As we celebrate Thanksgiving, the lovely holiday when families are gathered along with close friends and guests, when the spirit of this special holiday is filling us with relaxation and with sentiments of joy and love, we’ll introduce in this coming month words and phrases that concur with these fine sentiments of kindness, joy and love as we received requests to present such words for some time.
In the last few days we’re presenting expressions of love and endearment that we use today alongside biblical expressions. Most of these words have not changed in thousands of years and are are used today just as they were during the biblical era.
Today’s expression, ‘acha•ron acha•ron cha•viv’, last, but not least, is partially biblical. Notice how English needs to negates a negative word (least) in order to turn the phrase into a positive statement. The Hebrew equivalent is altogether positive. The word ‘acha•ron’ means the last (in order of appearance). The word is repeated twice to indicate that it is the very last and ends with the word ‘cha•viv’. This word is very positive. It means: likable, favorite, darling, valuable, and beloved.
Using positive words when relating directly to people is very important. By saying ‘last, but not least’ we use a very negative word along with a quick disclaimer. Similarly, it’s much better to say about someone: ‘he is smart’ instead of ‘he isn’t a fool’. This practice is particularly important when we refer to children. It is much sweeter for a child who happens to be the last in line (and yes, for adults too) to know that he or she is likable, favorite, darling, valuable, and beloved, instead of mentioning that he or she are ‘not the least’.
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