Camels and needles

[tanwo at hotmail.com]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "yael oren" <yael_pou at h...> wrote:
>   Wotan wrote:
> 
>   > And on the subject of Hebrew, I remember somebody once telling 
me 
>   > that if you make a minor change to the following in Hebrew -
>   > 
>   >       It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 
>   > needle ...   (Matthew)
>   > 
>   > (like changing an 'i' to a 'j' in written English) you end up 
with -
>   > 
>   >       It is easier for a ship's rope to go through the eye of a 
>   > needle ...
>   > 
>   > Does that sound plausible?
> 
>   Yael can answer that, but I'll answer the implied Biblical 
>   interpretation question (i.e. is this what Matthew really 
meant?):  he 
>   didn't write in Hebrew, but in Greek.
> 
>   Amy Z
> 
> Actually, I can't answer that one accurately. I can't think of any 
two similar words in Hebrew that would mean 'camel' and 'ship's 
rope'. I asked people around, but they made fun of me *sulks*. 
Anyway, since vowels are rarely used in Hebrew, and pronouncing a 
word correctly is mainly a matter of knowing the word and its 
context, it is possible to turn the word 'camel' into various other 
words such as: retaliator, reward, withdrawal, the third letter of 
the Hebrew alphabet and so on. Take your pick. It is highly possible 
that there are some obscure words I've missed.
> 
> Sorry, yael

Okay, thanks anyway. Maybe somebody was pulling my leg ... or I 
misunderstood.

W