I kind of miss the days when the kids were little and would come up with cute little mispronunciations of words. In our home, we still occasionally refer to a “fee-rigerator” or a “swide-walk.” I was ridiculously pleased recently to pull out a Thanksgiving poem that BD had written in the first grade and find that she had misspelled “breakfast” the way she used to say it: “brefikst.” Mr. B lived for years under the delusion that his daughter was the only child in the English-speaking world to say “aminal.”
One BD-ism, however, has become a regular part of my parenting vocabulary and has proven so practical that I’m thinking of asking Webster’s to include it in their next dictionary update.
It is the word “misunderspoke.”
When BD was little, she would use it interchangeably for “misspoke” and “misunderstood.” I tend to use it in the sense of “I spoke correctly, you misunderstood, but I’ll let you think it was my fault and that I misspoke, but I still get my way.” Very handy in those “You said,” “No, I didn’t” debates.
UPDATE: Oh, my! I’ve been dreaming of this day for weeks, and now you’re all here and I have to run out and rock babies this morning. So make yourself at home. I left the coffee on. I thought of dashing off a new post, but this is actually a fun one for comments, so I’ll let it go for now. Thanks for coming by, and do come back and visit again. And of course, a HUGE thank you to the lovely Michele, who makes the blogging world so much more fun.
64 Comments
I’m willing to expand my vocabulary to include anything that improves the chances that I’ll get my way.
Andy used to say “hangaber” for hamburger. I used to love reading “It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny” to him just to hear him say “snuck” instead of skunk. Nick’s big one was “topparts” for Pop Tarts. Tim still slips up with “basketti” now and then instead of spaghetti, and he’s had a few others, but he’s always been a stickler for getting it right so they never lasted long with him.
My dad still says “aloonymoon” for aluminum after a character on a long forgotten sitcom said it that way!
My favorite has to be when my nephew found something to be extremely funny and proclaimed it “UncleLarryus”… I still say it, and that was over 20 years ago!
One of my favorites of Ashley’s was “hoopaloop” instead of hula hoop. We still call them that! Can’t remember any funny words of Morgan’s, maybe because she spoke her own language until she was about 3, then suddenly was able to talk quite well! She still has problems saying caligraphy tho!
When I was a silly young girl I would purposely mispronounce words simply because it amused me to do so. Oh wait, I still do that. Does this make me a silly not-so-young girl?
Now something I do know how to say correctly:
“Hello, Michele sent me.” Yes, Cat you are it.
Hello again, and this time Michele sent me, although I was just here ten minutes ago all on my own. Hub and I still love to ride up to the top floor of the mall on the ‘velvagator.’ And when those pesky flies start buzzing on the windows, we flyss them. You know, with the watter. Our son had a million funny words. We still use most of them. Some people think we are crazy. Well, there’s that. . . . .
That is too cute. Oh, and I think Jessica Simpson, at 24, still says “Valentimes Day”. Now that is sad.
Hi, by the way! Michele sent me!
Hello. Michele sent me. You’re going to read that a lot today.
Hi Bluegrass Mama! I’m passing the baton on to you today! I had a BLAST all day reading comments…and now it’s your turn. Thanks for stopping by my blog! ENJOY YOUR DAY! I’ll be back later when I’m awake to catch up on your blog. All the best!
Oh, Michele sent me! (but you knew that!)
One of my boys once said “oppit coppit” for helicopter. It just makes the heart melt!
Michele sent me, by the way!
Hmmmm, I think I could use ‘misunderspoke’ with my boss, in just the sort of situation you described. It’s a fine word, and deserving of consideration by Webster.
Oh, and hello, Michele sent me!
It’s great when they’re learning to read, too – a few years ago a very young friend of mine said ’steek’ for ’steak’ and ‘mizzled’ for ‘misled’; both have remained in his family’s argot.
BTW Michele sent me!
My youngest son (now 12) used to say ‘more one’ instead of another, e.g. more one biscuit. Both my boys had speech problems so we had some great mispronounciations. I’ll never forget my kids seeing a tractor. My youngest Jack said ‘trac-ack’, and my eldest Harry said ‘not trac-ack, wac-ack, Dack!’. Anyway, hello, Michele sent me! Have a nice weekend.
I don’t have kids yet and I’m an only child, so I don’t have a lot of experience to share.
I do remember that my little cousin had a lot of ‘invented’ words when she was a toddler. She was the youngest of three children and started to talk at a really early age and had all these own words.
She said ‘lalau’ for ‘again’ (only I am German, so ‘lalau’ was ‘noch mal’, which has no phonetic relation at all).
Her older sister made a list and wrote down all the strange words. I guess the list is still somewhere.
By the way… Michele sent me.
Hi there. Michele sent me and if you don’t mind, I’ll be back. Have a great day
Hi Cat! I’m so glad it’s you today – very deserved. Kids are such a wonderful source of amusement – I love reviewing funny little stories of what my daughter did when she was small, and she loves hearing about them!
Anyway, thanks for linking me and – Michele sent me!
They’re so cute you don’t want to correct them! Then you forget over time what they said. My husband told my 3 year old to “come on”. She responded “I am come on-ing”. Oh, and then she said “Michele sent me”
My daughter, who is now 8, used to call breakfast “brefix.” Cute-and-a-half, if you ask me.
BTW, Michele sended me.
Meanwhile, I too hate large crowds and just can’t seem to be any good at the housekeeping thing. If it wasn’t for me being horribly allergic to cats, we’d get along swell.
Michele sent me!
When my 11 year old daughter was doing her vocabulary homework, she needed to write a sentence with the word ‘angelic’ in it.
I mentioned my 3 year old daughter, who normally is quite angelic. However, it was around the toddler witching hour, and my 3 year old whined loudly, “I am not angelic.” Truer words have not been spoken, although it only made the 3 year old whinier when everyone laughed out loud at her pronouncement.
Anyway, Hi. Michele sent me.
Hi. Michele sent me.
We’ve had some gems over the years. The ones that are still in use-
hangaberger = hamburger
aerloplane = airplane
mammations = dalmations
The last one I mainly use to tease the girlies, as they are quick to correct me now. ‘Hangaberger’ has become the accepted word around here for grillled ground beef patties on a bun.
When my oldest daughter was 2, she was having a tough morning. She couldn’t get her pants on, she couldn’t get her socks on, and I was too busy to help. Finally she stood right next to me and yelled, “I’M SO FRUSTRATING!”
And a family motto was born.
Michele sent me.
I’ve been here before but I’m back because Michele sent me
Oh how fun to see one of my friends in Michele’s comment game! Yay!
Here we have had a zillion of them. Breftist (breakfast), callerpiller, Cartoon Nekwork (OK, so maybe they watch too much TV), Pasgetti and one of my favorites: Yeave me ayone (she had trouble with her “l”s when she was little).
OMG!!!! This is so cool, Cat! Michele sent me, wheeee!
I don’t have kids yet, so I can’t report any word slipups, although I’m sure I’ve had plenty of them myself, even in adulthood–problem is, I can’t think of any.
Anyway, hi! Michele sent me!
Hey, Michele sent me! Lovely site.
I used to mispronounce words to my kids thinking they knew I was joking around. WHen they would repeat the words I thought THEY were joking back. It took their teachers to clue me in to the fact that they really thought that was the way to talk.
I am glad to know that Amy isn’t the only one to say “aminal”. She still says it at 7yrs old! A favorite that she used to say is “hostipal” for hospital.
Congrats Cat!
na
Michele sent me!
Your site is a nice read!
Lucy Jane
http://lucyjane.typepad.com
Wonderful, wonderful! I always had trouble with “on accident”. If something’s “on purpose”…
Well, you get the idea.
Michele sent me, and I’m so glad she did!
http://alektra.diaryland.com
Hi! Michele sent me.
Michele sent me to tell you that since I’ve been living in the US, I’ve noticed everyone round here pronounces things incorrectly. Budder, wadder, aluminum, home deeeepo, the list is almost endless….
Hello – Michelle Sent me.
Princess: “Imonahuseit”
Translation: I mona huse it or I wanna use it
I can’t tell you how many tears were shed while I desperately tried to figure out what the hell Imonahuseit meant.
Hi Cat!! I’m back…but this time MICHELE sent me.
My DH is from Arkansas..he can’t say “ruin”
he always says “rurn”
Hi Michele sent me
Good reading!
Hi Cat, I’m back. Of course Timothy has tons of them because he is only two but I think it is cute when he says “The Giggles” instead of The Wiggles and he says “wee vee” instead of TV. My niece (now 21) used to say that too.
na
oh ps. I find it annoying when dh says “safori” instead of safari and “canell” instead of canal. You’s think at 40something he’d know how by now.(G)
I have to catch myself so that I do NOT mispronounce some words that my son says: mawnlower, for instance, or hecilopter. They just slip out…
Oh, yes, Michele sent me, too.
I can’t remember my kid words, but I like misunderspoke and might have to borrow it for use. Michele sent me.
Hello, I am so glad Michele is introducing me to new Blogs. Yours is great! Yes, that’s right…Michele sent me! I’ll be back!
Hello. Guess who sent me!
I agree – this is a great post! I feel the same way, and there is a little sadness in my heart when Gabriella pronounces something correctly after having a cute “individual” way of saying it. My favorites were “ah-noge” for orange, and “ra-ma-note” for remote. (we still use that last one.)
Oh, and by the way, Michele sent me!
My nephew started learning to talk while living in a mostly Spanish speaking neighborhood, although his parents spoke English. He somehow managed to not only mix the languages together, but also came up with his own words in the process. My favorite, which for some reason I haven’t forgotten this last 20 years, is ‘laller.’ Of course, can’t you tell he meant ‘milk?’ Yeah. Took us a while to figure out, too.
Michelle sent me, by the way! I think I’ll have to blogroll you…just too funny!
Hi, Michele sent me! I missed my MOPS meeting yesterday
how wonderful that you volunteer there and give those moms with little ones that time of sanity–its a lifesaver for me I know that.
Hello, Michele sent me. My daughter used to say “haw-gots” instead of “hot dogs” — my daughter is 13 now and her grandmother still calls them that. Awww, isn’t that cute!
Hey, nice site and Michele sent me.
Chana
bunnyburrow.com
Hello, Michele sent me. My daughter once asked when the “tomato” was coming. She meant “tornado” as there were tornado warning in the news.
Well Cat, you’ve certainly become popular, since Michelle sent everyone! I remembered something Morgan said (a lot), she would refer to broccoli as “trees”. Doesn’t sound even remotely close, but I suppose they look like trees! And Na mentioned her dh’s mispronunciations….my dh still says “ambliance” instead of ambulance. The girls and I lol at him all the time over that one!
Hi, Michele sent me! Fortunately I’ve gotten over my childhood vocabulary, but lately I find myself struggling to say certain last names correctly. Not too bad when it’s someone famous who you’ll never meet, but I think my coworkers are getting tired of it.
Hi there! Michele sent me! I was born in Kentucky and love bluegrass in all forms! My kids say funny things too, my youngest boy had chicken pox last week and called it ‘chicken pops.’
Oh, I so love hearing kids talk!! Oh, and to make it official… Hello, Michele sent me!! Have a great day!!
My little one has trouble with the letter ‘f’ My favourite is when she says ‘I’ve begotten my dolly!’
Michelle sent me!
Hello, Michele sent me!
My favorite mispronunciations/made-up words are from my brother. When he was little, he came up with “grivel-gravel” to describe the chipped stone they used on the resurfaced roads in our area, and “pisgetti” for spaghetti, which I think a lot of kids have a hard time with. Now, even though he’s in his 30s, he has a hard time with one word and says “fusstrated” when he’s frustrated. Kidding him about it only makes him more so!
Hey there, Michele sent me.
I’m a teacher, so I was talking to my 3rd graders about the tsunami. So many of them innocently now refer to it as “the salami”.:)
Hiya, Bluegrass Mama! Michele sent me. I see you rooted for the Sox! Woo Hoo!!!!
Misunderspoke. Hey, that also sounds like a Bush-ism!
Cute story! Michele sent me.
Brand new to the comment game, but your post was so familiar…I thought I was the only one to ever say “cotter” for helicopter. And I thought I was so funny when “Welcome back Kotter” was on because I would make some reference that ‘hey, they used my word…they’re saying welcome back helicopter!’
But, you know, I was only 5 or 6. I still crack myself up (and only myself) when I think of it. And…
hello michele sent me.
Hello! Michelle sent me.
I can remember Home Depot (pronounced De-PoT), pasgetti, and calipitter.
Hello, Michele sent me.
While you’re expanding your vocabulary, why not learn to spell as well.
HaboUr, LaboUr, mUm, neighboUr, the list goes on. Please learn to spell English correctly.
Hello, Michele sent me, too!
This post is so funny. My cousin should publish her own dictionary of new or misused words. When we were little, she was thinking very hard about somethng. Brow furrowed, lip chewed, eyes squinty. My aunt: “What are you doing, honey?” My cousin: “Be quiet, please! Can’t you see I’m constipating???”
Have a lovely day!
What a fun post! Yes, Michele sent me, too.
I am certain that Greg’s comment was offered in humour.
Although he should check the U on his keyboard it does appear to become capitalized without warning.
Ah Greg, very LaboUr indeed. Far too many words, far too little content.
Michele sent me, and now I’ve got brain freeze and can’t think of any mangled words…
maybe I have dain bramage…