Nicholas is very keen on language these days. He picks up words and phrases with ease (anyone want to teach him Mandarin?) and is willing to try to say just about anything we ask him to.
Unfortunately, it also means that he sometimes repeats things that we don't want him to know. Case in point: the other night we were driving home and there was some traffic. So I used a Yiddish word I learned from relatives to describe the situation as "messed up" or "screwed up." I said it offhand to Sarah in the front seat, relatively quietly, and honestly, without thinking about it.
Next thing I know, Nicholas is repeating the word in a sing-song voice (almost all Yiddish words and phrases are inherently funny to say out loud).
Oops. I guess I should stick to "oy vey!"
Oy Vey is a standard in my vocab, and has been since summer camp days. Cheryl even bought me a faux keyboard button with that written on it. Good times.
ReplyDeleteThere's a joke in there somewhere about Presbyterians appropriating Yiddish expressions, but on a Sunday evening I'm hard pressed to find it.
ReplyDeleteWell I must announce that everyone who entered the pool to see who would accidentally teach Nicholas his first naughty word will get their money back. No one put money on Joe being the culprit.
ReplyDeleteSee, depending on what kind of mood you caught me in, I might have joined the pool, picked myself, and then gone ahead and taught him something mildly bad to take the money.
ReplyDeleteThough really I would have put money on one of my brothers, so there you go. At least Uncle Mike taught him how to say, "Uh-oh..."
You would have bet on one of your brothers. My money was on Mom!
ReplyDelete