Words of the Week: Hogy vagy? - HODGE vodge (how are you?)

The elderly Hungarians I knew, when they weren't being startlingly rude ('Your hair: TAIR-ible.  Don't you vont to look pretty?')​ were extremely polite.  'How are you?' they'd ask everyone constantly, and we would echo it as we dutifully kissed their wrinkled cheeks.  'Did you sleep well?'

Even today I forget that the latter isn't a normal question.  I ask it all the time, and people look at me strangely.  Perhaps they can tell the effort it is costing me not to add: 'Don't you vont to look pretty?'​

Listen to Charlotte Mendelson pronounce these Hundarian words. Each week she writes a blog post about one of them; you can read them here: http://charlottemendelson.com/