My kid (when younger) or his friends have made up words for things sometimes. They are usually readily understandable. Two that come to mind:
“Balloon-pop” - The small colorful rubbery bit left over from a balloon after it pops.
“Doo-de-doo” - a cardboard tube, either from a roll of paper towels or toilet paper, used as a makeshift trumpet. Named after what someone does with one: hold it up to their mouth and go “doo-de-dooooo!”
Distinct from this is transliterations of known words: “pitty cuke” (cat puke) and “waterlemon” (watermelon) need not apply.
Anyone else words their kids made up, that made perfect sense, and weren’t dumbed-down existing words?
Not so much a made up word as an interpretation of a word. A couple of weeks ago, I took my kids to get annual check ups at the clinic. After I take them to the doctor or dentist, it’s usually tradition for me to take them to get ice cream. On this particular day, my 11 year old and my 6 year old were arguing about where to go. My 6 year old (Sophie) wanted to go to DQ and get ice cream. My 11 year old (Wendy) wanted to go to Culver’s and get frozen custard. Sophie was adamant that she wanted ice cream, not custard, and said that custard was terrible. I asked her if she even knew what custard was. She said, “yes. It’s ketchup and mustard mixed together.” No wonder she didn’t want any.
My daughter called Toaster Strudels “doodle toast”. It sounds like Toaster Strudel backwards, and she knew what “doodle” was (you doodle on it with the frosting packet) but she didn’t know what “strudel” was.
Oh yeah, and those masks you put over your eyes to keep the light out were sleeping goggles.
In Spanish, the word for bra is sujetador, literally “holder”.
In yet another demonstration that my family looks like we all belong to the local police, quite often our beach-neighbors would do things like go topless or do the many-limbed-dance when my parents went for a walk along the shore, then go back to being all prim and proper when they came back. After one such episode, a very scandalized 3yo Littlebro said “and all the women too off their sujetadores and tapatetas! Even the old ones there!” (the youngest of whom must have been in her 60s)
My parents explained they’re all sujetadores and he claimed that no, some women don’t have enough to need holding: what those women wear are not “holders” but “tit-coverers”.
My little girl screams at ants, which she calls “stinkpots.” “Little stinkpot ants!!” she screams at them, apparently trying to hurt their feelings.
A couple of mispronunciations: for some reason, she insists that mermaids are called “worm-aids”. Also, those horrible shiny black spiders you have to stay away from are called “black weirdos.”
One to puzzle over: when she was younger and had just learned to count, she was in the back seat of the car, counting to ten, then counting backwards. She did it a couple times, then got quiet for a bit. Then she asked, “Daddy, how do you count side-to-side?”
Not really a made up word, but an adorable kid story nonetheless.
The other day when I was on the beach I was sitting near a mom and her daughter, maybe 9 years old. They were talking about an upcoming cupcake party. The mom said something like "We can go to _____ and then go over to ______, that way we can kill two birds with one stone. The little girl looked shocked, and said “That’s so mean!”
That makes a certain amount of sense. Well, not mathematically, but your daughter is stepping forward and backward through numbers. If she were standing on her feel, she can also step forward or backward. Or sideways. So she asks, how can she do the same with numbers?
When my daughter Emily was littler she coined the word “binky.” It describes the texture of something that is bouncy or squishy (like a balloon, maybe). “See, it’s binky because you bink it!” she explained as she poked (binked) the object. That used to crack us up. Also, she would never say she disliked anything. She either loved it, or she didn’t love it.
When my son was 2.5 until he was about 3.5, he had his “Friday pants.” They were his favorite pair of pajama pants, and he wore them until they were full of holes. We never figured out why they were Friday pants - they were decorated with penguins and snow hats and he wore them all the time.
We called Fisher Price Little People “peeps.” Not sure if we made that up or if our parents made it up for us, but it always seemed like the best word to use.
Now my niece plays with those same peeps and calls them peeps.
Celtling is very serious about jumping in puddles, especially muddy ones. She’s preparing for the day it becomes an Olympic Sport.
So she has a pair of boots that are kept mostly clean and dry for use in getting to and from school, or anywhere that includes a ride in the car. She has a second pair of boots which are used for splashing about and getting mucky and wet on purpose.
This second pair are her “Splooshers.”
A really big bear hug is a “Squishimus” hug.
She has two blankets which are to all other people exactly the same. (like this: http://www.whatshebuys.com/lit-scbkt.html ) When it became clear that one was going to be her all-time favorite blankie, I bought a second one exactly like it. So one is about two weeks older than the other, and we’ve had them over four years now.
But Celtling absolutely knows which is blankie number one and blankie number two. When she got to be a little more verbal I asked her how she could tell that the one in her hand was not blankie number one, and she said “It’s too flinky Mommy.”
Flinky. And the weird thing is, I got it. In that moment I realized that the satin in blankie number two is ever so slightly thicker and slicker than is blankie number one. Not slinky, exactly, but flinky. Yep.