases that simply do not translate. “Al ha’panim” in Hebrew means the situation is just upside down, unbelievable, and add in a measure of messed up as well – put it all together and you get “al ha’panim” – while a straight translation would yield (incorrectly), simply, “on the face.”

I couldn’t figure out where she got, “more tired than a duck that’s never slept.” I gave up…I asked her if it was from the Hebrew and she said no, she’d just made it up.

Oh well…she was clearly one tired duck!

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