Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to say

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! And Happy Chanukah! to all.

Ellie

In article , "Ellie" wrote:

The same to you too, Ellie.

But why is it sometimes spelt Chanukah, and sometimes spelt Hanukkah?

Tennant

It has to do with the way it's said in Hebrew, we have a constant you don't have in English, it's like a "ha" but with more throat in it. It's hard to explain. We actually read the "ch" not as you read it (as in "chalk") but in a slightly different way, so our constant is somewhere between "ch" and "h", that's why you can spell it differently in English...

"Roni Raab" wrote in message news:[email]...

I always wondered about that thanks for clearing it up.

Ellie

In article , Roni Raab wrote:

This is like "chutzpa", yes?

IIRC this is the ability of someone who has murdered both parents to plead for leniency in court on the grounds that they were recently orphaned.

So which is the best transliteration into English?

How do the Greens & Gellers pronounce it?

What about Chanukkah and Hanukah?

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote:

It's pronounced the same way, yes (the first constant)

Was that supposed to be an example of "chutzpa"? Because if it was, it was too extreme. "Chutzpa" is something like "nerves" in a sentence which goes like this: "Where did you get the nerves to say that??" or something like that

In English, if you're not jewish and doesn't know how to pronounce it correctly, you pronounce it with the "h" - Ha-nu-kah

These are just different ways of writing it

In article , Roni Raab wrote:

Okay, but that's the joke one often hears.

So "Hanukkah" (which is what my spell-checker likes) is best?

Yeah, but I was messing about with the Ks - one or two?

Tennant

Ah, ok ...... :-)

If you read it out loud, it's the closest thing to how it's actually supposed to be said, yeah

You can write it whichever way you want, since it's only a translation of a Hebrew word. You can write with either one or two K's

In article , Roni Raab wrote:

Are there any Anglo-Jewish or American-Jewish Hanukkah Societies that have established an official spelling?

Tennant

I don't even know what is "Anglo-Jewish" and if there is such a thing, but I don't think there's an official spelling. People outside Israel usually write it "Hanukkah", so I guess that's the common spelling

In article , Roni Raab wrote:

An Anglo-Jewish Hanukkah Society would seek to foster good relations between the English & Jewish communities at this time of year.

Great - that's the way my spell-checker likes it. :)

Tennant

"Tennant Stuart" wrote in message news:[email]...

Thanks Tennant! To tell you the truth I don't know but I'm sure someone in here will know.

Ellie

In article , Tennant Stuart writes:

And Bayram kutlu olsun!