Author Topic: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances  (Read 122069 times)

Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« on: 07 February, 2012, 12:25:24 pm »
Me to charge A (aged 3 and a half): "We are going to T's house for tea. Shall we go on the bus or ride our bikes?"

A: "Let's ride our bikes, it's more fun isn't it?"

 :D
Sensible boy :). (It's about a mile or so each way).
Quote from: Kim
^ This woman knows what she's talking about.

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #1 on: 07 February, 2012, 05:39:53 pm »
Testing out our Moulton tandem conversion last summer on the Phoenix Way, popular with cycling families, a little lad pointed and said, "Look, a joined-up bike!".

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #2 on: 07 February, 2012, 07:17:03 pm »
Me, on finding 2 yr old daughter poking her fingers down 8 week old son's mouth, making him gag:

"What on earth are you doing?"

Daughter:

"it's ok daddy, I'm getting the sick out"

a lower gear

  • Carmarthenshire - "Not ALWAYS raining!"
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #3 on: 07 February, 2012, 09:59:21 pm »
Walking along a marina, friends' five year old tries to pull up enormous rusty mooring chain dangling into water and unsurprisingly fails: "Daddy, there must be a submarine at the end of it!"  :thumbsup: Excellent deductive reasoning.

CrinklyLion

  • The one with devious, cake-pushing ways....
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #4 on: 07 February, 2012, 10:23:25 pm »
EldestCub:

"Wouldn't it be good if we had a flying car, then we could fly to school and back.  Of course, you'd need to get a flying license first.  Oh, and a driving license."

He's not wrong.....

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #5 on: 07 February, 2012, 10:39:10 pm »
Nephew of a friend of mine, 5 years old, struggling with the Latin in Harry Potter...

Runs up to people and shouts "Smelly armpits!"   :o

Well, it's easier to say than Expeliarmus!   ;D



Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #6 on: 08 February, 2012, 04:29:58 pm »
Nephew of a friend of mine, 5 years old, struggling with the Latin in Harry Potter...

Runs up to people and shouts "Smelly armpits!"   :o

Well, it's easier to say than Expeliarmus!   ;D

I'm constantly amazed at Nephew Oli's ability to say the names of dinosaurs. Of course, he only hears them spoken in documentaries (being 4, his reading is still limited, if at all) so he can parrot perfectly. I see them written down, and have to do them a syllable at a time, and might still get the emphasis wrong.

Carcharodontosaurus is one where he beats me hands down.

If I had a baby elephant, it could help me wash the car. If I had a car.

See my recycled crafts at www.wastenotwantit.co.uk

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #7 on: 08 February, 2012, 04:43:00 pm »
I see them written down, and have to do them a syllable at a time, and might still get the emphasis wrong.

There seem to be two distinct camps on this sort of thing: people who are used to having words they've never thought about how to pronounce, and those who've never conceived of such a thing.  It only seems to loosely correlate with the amount of reading people do, so I suspect it's related to subvocalisation or something.

As a geeky child without access to the right kind of geeks, and indeed to a lesser extent as an adult, I had an extensive technical vocabulary that I'd only ever used in writing.  Cue instant stammer when you suddenly realise - mid-sentence -you've actually no idea how to say 'ethernet' or whatever.  It was something of an epiphany to talk about this with barakta for the first time:  As written English is in effect her first language, she has this with all sorts of random words.  There's also the related issue of not realising that a written word and a spoken word are the same thing.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #8 on: 08 February, 2012, 06:51:28 pm »
There are different schools of thought in dinosaur name pronunciation too. Di-PLOD-u-cus and di -plo-DOH-cus are both used by otherwise reliable sources.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #9 on: 08 February, 2012, 07:26:43 pm »
I see them written down, and have to do them a syllable at a time, and might still get the emphasis wrong.

There seem to be two distinct camps on this sort of thing: people who are used to having words they've never thought about how to pronounce, and those who've never conceived of such a thing.  It only seems to loosely correlate with the amount of reading people do, so I suspect it's related to subvocalisation or something.

As a geeky child without access to the right kind of geeks, and indeed to a lesser extent as an adult, I had an extensive technical vocabulary that I'd only ever used in writing.  Cue instant stammer when you suddenly realise - mid-sentence -you've actually no idea how to say 'ethernet' or whatever.  It was something of an epiphany to talk about this with barakta for the first time:  As written English is in effect her first language, she has this with all sorts of random words.  There's also the related issue of not realising that a written word and a spoken word are the same thing.

That's interesting, I hadn't ever really thought about that.  I've no doubt that Oli's vocabularly (which was described as large very early on) is down to the talkative nature of his family giving him plenty of opportunity to hear and practice. Or at least his mother's side. As his dad said once, no wonder he knows a lot of words, he's three but he's heard 6 years worth of talking....  ;D

When we were kids, Mum always said Di-plo-DOH-cus  (In Meg, Mog and the Dinosaurs), and we were quite taken aback the first time we heard David Attenborough say Di-PLOD-u-cus...
If I had a baby elephant, it could help me wash the car. If I had a car.

See my recycled crafts at www.wastenotwantit.co.uk

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #10 on: 08 February, 2012, 07:34:27 pm »
And then there's that rational child thing of attributing meaning to different pronunciations:  A friend of mine who grew up in the fens thought that glarses were what you drank out of and glasses were for improving your vision.

Somehow my brother and I remained immune to my mum's bizarre habit of getting double-'o' sounds the wrong way round.  "You put your fooht in a buht" and so on.   ::-)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #11 on: 08 February, 2012, 07:38:03 pm »
Foot in a butt - she was threatening to kick your arses!

Or even asses...
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #12 on: 10 February, 2012, 03:41:32 am »
As a geeky child without access to the right kind of geeks

Good grief, that's a perfect description. Can I borrow that?

Quote
Cue instant stammer when you suddenly realise - mid-sentence -you've actually no idea how to say 'ethernet' or whatever.

Been there. Once as a kid I pronounced "subtle" as it's spelled and got roasted for it.
scottclark.photoshelter.com

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #13 on: 10 February, 2012, 01:32:58 pm »
As a geeky child without access to the right kind of geeks

Good grief, that's a perfect description. Can I borrow that?

Quote
Cue instant stammer when you suddenly realise - mid-sentence -you've actually no idea how to say 'ethernet' or whatever.

Been there. Once as a kid I pronounced "subtle" as it's spelled and got roasted for it.

Lieutenant. How are you suposed to know - I mean:- if you want it said leftenant, why not spell it so? Pneumonia? Or clerk. Or Paradigm (stupid word - used by the educated to show how thick everyone else is >:()

I read a lot of victorian books and was too busy reading to ask how you pronounce it. I read a lot of nursing stories so I could spell diarrhoea aged about 10 whilst I still have to think about all sorts of very usual words (as can probably be seen from my posts :-[).
Quote from: Kim
^ This woman knows what she's talking about.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #14 on: 10 February, 2012, 03:01:59 pm »
See, that's what I mean by wrong kind of geeks:  'Pneumonia' was a household word.  As was 'Meningococci'.  I knew what AIDS was in the mid-80s, at the age of about 6.  I certainly understood meiosis and mitosis years before it ever occurred to me to wonder how the sperm and egg actually got to be in the same place.  I spent a lot of primary school science lessons being assumed to be stupid or terribly lacking in confidence because I was never sure how much I should dumb things down to teacher-level by.

Nobody knew why TV aerials had elements that weren't connected to anything though.  I frustrated several librarians trying to find a book that could explain that one.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #15 on: 20 February, 2012, 01:00:30 pm »
First day back at school today and Little Cudzo was looking forward to seeing his classmates. Over breakfast he said, "Amrit's my best friend ever! He's even better than a wish!" which is at once very sensible and nonsensical. Or perhaps I misheard and he said "witch"...
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #16 on: 21 February, 2012, 09:13:32 pm »
My sister has been buying Oli's first school PE kit, including a pair of plimsolls.  Trying them on in the shop, she said "Do they feel ok?" and he said "Yes, I think they will be suitable".

He's 4. "Suitable".  ;D  Any other kid would say OK, or alright....

Apparently, when she told him that she was volunteering to help as a classroom assistant, he said he'd have to ask Mrs Woodall if it was appropriate...

If I had a baby elephant, it could help me wash the car. If I had a car.

See my recycled crafts at www.wastenotwantit.co.uk

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #17 on: 23 February, 2012, 08:18:20 pm »
So, Oli has a mastoid infection, and is in hospital under obs, and on antibiotics. He's apparently making sure all the doctors and nurses know about dinosaurs. One conversation apparently went thus:

Oli: Spinosaurus ate fish. I can run as fast a a Spinosaurus.
Nurse: Oh, so you'd win a race with a Spinosaurus then?
Oli: No. We'd finish together, because I can run as fast as a Spinosaurus, not faster...

That told her then.
If I had a baby elephant, it could help me wash the car. If I had a car.

See my recycled crafts at www.wastenotwantit.co.uk

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #18 on: 24 February, 2012, 08:28:11 pm »
But can he eat fish as fast as a spinosaurus? Hope Oli gets better soon.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #19 on: 24 February, 2012, 10:37:36 pm »
He does like fish....

I was sent a video of Max (2) with his birthday present from me, a tow truck and volvo car set (he's obsessed with Volvos).

Daddy: Where's the Volvo Max?
Max: Gargh! <waves Volvo at camera>
Daddy: and where's the truck?
Max: Garghgarh! <waves truck at camera>
Daddy: Is that cool?
Max: <nodding vigorously> Yeah!!!!
Daddy: Are you going to say thank you Auntie Sue?
Max: <Noncommitally, distracted, inspecting Volvo closely> Mmmmm.

I'll take that as a thank you then....
If I had a baby elephant, it could help me wash the car. If I had a car.

See my recycled crafts at www.wastenotwantit.co.uk

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #20 on: 26 March, 2012, 10:39:15 pm »
Middle charge (nearly 4), on finding that his legs are long enough for the tandem - 'ooh, can I have some of those shoes that clip to the bicycle now?'
Quote from: Kim
^ This woman knows what she's talking about.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #21 on: 26 March, 2012, 10:40:51 pm »
:thumbsup:  He'll go far, that one :)
Getting there...

rr

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #22 on: 26 March, 2012, 11:04:38 pm »
We were overtaken by a Pourse doing about 60 in an urban 30.
Mrs R: What an idiot
Me: Idiot is a bit mild for that.
Micro: How about twat?
Mini: No there is only one name bad enough for that -- DAVID CAMERON.

Jacomus

  • My favourite gender neutral pronoun is comrade
Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #23 on: 29 March, 2012, 09:44:44 am »
We were overtaken by a Pourse doing about 60 in an urban 30.
Mrs R: What an idiot
Me: Idiot is a bit mild for that.
Micro: How about twat?
Mini: No there is only one name bad enough for that -- DAVID CAMERON.

 ;D
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." Amelia Earhart

Re: Perfectly Sensible Child Utterances
« Reply #24 on: 02 April, 2012, 07:39:30 pm »
Miss Dan the Younger: "Does Corby have one moon, like our planet?"