# Your first words **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318 "2006-04-12T01:55:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/21 "2006-04-12T06:23:48Z")
I don’t know when I started talking, but like a few others here, my first words were apparently a coherent sentence. I’m told that I pointed at a magazine on the floor and said “That says LIFE” ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/22 "2006-04-12T06:30:29Z")
Our older daughter’s first word was, “Doddy”, which meant either “doggy” or “Daddy” pretty much interchangeably. The younger one didn’t speak for the longest time, since she had an older sister to do her talking for her, but her first intelligible words were, “Lissy throwed mine bear into mine crib!” I found this to be incredibly advanced, since she not only said a complete sentence, she was also tattling on her sister (who had done it to put the toddler’s beloved toy out of reach). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/23 "2006-04-12T06:44:59Z")
[QUOTE=Rushgeekgirl] Others, do you know what yours were? My mom said mine was “mama” and my brother’s was the same, so I’m guessing it’s fairly common. [/QUOTE] I’m told “dada” (or whatever) is the most common. I’m sure “mama” is right up there too. I don’t know for sure what my first word was. I know “Batman” was one of them. Another was “bus-stopper,” which was my attempt at DustBuster. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/24 "2006-04-12T06:57:03Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I’m told “dada” (or whatever) is the most common. I’m sure “mama” is right up there too. [/QUOTE] I guess we went straight to “mama” since there was no “dada” in the picture for the most part. 😉 Bella says a lot of almost words. Not too long ago she would come up to me and say “HahDAH hahDAH!” I didn’t realize what it meant until one day when she was watching ZOOM and the kids were saying “What’s up? What’s up” in their intro song. When she heard them say it she jumped up, came over to me and said her little thing. Ohhh! What’s UP, Bella? 🙂 She was so excited that I finally got it she said it over and over and over until I was just about ready to ban ZOOM forever. She also says “hehkeekee” for here kitty kitty, and “ay oh” for hello, but that “thank you” was just as clear as can be. :beams some more: ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/25 "2006-04-12T07:04:45Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I’m told “dada” (or whatever) is the most common. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard this one too. Apparently, the ‘d’ sound is easier to master than the ‘m’. ---
**Author:** ![FenneF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@FenneF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FenneF)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/26 "2006-04-12T07:26:50Z")
I am told it was “Stick” (pointing at a stick). Closely followed by “Shit”, for which my father spent a week sleeping on the couch. ---
**Author:** ![Otanx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Otanx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otanx)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/27 "2006-04-12T07:55:07Z")
I was told my first word was ‘shit’. I do know that a friends son’s first word was ‘shit’ because I worked long and hard to teach it to him. Mom wasn’t ammused, but everyone else was. Strange thing is that now I rarley say shit. Usually I will say ‘snap’. -Otanx ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/28 "2006-04-12T21:31:40Z")
> [@](#): > > …and I’m just so tickled that of all the things she could say she says “thank you”. My son’s first words were also “thank you”. We played a game where I would hand him something and say “You’re welcome!”, then he would hand it back and I would say “Thank you!” ad infinitum. He began saying “thank you” clearly and in context at about 9 months old - really freaked out the grocery store clerks, let me tell you. He talked before he walked. He also never spoke “baby talk”. His enunciation was always clear. By age 18 months he was having full conversations with adults. On more than one occasion an adult would stop in mid-conversation with him, look up to me and ask “How old is he again?”. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/29 "2006-04-12T21:46:54Z")
My daughter’s first word was “luz,” which she picked up from her Portuguese babysitter. She didn’t seem to pick up any other Portuguese words preferentially, though. It was closely followed by “dat,” with a pointing finger, meaning “What’s that?” This one was repeated endlessly, and woe to anyone who didn’t give her an answer. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/30 "2006-04-12T22:11:25Z")
“Kitty,” at about 8 months. Apparently we were looking at, and talking about, a kitty. I still like kitties. 🙂 My mom wrote down what my vocabulary was at 10 months and still has it somewhere. Not William Sidis or anything, but not bad. We apparently had an animal thing going on in my family. My brother’s was “horsie” and my nephew’s (who my parents raised) was “puppy” ad infinitum. Not just “puppy,” mind you. It was the only word he knew for a while so he repeated it over and over: “puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy…” You get the idea. We were desperate to teach him a new word. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/31 "2006-04-12T22:13:22Z")
[QUOTE=Rushgeekgirl] Whenever I give her something I always say “thank you” I suppose out of habit; I don’t even think about it anymore. Well today, very clearly she repeated my words. This is the first real words she’s spoken at sixteen months, and I’m just so tickled that of all the things she could say she says “thank you”. [/QUOTE] Forgot to say: that’s beyond cute. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/32 "2006-04-12T22:20:09Z")
My son’s first word was “Nonny”, while we were watching _Much Ado About Nothing_. (It’s in the poem at the beginning.) He was about 7 months and on his grandmother’s lap and just looked up at her and said, “Nonny! Nonny, Nonny, Nonny!” So that became her name. Turns out it actually means “Grandmother” in a couple of languages. He didn’t speak another word for months. My daughter first signed “milk”, then said “kitty”. Shortly after, she said “Mama”, and now also signs “all done”. She’s chronologically 14 months, but a 4 month preemie, so her development is all over the charts. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/33 "2006-04-12T22:25:02Z")
My father claims it was “Baba” which means “father” but I’m pretty sure it was just me drooling and babbling out “bababababa” like any other oafish infant and the arrogant coot just mistook it as me talking about him. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/34 "2006-04-12T22:25:49Z")
Ok, mine were in Hindi, but I wanna play too. My first word was “_Ab-bey_” which apparently was short for “_Aake beto_” which means “Come and sit down.” It’d be like saying “Cown!” Then I also said “_Nahin_” which means “NO!” 😃 As an interesting aside, when I was learning English, I got pretty discombobulated, and at one point asked my mother to “\*Chuko \*me”, “_chuko_” meaning “pick up”. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/35 "2006-04-12T22:26:52Z")
[QUOTE=Doctor Jackson] My son’s first words were also “thank you”. We played a game where I would hand him something and say “You’re welcome!”, then he would hand it back and I would say “Thank you!” ad infinitum. He began saying “thank you” clearly and in context at about 9 months old - really freaked out the grocery store clerks, let me tell you. He talked before he walked. He also never spoke “baby talk”. His enunciation was always clear. By age 18 months he was having full conversations with adults. On more than one occasion an adult would stop in mid-conversation with him, look up to me and ask “How old is he again?”. [/QUOTE] That’s something else I wanted to ask. Bella started [walking](http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bellabrigido/detail?.dir=/abb3&.dnm=1ba4.jpg) somewhere in her ninth month, and I was wondering if children who are slower to talk are faster to walk and vice versa. I’m on a parenting board and it’s starting to seem this way. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/36 "2006-04-12T22:29:47Z")
[QUOTE=Misnomer] According to Mom, my first word was “clock.” [/QUOTE] Are you me? My first word was “clock,” and I’ve never the same from anyone else until now. My second word was “tick tock.” Apparently I was really taken with the clock in question. My daughter’s 6.5 months now, and not yet talking, except for bababababa. It doesn’t seem to mean anything – or it means a lot of things, in the manner of “cool.” ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/37 "2006-04-13T03:56:08Z")
My parents don’t know. I asked them. Me: You DON’T KNOW? Weren’t you paying attention? Them: Maybe we knew before, but forgot. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Matthew1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed655f/32.png) [@Matthew1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matthew1)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/38 "2006-04-13T04:00:03Z")
After reading some more, I thought I should add that my neices first words were “Truck” and “Dog”…then she learned…“firetruck”…and that turned into something that got my bro-in-law in a little trouble…after all, who ever heard of a “firef\*ck”? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/39 "2006-04-13T04:52:24Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] I’ve heard this one too. Apparently, the ‘d’ sound is easier to master than the ‘m’. [/QUOTE] I think that’s right. And most kids spend more time with their mother in those early stages, so they’re more likely to hear “dad” than “mom.” Or so I heard. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318/40 "2006-04-13T14:25:36Z")
My own 16-month old just started talking in earnest a few weeks ago. He started with ‘Dada’ and ‘Mama’ and also says ‘Mammy’ (his grandmother). Another early word was ‘nigh-nigh’ for going to bed. Once he started talking, he really went at it: ball, car, truck, doggie, light, and his favorite word: baby. We have a lot of decorative crosses in our house, and taught him to say ‘cross.’ When I carried him into church this week (during a very quiet part of the service), he pointed above the altar and shouted “Cross! Cross! Cross!” I was proud and embarsassed a the same time 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-words/352318.md?page=3)