Kids' Catchphrases or Words

Do any of you still use the words or phrases your kids or grandkids used when they were little and couldn’t pronounce them properly? We have been using the following forever.

Prentzels - my little sister’s pronunciation of pretzels. She’s 47 now and we still use it!

*I can’t change up my mind! *- My son used to say that instead of I can’t make up my mind.

Apacoes - my grandson’s version of apples. He made the word more complicated!

Aminals - I think every kid I’ve ever known pronounced animals this way.

*Scabetty *- See above. We still have scabetty and meatballs!

Cripsy - my niece said this instead of crispy (She’s 28 now) and we still ask for our grilled hot dogs cripsy.

Fruck - my son’s version of truck. Used especially when talking about a fire fruck!

Yes, dozens. I still start to say Ammm’-i-nals then quickly switch when I realize not everyone will think it’s cute. Same with a Cress’-kant for croissant (also applies to a Cress-kant Wrench).

When I was a kid, we were learning Phonics in school. My family visited an ice cream parlor that had “Pistachio” ice cream listed. I asked, “What’s pis-ta-KY-o?” From that day on, even into my adulthood, my father sometimes called me PistaKYo Pete.

You’re correct in Italy!

Oh, and my sister saw a bottle in the liquor store and asked what Tuh-KWILL’-ah was. Since she was 17 at the time, she’s never heard the end of that…

i-beep = ice cream

wewaff = giraffe

I put sugar water out for hummingbirds. Or as one of the kids aptly put it: “honeybirds”.

We had pis’getti from the way my little brother pronounced it when he was even littler.

We don’t use them any more, but a couple come to mind:

Bally ball, for volleyball,
Festibal for festival.

Factoid: Edwin Aldrin’s sister couldn’t say “brother” when they were little. It came out as “buzzer.” And now you know the rest of the story.

Thought of 2 more

Horse fish - Sea horse

Ball cage - Cinderella’s carriage

Those are 2 of my favorites. Sometimes I can’t remember what a horse fish is really called! And ball cage - I’m not sure if the word ball refers to the dance or the shape of the carriage. It makes me laugh every time I think of it.

Mommy’s fox cup

I dated a woman who’s daughter called a fly-swatter a fly-spanker. Without a nanosecond of hesitation I immediately changed that noun in my vocabulary.

I thought of a couple more.
Cottage cheese is cot cheese
Des Moines is pronounced Dess Moness.

Stick her, instead of sic her for the command of a dog to attack.

Loo-loo-la-la = little water (as in a small glass of water)

Life saver = light saber

Peefume

Laxing

When I was 14, I babysat for a pre-schooler who was all excited because she was going to spend Christmas with her grandparents in Floridia.

From other sources (not me!), John Denver thought Best Virginia was almost heaven, and President Clinton was the former governor of R-Kansas (hard S).

There’s a dish my mother makes, chopped up baked potatoes and… turnips, I think? It all looks vaguely potato-y. Anyway, when my brother was very little, he came up with his own version of a Barney song, in which the Barney Bag contained “kitchups and ketchups and old swampy things”. Somehow, the baked vegetables got dubbed kitchups and ketchups.

Also, pretty much the opposite of a kid thing, but my grandmother has started hanging out with Chabad rabbis. Being completely secular her whole life, she sometimes has trouble with Hebrew words, and calls them “Kabob”. Now the rest of us say “Kabob” sometimes.

My (radical feminist lesbian) sister’s granddaughter called it “Chick-A-Fil” We all call it that, but we do not eat there.

Watermelon bed (waterbed)
Fire cookies (fireworks [firecrackers is what I’m guessing made that connection for him])
Wild up (riled up)
Buzz Lightyear, what’s your coffee? (copy)

OK. I left this one alone thinking someone else might ask, but what the heck does this even mean? I mean, what’s wrong with it?