I was taking the grandkids home this morning after they spent the night with us. On the way, my 8 year old grandson says “I want a sno-cone!”
I said, “A sno-cone? Where do you get a sno-cone?”
His older sister, in a voice where you could practically hear her eyes rolling, says “The sno-cone place.”
This reminds me of a conversation I had with our daughter Elizabeth when she was six years old.
We went horseback riding while on vacation. It was her first time on a horse. We rode for an hour, following a guide. Afterwards I said to her, “Hey, you did good. You should think about taking some horse riding lessons.” She replied, “Why? I already know how to ride a horse.”
If I eat myself, will I double in size or disappear completely?
When my youngest sister was about 5 or 6, she asked “How do you say ambulance?”
Maybe she meant spell instead of say, but we still had a laugh.
I remember from kidhood a persistent common mispronunciation of “ambulance” as if it was spelled “ambliance”. So AM-blee-uhns or AM-blee-ans.
Was she trying to sort out how she heard other kids saying it versus how she heard you saying it? But not getting quite the right words for the concept in her head?
Me and the Lil’wrekker saw a small person older man once and she ask “Why is that little boy so old?”
The man got a kick out of it. I had to do some ‘splaining on that one, tho’.
I think I’ve posted this before.
We were road-tripping on a vacation and the subject of porcupines somehow came up.
My young nephew: Are there any porcupines in Michigan?
Me: I think so. I know they like to live near mountains.
Nephew: Are there any mountains in Michigan?
Me: Yeah, there are mountains on the far west side of the Upper Peninsula.
Nephew: What are they called?
Me: (pause) The Porcupine Mountains.
mmm
I see the joke, but it’s not really a stupid question. If you hear a new and unfamiliar word, it seems normal to me to try to reproduce the way you think you heard it, hopefully close enough to identify the word, while asking for confirmation of how to pronounce it. How else would you do it? An adult might say “am I pronouncing ‘ambulance’ correctly”, but that’s obviously what she meant.
That’s how I would have interpreted it. “You’re saying it right, honey” if she is, or “Almost. It’s [ambulance].” I’m fairly sure both my kids have done this from time to time.
Ok, but…
There’s a famous Elephant Canyon in Canyonlands NP, too. But I guess I’m less skeptical about Fish River.
I remember being 6 years old, my first visit to my grandparents house in Florida [just moved back from Germany] and we went through the airport and saw a cluster of little people - it was Christmas, and back in the 60s Sarasota was a really big Circus wintering place. I was thrilled, we had just seen Wizard of Oz =)
Not really stupid-question related, but this reminds me of how I used to think typing classes were stupid (and maybe still do?). The keys are labeled! It’s pretty obvious that if you want a W, you press the key with a W on it. Who needs a class to learn that?
When I took typing classes way back in high school (when there were still typewriters!) the goal was so that you could type accurately without looking at the keys. But yeah I see your point…
Not a question, but when my son was 6 or so we were standing in the lobby of a building waiting for the elevator to arrive when a Muslim man wearing a white, flowing Thobe arrived to wait with us.
My son whispered to me, “I think he’s a ghost.”
It still cracks me up when I think of it.
Similar thing happened when we were visiting a zoo. One of my kids asked “Why is that boy smoking a cigar?”
My brother was visiting us when my son was about 4 years old. Bro was smoking and my son said to him, "Uncle Gary, do you know that smoking is bad for you?’
Bro crumples his pack of cigarette and tosses it away.
Son: “Wow, did you do that because I asked you?”
Bro: “Nope. Out of cigarettes.”.
Linus Van Pelt: Lucy, why is the sky blue?
Lucy: BECAUSE IT ISN’T GREEN!
My little sister, in preschool, told me that at the end of the day, all the kids had to sit on their coats on the floor. I asked why. She said, “Well, who else is going to sit on them?”
It sounds like she’s a natural at Dad jokes.
Why are your legs so long? If they were any shorter, they wouldn’t reach the ground.
Why don’t you see Elephants hiding in trees?
Because they are so good at it.
(Yes, it’s a non sequitur. Big woop, wanna fight about it?)
