I know there’s nothing more dull than than reading someone’s blog post on amusing things their kids say. So this one’s about my nephew and niece. And it’s about stuff they used to say, and have now grown out of, but which I’ve found so amusing that sometimes I jokingly insert them into my speech in conversations with the extended family.
“Buggan” — at one early stage this was the only discernible word my nephew Leo would utter. It seemed to be an all-purpose answer to everything.
“Dingers!” — Leo has been fascinated by trains for some time (getting into the family business), and at one stage was particularly taken by railway boom gates. He reasoned that they go “ding”, therefore the trains which cause them to go “ding” must be “Dingers”.
“Go go go!” — another Leoism, one he would utter from the back seat of the car when urging his parents to take off when he saw traffic traffic lights turn green.
Finally, in an incident a few months ago, my niece Isolda was running around in undies and a top, and her mum said she looked like Lady Gaga. She must have been in one of those contradictory moods, as she immediately came back with “I’m not Lady Gaga — you’re Lady Gaga!” It’s unclear if Isolda actually understood the reference, and knows who Lady Gaga is.
I’m reminded of this every time I hear politicians arguing on the radio or television. At one stage during the wash-up after the Federal election, I was listening to Hockey and Swan… I’m paraphrasing but it was basically: “You’re fiscally incompetent!” “I’m not fiscally incompetent — you’re fiscally incompetent!”
8 replies on “The things kids say”
No, I enjoy hearing about your kids/relatives antics.
To this day, I still refer to a level crossing as “the ding-dongs” (I’m careful to avoid use of the word “dingers”). I also generically refer to raspberry/strawberry jam as “red jam” which I’ve done since I learned to talk.
I thought about Lady Gaga’s child … and I shuddered
Mr grand-daughter when seeing a local house that had just been demolished asked me …”Did the wolf do it ?”
I realised that she had heard the story of the Three Li\ttle Pigs..and her question was quite logical,as small children can tell the difference between fact and fiction…a common condition too among politicians !
Error…. I meant to say….”can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction ”
…sorry
I love how kids sayings find their way into the family’s speech patterns. We all still refer to seagulls as “sea-saws” – a term my young niece coined :)
In our case it was the Lego ‘destructions’ that show how to build the model in the box. This was coined by my youngest son when he was about 4. So we still use ‘destructions’ instead of ‘instructions’.
When my younger brother was small he was afraid of the dark so my parents put a small 7 watt night light in his room. This became known as the “boo boo light”. Even 30 years later my parents would still refer to a night light as a “boo boo light”. In the house I grew up in my parents bedroom was in a converted attic and the closet off of the bedroom in the slope of the roof had pink fiberglass insulation covering the wall. My mom called it “the itchy closet”. I was not allowed to play in there but I really didn’t know why until I was older and realized just how itchy fiberglass insulation can be when a fiber gets stuck in your skin.
RE: “Dingers!”
My Godson calls trams “Dang Dangs” for similar reasons.
He is keen on trains to (he’s MAD for Thomas and friends). There’s a signal box by the railway crossing near his house. When ever he passes it, he points and goes “D-d-d-d-duh!” Took me a while to realise that he’s impersonating the fat controller!