Are you sick?

The Korean word for sick, hurt, pain, and the like is all the same: 아프다 -- apeuda, or ah-ppuh. Whether you have a headache or a cold or you fell down the stairs and broke your ankle, they will ask, "Are you sick?"

I remember the first time I got my Asian hair extensions, the girl weaving them in didn't speak much English, so she kept asking me, "are you sick, are you sick?" I was confused as to why she would randomly ask me that until I figured out she was talking about my head. Luckily, I'm not tender headed and I already knew the word for hurt, so I told her it didn't hurt, in Korean.

This came to mind today when I saw one of my 4th graders in the hall about 5 minutes after her class let out, holding a bag of ice to her ankle while she hobbled down the hall. She saw me and said, "Jessica teacher, I'm sick!" and she pointed to her ankle. I thought it was cute. I mean, she's ok, her ankle isn't broken or anything, I wouldn't laugh at that. Language translation is just...interesting, sometimes.