# Words your kids had consistent trouble pronouncing **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 23, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792 "2004-03-23T00:02:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/41 "2004-03-24T22:54:51Z")
My nephew has trouble with Firetruck. The “tr” gets replaced with another “f”. Makes for an interesting time if the firetruck goes by when we are out in public. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/42 "2004-03-24T23:17:50Z")
I was babysitting a little girl one snowy day when she asked me if she could go out and play. I told her yes, but make sure to bundle up first. She got this horribly disappointed look on her face and cried out, “But I don’t know _how_ to bungle up!” LOL! ---
**Author:** ![quilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/839c29/32.png) [@quilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quilter)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/43 "2004-03-25T01:44:46Z")
> [@foxymoron](#): > > downstairs used to = **soun-dairs** My (now adult – how’d that happen?) daughter used to pronoune “downstars” as “stoun-dairs”. The command “Daddy, fix it!” became “Daddy, fikkits!”. But she was most famous for morphing “helicopter” into “heck-a-top-ter”. Close enough to be understood! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/44 "2004-03-25T02:17:16Z")
My mother tells me that when I was little, I would see a large red-painted vehicle used by emergency personnel to drive to and put out a blaze, and I would say, “Avo guck!” ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/45 "2004-03-25T02:29:47Z")
My brother (who later went through speech therapy to remedy this) had a very slight lisp and said “keppets” for ketchup and “losper” for lobster. I didn’t start speaking until very late (I was way past three) and I skipped ‘baby talk’ all together. My parents knew I could speak, I just wouldn’t. I remember very clearly not wanting to say anything I didn’t know how to say perfectly. They finally stopped feeding me at the table unless I asked for it by name. My grunting quickly turned into speech after that, because no one keeps me from my mashed potatoes. I went through speech therapy, even though I didn’t have any problems because they figured I would develop them somehow 😕 by being around my brother, I guess. My big problems came from being able to read before I chose to speak, so I would misprounounce words that were spelled differently than they were spelled so: obvious became oh-BIV-ee-ous and moccassian (sp?) became mo-CAUSE-an… those are the only two I can think of now… Isn’t there an age that kids hit where they start misprouncing things? I thought it was post reading, but I’m no example. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Vega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9adbd/32.png) [@Lord\_Vega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Vega)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/46 "2004-03-25T04:03:27Z")
Many years ago I went by my middle name, Clark. My friends son could not pronounce “L”. Hilarity and embarrasment ensues everytime we went out in public. Imagine a young tot bellowing at the top of his voice, “Hey Uncle Cock, lookatme!” My ex and I were babysitting a friends little girl. My ex wakes me up in the morning, “Tara wants cherry toast for breakfast. How do you make cherry toast”? My sleepy reply, “Get a bowl and some milk, pour some Cherrios in the bowl and cover them with milk”. Cheers, Vega ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/47 "2004-03-25T04:15:51Z")
Sometimes, even now, “similarly” comes out simrlry ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/48 "2004-03-25T04:34:32Z")
My daughter pronounced hamburger as hamgerbur. My son pronounced diplodocus as dip-low-doh-cus until he was five. ---
**Author:** ![Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercury)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/49 "2004-03-25T05:30:23Z")
Thanks, **TellMeI’mNotCrazy**. I agree with you 100%. My parents never spoke baby-talk to me, and I’ll never do it to my kids. That’s what cats and dogs are for. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FreeRange\_Maniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/97f17d/32.png) [@FreeRange\_Maniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FreeRange_Maniac)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/50 "2004-03-25T08:30:33Z")
> [@Mercury](#): > > Thanks, **TellMeI’mNotCrazy**. I agree with you 100%. My parents never spoke baby-talk to me, and I’ll never do it to my kids. > > That’s what cats and dogs are for. 😃 I agree. I NEVER spoke baby talk to my kids and they both spoke early, the youngest at 8 months. I know someone who still baby talked at her kids when they were 7 or 8. Eeewww! Course, now you can’t shut mine up :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792/51 "2004-03-25T15:17:07Z")
No baby talk from Harborwolf and I with our daughter either, but she had some REALLY cute ways of saying things. Onion- Ungun Light- Yite Water- Yader Basket- Bastik Grandpa- Bapa Daddy- Daddin Once, she was in the bathroom with me and she pulled a tampon out of the cabinet. She asked me what it was, and I told her. From then on, she called them “tantons” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-your-kids-had-consistent-trouble-pronouncing/235792.md?page=2)