Matzo ball or dumpling?

“Knaidel” was the winning word for 13 year old Arvind Mahankali at the Scripps 2013 National Spelling Bee.    Knaidel brought victory to the 13 year old and it brought heuristic coincidence being a German Yiddish word.  

Apparently German knödel is the same thing as Yiddish knaidel, but the words are pronounced differently.  Hear knaidel pronounced.  Hear knödel pronounced.  

“The map is not the territory” according to Alfred Korzybski, the father of general semantics, but in this case at least the territories are the same.  Apparently both knaidel and knödel are different maps for the same dumpling.  

People are judged by the way they pronounce or use words.  Which is the “right” map?  In this case the answer is easy:  use either one.  

Katz's Delicatessan

Elsewhere people get in a snit by mispronunciations.  My wife, Barbara Chatterton Frye is realtor that wants to sell houses.  She winces but doesn’t worry if you add an extra syllable to her occupation: “real a tor”.  The Greek restaurant doesn’t care if I can say “gyro” with a hard “g” or a soft “g” as long as I order their sandwich.  Judging others this way doesn’t usually build the relationship needed by someone that needs to get something accomplished.  

German words were Arvind’s nemesis in past bees, and now he has victory through German Yiddish.  He won $30,000 and more.  Words can be 2 edged causing downfalls from judgment or connecting as intended.  For the rest of us a bad matzoh makes a good paperweight.