# Why do they only listen when I don’t want them to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2014, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-only-listen-when-i-don-t-want-them-to/686004 "2014-04-13T08:36:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-only-listen-when-i-don-t-want-them-to/686004/1 "2014-04-13T08:36:22Z")
Despite various efforts to encourage their study of English, my kids can barely speak it, although they do understand a fair bit. So my primary-school aged son is helping make pizzas in the kitchen and I’m idly singing along to myself. Me: “[Foxtrot, Uniform, Charlie, Kilo.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZpxaiNV_sM)” Son: (In Japanese) “What’s that song?” Me: “It’s just a silly song with no important meaning.” Son: “What do the words mean?” Me: “Hmm. Well, the foxtrot is a dance, a uniform is what students wear to school, Charlie is a man’s name, and kilo is a measurement of weight.” Son: “Their completely unrelated.” Me: “Yes. They are. It’s just a silly song.” Son: “. . . where did you hear it?” Me: “ . . . . . Just somewhere.” I really have to watch myself more carefully in front of my kids. (Now he’s in the living room playing Mario Cart as Kinopio, and for some reason all I can hear Kinopio saying as he speeds around the track is “Oh no! Woah! Oh fuck! Fuck! Oh FUCK!” Makes me wonder what the character’s really meant to be saying. Or what’s wrong with my head. ) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-only-listen-when-i-don-t-want-them-to/686004/2 "2014-04-13T14:39:50Z")
This song got some airplay on radio and MTV in the early 1980s. Really. Borderline NSFW. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MjmxUSsL-qk/hqdefault.jpg "April Wine - If You See Kay (1982 video single)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjmxUSsL-qk) And then there was that Van Halen album, “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”, and also the First Unitarian Church of Kennebunkport. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-only-listen-when-i-don-t-want-them-to/686004/3 "2014-04-14T04:41:53Z")
> **[If U Seek Amy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_U_Seek_Amy)** > > "If U Seek Amy" (radio-edited as "If U See Amy") is a song by American singer Britney Spears from her sixth studio album, Circus (2008). It was released on March 10, 2009, by Jive Records as the third single of the album, chosen by a poll on Spears's official website. "If U Seek Amy" was written and produced by Swedish producer Max Martin, who also wrote previous hits for her first three albums, and was marked as Spears's comeback song to Martin since 2001. In the song, Spears is looking for a... Same vein, more recent. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-only-listen-when-i-don-t-want-them-to/686004/4 "2014-04-15T23:02:48Z")
I read the title and immediately thought, “My kid!”. See you next Tuesday!