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Kitty Johnson's avatar

Ha! Oh, Lidija - I once told a class full of children that Joan of Arc was brought up as a pheasant. I meant PEASANT. I was 11 and very sensitive. Like me, you'll be able to make people laugh about that for years to come!

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Lidija Hilje's avatar

Love this! Thank you for sharing, even though I will never think of Joan of Arc the same way 😂

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Sim Carter's avatar

Hilarious! And just think of the authority, brilliance and pure power of your writing that the eyes of ALL those cp’s and big deal peeps at S&S slid right over it!

And your husband’s joking “They’re eating the peacocks, the people who live there” almost made me spit out my morning coffee.

As Kitty notes, you’ll be able to dine out on that faux pas for years to come!

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Lidija Hilje's avatar

In their defence, they probably did notice, but thought, “Okay, Croatian must be a barbarian people who roast peacocks!”

And so glad this made you laugh :)

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Karmen H. Špiljak's avatar

This resonates so much! I've noticed I also sometimes make phonic errors when writing English words because I hear them in my mind before they appear on the page and I type pretty fast (maybe too fast?)

I just love and admire your honesty and humour in dealing with this❤️.

Long live the peacock 😎

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Lidija Hilje's avatar

Oh thank you so much, Karmen. I'm surprised by how many people have written to me to tell me about their own embarrassing faux-pas! We need to start normalizing mistakes. Long live the peacocks, indeed! 🦚

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Elise Schiller's avatar

I enjoyed this post! Eventually we all learn to laugh at our own foolishness, and as your husband said, give ourselves some grace,

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Teresa Dovalpage's avatar

This is so funny! Never heard the word exophony. up to now. I am also "exophonic" because my first language, which was the only one I spoke until I was 30 years old, is Spanish. And I make some embarrassing mistakes too! I am going to order your novel now.

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Ariane Elizabeth Scholl's avatar

I love that you had this realization and that clearly I did just think it was a peacock. I mean hey, it’s a bird. We eat pheasant. They’re pretty too! Haha

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Lidija Hilje's avatar

I know! I am mortified by how many people have read, and now think Croatians are barbaric people who eat the poor peacocks 😂🦚

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