Sunday, July 11, 2004
The English language can be the source of unending humor especially in the hands of children trying to learn the language and in adults who tend toward mispronounciation and misuse of words. I recall a little girl I used to babysit for who once told me she was reading a "mazagine" while listening to "musekick" on her radio. My youngest daughter had a wonderful name for a merry-go-round. She insisted it was an American-round. My son's favorite steak was "sewer line" and the floor in the kitchen was "lilloleum".
Our 5 year old grandson recently had a conversation with his mother regarding swimming attire. His almost 2 year old sister did not yet have a bathing suit and he was explaining to his mother that it was time to go to the store to buy his sister a "baby suit" for the pool. His mother said "You mean bathing suite don't you?". Becoming exasperated he said "No, she's not taking a bath. She needs a baby suit like mine to go swimming in". His mother reminded him that he wasn't a baby anymore and with hands on hips he replied " I know I'm not a baby but EVERYONE wears a baby suit in the pool!"
My husband has a sometimes endearing and other times exasperating habit of mispronouncing words and substituting his own names for things. Our grandson was out in the yard one day when he heard a loud whirring in the sky. As he looked up and pointed, he shouted " Look it's a .....what does Pop-pop call it?...Oh yeah...it's a "heelicopter!". No amount of correction will make this child realize the real word is helicopter. Then there is his term for our favorite activity on Friday evening at the local bar. What others may call karaoke he insists is "terriake" which has gotten him many confused looks when he talks about the people singing on terriake night. Does that make terriake sauce "karaoke sauce" ?
I can understand the confusion sometimes when you come across something unfamiliar. We recently bought a house in Florida that has a screened porch referred to as a lanai. Not having heard the term often, my husband was talking to my brother-in-law on a recent visit to Florida and saying how much he had enjoyed having coffee out on the "Renay". As my sister & I disolved into fits of laughter, my brother-in-law asked "Who's Renee?" My husband has gotten the hang of saying lanai now but my brother-in-law kind of liked the "Renay" better.
We've all laughed at New Englanders who tend to drop the R from words. Remember the phrase " Pak the ca"? Translation: Park the car. Well, I've discovered what happened to all the R's they discarded. These lost consonants attach themselves to certain people and wind up in words where they weren't meant to be. My husband tends to add r's to words, a habit I suspect he picked up from his mother. He often refers to "Chicargo" and "orbituary" and has passed this along to one of our employees who recently went looking for a new car at the "Burick" dealer. At least these orphan r's have found a home.
Then there are the times when he glances too quickly at something and the result is hilarious. Recently we were preparing for a party when our son dropped by. Diligently working on the cheese platter, my husband continued the coversation as he reached into the cabinet for the crackers. Picking up several boxes, he checked the labels to see what kind they were. When he turned around to ask what the heck these "Mulligan" crackers were my son and I could barely contain ourselves long enough to explain that they were "multigrain" crackers. And there is his name for the culottes women wore back when were we young. Being a cross between a skirt and shorts, culottes were a fashion favorite which he immediately dubbed "kumquats" and it has remained that way forever.
This morning I sat thinking of these funny phrases and words that have become a part of everday conversation and came up with a little story incorporationg most of the favorites: "Sitting out on the "renay", I was reading an "orbituary" about this woman in "Chicargo" who was wearing white "kumquats" last Friday and, leaving her favorite club after a night of "terriake", was suddenly squashed by a "heelicopter" whose pilot was so engrossed in his "mulligan" crackers that he misjudged the airport."
Our 5 year old grandson recently had a conversation with his mother regarding swimming attire. His almost 2 year old sister did not yet have a bathing suit and he was explaining to his mother that it was time to go to the store to buy his sister a "baby suit" for the pool. His mother said "You mean bathing suite don't you?". Becoming exasperated he said "No, she's not taking a bath. She needs a baby suit like mine to go swimming in". His mother reminded him that he wasn't a baby anymore and with hands on hips he replied " I know I'm not a baby but EVERYONE wears a baby suit in the pool!"
My husband has a sometimes endearing and other times exasperating habit of mispronouncing words and substituting his own names for things. Our grandson was out in the yard one day when he heard a loud whirring in the sky. As he looked up and pointed, he shouted " Look it's a .....what does Pop-pop call it?...Oh yeah...it's a "heelicopter!". No amount of correction will make this child realize the real word is helicopter. Then there is his term for our favorite activity on Friday evening at the local bar. What others may call karaoke he insists is "terriake" which has gotten him many confused looks when he talks about the people singing on terriake night. Does that make terriake sauce "karaoke sauce" ?
I can understand the confusion sometimes when you come across something unfamiliar. We recently bought a house in Florida that has a screened porch referred to as a lanai. Not having heard the term often, my husband was talking to my brother-in-law on a recent visit to Florida and saying how much he had enjoyed having coffee out on the "Renay". As my sister & I disolved into fits of laughter, my brother-in-law asked "Who's Renee?" My husband has gotten the hang of saying lanai now but my brother-in-law kind of liked the "Renay" better.
We've all laughed at New Englanders who tend to drop the R from words. Remember the phrase " Pak the ca"? Translation: Park the car. Well, I've discovered what happened to all the R's they discarded. These lost consonants attach themselves to certain people and wind up in words where they weren't meant to be. My husband tends to add r's to words, a habit I suspect he picked up from his mother. He often refers to "Chicargo" and "orbituary" and has passed this along to one of our employees who recently went looking for a new car at the "Burick" dealer. At least these orphan r's have found a home.
Then there are the times when he glances too quickly at something and the result is hilarious. Recently we were preparing for a party when our son dropped by. Diligently working on the cheese platter, my husband continued the coversation as he reached into the cabinet for the crackers. Picking up several boxes, he checked the labels to see what kind they were. When he turned around to ask what the heck these "Mulligan" crackers were my son and I could barely contain ourselves long enough to explain that they were "multigrain" crackers. And there is his name for the culottes women wore back when were we young. Being a cross between a skirt and shorts, culottes were a fashion favorite which he immediately dubbed "kumquats" and it has remained that way forever.
This morning I sat thinking of these funny phrases and words that have become a part of everday conversation and came up with a little story incorporationg most of the favorites: "Sitting out on the "renay", I was reading an "orbituary" about this woman in "Chicargo" who was wearing white "kumquats" last Friday and, leaving her favorite club after a night of "terriake", was suddenly squashed by a "heelicopter" whose pilot was so engrossed in his "mulligan" crackers that he misjudged the airport."
