Children of an English Major

I think that I could probably start an entire blog dedicated to our children's misuse of the English language. Whether it is misusing a word, mispronouncing a word or simply creating a word . . . our children are constantly keeping us laughing with what they say.

Mispronouncing words:
The other day at the table we asked Drew to do something and he flat out said, "No."
I then told him that the word "No" should not be a part of his vocabulary.
He very matter-of-factly shot back, "Yes . . .  the word "No" should be part of my "Cocabulary!"

Ada does her share of mispronouncing too. Drew has been using the phrase "You are a genius!" a lot lately. Whenever I help him figure something out he will tell me that I'm a genius. I haven't discouraged this. I don't get that compliment very often . . . okay so I have never had that compliment . . . Anyway, the other day at the table Drew said something and Ada turned to him and said, "Good Drew! You're a "Genior"! She was completely serious and genuine in this remark which made it even better.

Misuse of words:
A word that Drew has been mixing up lately is the word "interrupting". Whenever one of the other children starts talking over him, he gets pretty mad and will yell, "Stop "errupting" me!" In some ways I suppose the word "errupting"does sort of fit . . .

Hayden has been misusing the word "bragging" a lot lately. Whenever someone says something mean to him or if they say something he doesn't quite agree with he yells back, "Stop "bragging" about that." And no matter how many times we try to explain to him what bragging really means . . . he doesn't quite catch on and keeps saying it.

I can't really poke fun at my kids too much about misusing words. I unfortunately have done it . . . and still do it quite often. When I was younger there was a time that I was talking to my Dad in the backyard. We were talking about bad language (swearing etc.) I turned to him and said, "I've never said a 'profound' thing in my entire life!" You can bet that I have never lived that one down!!!

Making up words:
If you can't think of the word you are looking for . . . you might as well make one up right? My kids do. One word that all of them have used and completely understand the meaning of is "Chimp". No . . . not the cute primate. No "chimp" (their version) is a verb. They would say things like, "You just need to 'chimp' it like this."
Yes . . . "Chimp" "Chimped" "Chimping"who knows where it came from or which one of them said it first . . . but it is definitely part of their "Cocabulary."
Another word, also a verb, that Hayden was using the other day was  "Scrumple". He was telling Ada, "You just have to 'scrumple' it on your face like this."

And once again I can't just make fun of my children for making up words . . . I have done it too. It was only a few years ago that I realized that "Shallmenno" was not a word. I always sang the song "Love one another" and when it came to the phrase "By this shall men know . . . ye are my disciples" I thought it was, "By this 'shallmenno'" and I always wondered what a "shallmenno" was . . . "
I shouldn't admit to these things . . . I am an English major after all . . . (ha ha)! But I want my kids to know where they get their amazing English skills from!! :)