I once read an article about child development saying that humans start off with a flexible and creative approach to life, which over time tends to become restricted by convention and repetition to a more limited world view. Children are the opposite of caterpillars growing into butterflies – we train them to be less free and imaginative as they grow. The evidence for this presents itself whenever small children do or say things that would never cross an adult’s mind.
The other day my husband baked some delicious scones for our tea. As he hails from the north west of England, he will pronounce this delicacy as scone – rhymes with gone. A born and bred southerner, I would always call it a scone – sounds like stone.
So in a teasing way, he taught our three year old to say “s-gone”. The following conversation took place when I came home;
Me: “What does Daddy call these?”
Daughter: “Scones” (like gone)
Me: “What does Mummy call them?”
Daughter: “Scones” (like stone)
Me: “And what do you call them?”
Long pause and cheeky grin.
Daughter: “Spangaroonies!”
A born linguist and diplomat in the making!
and from henceforth, these baked items will be know in the Lanky household as 'spangaroonies'. That's a great word!
ReplyDelete