I’m fluent in French. This is a topic that doesn’t come up often here. Probably because this isn’t French blog. But my second language is something which affects my writing. When I’m studying French intensely, occasionally I’ll start writing a story only to realize it’s in the wrong language, for my audience at least. Other times, I’ll be penning a post, trying to think of a word, and only the French one will come to mind, which is a bit maddening. But most perplexing of all has been the loss of my once near perfect ability to spell.

My family has a language learning disability. A trait that I used to haughtily proclaim I was unaffected by, based on my love of writing and my superior memory for orthography, that is, until I tried to pick up another language. In learning French as an adult, my brain somehow got jumbled, so now I can’t recall whether broccoli has one c or two or if it’s girafe or giraffe.

This rearrangment and omission of letters and words has been further compounded by sleep deprivation that comes with caring for a small person. Tonight it lead to the following series of non-words. Or perhaps I’m merely following in The Bloggess’s shoes and making up my own words to accurately express myself. At any rate, this was my thought process this evening as I tried to make a grocery list

“Zuchini”

That looks wrong, I think it needs another “n”

“Zuchinni”

There are way too many eenies in that word, it looks seedy and not at all tasty. Better try another combination.

“Zucchini”

That cannot possibly be right. It must be another letter that needs doubling, at least I’m 100% certain it isn’t the “u”.

“Zuchhini”

Definitely wrong. But maybe if I balance out the eenies with the hhhhs it’ll work.

“Zuchhinni”

Right before I was going to try spelling a vegetable with four “i”s, I caved and asked my husband.

For anyone whose brain isn’t sleep deprived and fluctuating between two languages, it’s zucchini and it doesn’t look right because it’s an italian word.