# Need help writing a phrase **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-writing-a-phrase/743515 "2016-01-18T18:47:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-writing-a-phrase/743515/1 "2016-01-18T18:47:56Z")
Friends of ours are being honored by our previous synagogue, and I’m trying to write an ad for the journal. Is there another way to say “being honored” (as in, “your being honored tonight”)? It just doesn’t seem to sound right. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-writing-a-phrase/743515/2 "2016-01-18T18:50:19Z")
Celebration, commemoration, tribute. ---
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-writing-a-phrase/743515/3 "2016-01-18T19:07:29Z")
Tribute. Thank you, I worked it out. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-writing-a-phrase/743515/4 "2016-01-18T19:26:14Z")
> [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](#): > > (as in, “your being honored tonight”)? This may not apply to the solution you discovered, but the phrase above should be “ **you’re** being honored tonight”. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-writing-a-phrase/743515/5 "2016-01-19T01:11:37Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > This may not apply to the solution you discovered, but the phrase above should be “ **you’re** being honored tonight”. Depends on the whole sentence. We are proud to see that you’re being honored tonight. Your being honored tonight is the highlight of the evening. The gerund takes the possessive. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-writing-a-phrase/743515/6 "2016-01-19T06:09:45Z")
Do you want to use a Hebrew word appropriate (a common one) that works out ok in an English phrase? When a person has an honor of any sort in shul, as you may know, such as reading from the Torah, saying the blessing, or whatever, people say to them as they return to their seat “Y’asher koach” (“koach” means “strength,” and I always think of the phrase as “more power to you”) or “kol hakavod” (“kavod” means “honor”–“all honor [to you]”). ETA: Any joyous event–wedding, celebration, etc.–is called in general, in English/Hebrew, “a simcha.” (“Simcha”=joy.) So there’s that too. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-writing-a-phrase/743515/7 "2016-01-19T06:17:08Z")
> [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](#): > > trying to write an ad for the journal. Just out of curiosity: at your synagogue, what is a journal and why does it have ads? I would have called it the “bulletin” ( or the newsletter), and write an "annoucement " for it. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-writing-a-phrase/743515/8 "2016-01-19T11:58:39Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Just out of curiosity: at your synagogue, what is a journal and why does it have ads? > I would have called it the “bulletin” ( or the newsletter), and write an "annoucement " for it. I’m guessing this refers to the local Jewish community-wide newspaper. We have a monthly one called the Jewish Journal.