As you probably know (because I’ve mentioned it so many times, but there are newbies out there, I guess) I teach English as a Foreign Language in an elementary school. Over the last couple weeks, I’ve realized that my students are mimicking one of my most commonly used phrases.
Oh.
My.
God!
It is so freaking hilarious! Every time I say it, they crack up and echo me. And they’re saying it spontaneously, too.
The other day, my third graders (age 9) were learning how to use “can” and “can’t”.
Me: Simona, can you fly?
Simona: Oh my god, no!
Me: dies laughing
That’s awesome! My toddler is also at that stage where you hear your words, inflection and all, come out of her mouth.
“Caileigh, stop it!”
“No, YOU 'top it!”
:eek:
But it’s not all brattiness in the WhyHouse. She’s been singing “Happy Birthday” to the Christmas tree, at least once a day. Not with me - she’ll go into the room all alone and sing to the tree. I have no idea where she got that idea from, but it’s awfully cute!
Not a kid, but one time, many years ago, in Texas, there was a guy I knew loosely from work who had come from Vietnam and had very limited English. He came along with a few of us to a bar after work to drink, shoot pool, etc.
A couple of the guys and I had a tendency to address each other (endearingly) as “Fuckwad”. Well, Vietnamese guy picked up on this, and started greeting people with “Hey, Fuckeewah!” Being cruel bastards, we kind of let him keep on doing this for a while, until he said it to the waitress, and she got pissed at him.
So we explained to him what the deal was. He was mortally embarrassed. We felt bad for him and bought him some drinks, but henceforth, his nickname was “Fuckeewah”. Some people who weren’t in on the joke thought that was his Vietnamese name or something.
I’ll add to the hijack. When I was a CPO in the Navy I once had a young filipino guy work for me. His english was pretty good, but he had trouble w/ pronouncing some letters.
Whenever I’d tell him to do something, he’d always reply, “OK, Cheap”.
The other day in the pub, my friends’ two-year-old traded seats with her dad because the sun was in her eyes. After she moved, she looked at the contents of the table in front of her, and said in a very concerned tone: “Daddy, don’t forget your pint!”
I taught an after-school activity to 8-10 year olds in Singapore one year. English there is great, but my mother’s family is from Kentucky and there are a few phrases in my vocabulary that these kids hadn’t heard much before. (No Kentucky accent, though.) I thought it was hilarious when I heard one of the kids say to another, “Oh, for Pete’s sake, go put it over yonder!”
They gave me endless crap when I tried to add Singaporean phrases to the mix.
Once when I was 8 and my brother was 3 my parents had taken us to church. My brother and I were usually pretty good for the most part, despite our normal tendency to be very, very loud. They passed the collection plate and my dad put the envelope in there and my brother noticed all the cash in the plate. He looked at my dad who quietly explained that “people put some of their pennies and dollars in there for God and the church” and that it wasn’t for us to take money out of but instead to put money into it. The plate gets all the way up to the front of the church and the pastor takes it, sets it on the altar, and with his back to the congregation starts praying. At this point my brother notices what he is doing and stands up to yell, “Hey, he is taking the pennies out! Those pennies aren’t for you!”
My nephew used to start each sentence with "I do believe … The best one I recall was when he was 4 as we were all sitting down to Easter dinner he chimes “I do believe I’ll eat dinner, and I do believe it will be good.” Said with a nod. Everyone fell out, he was just so serious. My brother & SIL had no clue where he picked up.
I’m picturing these kids as grownup expats (I work with a number of Singaporean expats). Coming out with the word “yonder” or the phrase “for Pete’s sake.” There are some things you don’t expect to come out of an expat. And the ones from Singapore seem to be particularly prone to formality and proper English.
My nephew apparently has taken to saying, “I’ll make you a deal…” He hears it a lot at home, and… Well, he doesn’t know what it means yet, but he knows that it means whatever is said next is pretty important, so it has become his new phrase.
This is second-hand, but plausible if you know the boy involved.
My friend called the house to finalise some plans with the little boy’s parents about going to a dance. He, at that time about 5, answered the phone, clearly upset.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing…”
“Come on, you sound sad.”
“Well… it’s just that… I just found out there won’t be any weapons at the dance.”
It’s especially funny because that’s exactly the sort of little boy I was.
Most nights, I snuggle and tell bedtime stories with my almost-3 yo daughter. A few months ago, I had just settled in with her and she said “tell me a snuggle story, Daddy”. I said “OK, I have to think of one first”. Now, the routine is her going “tell me a snuggle story, Daddy” quickly followed by “you have to 'hink of one first”. She won’t let me start right in with the story, I have to “hink” of one first.
I have no idea how this started, but when my daughter was 10 or so, we had this whole good night ritual.
In unison, we’d squeal, “Smooches!” Then give each other air kisses on the cheeks, like the society ladies do.
Then, again in unison, it was “Daaahling! Let’s do lunch! Have your people call my people!” in High Society voice.
Then, she’d scamper off to bed.
Of course, now that she’s 15, that’s just so lame, mom…I had to pull the pouty lower lip and puppy dog eyes to do it again, one more time, the other night.
When my son was three he was very much into comic heroes that his dad had drilled into his head from the day he was born. Batman, Superman, Spiderman etc.
One time I was visiting a friend and her dog began to bark. We sort of looked around and my friend stated it was just the “mailman”. Upon hearing this my sons face lit up like a candle, he got a goofy surprised grin and his arms went into the air as to take flight and yelled “MAILMAN!”
We had to explain that the mailman did not have a cape nor did he fly from house to house. He was disappointed to say the least.
To this day when ever we drive by a mail truck I have to yell “MAILMAN!”
No the cutest story of all time was a post here a couple years ago:
One lucky Doper father told the story of his 3 yr old running around the house, who suddenly stopped and stood very still for a long minute, staring out the window. Finally, he said:
“Daddy—you have to take me out to the end of the driveway–I’m pretending to be the garbage can.”