I’m Sorry…What Did You Say?

So…admittedly sometimes my children are not up on all the latest slang, fads, etc.

And frankly I am just fine with that.

They might not be ok with it, but as the mama...I am.

And this is not because we try to keep them in a bubble…just for the record…but because we try to keep them from things which we don’t think their young minds are quite mature enough to handle.

I shall get off any soap-box onto which you feel I may have climbed. Not my intent.

My point was this: My kids haven’t heard every coarse word in the English language. 

All this being said, every once in a while, a word slips into their vernacular that wasn’t there before. And it clearly came from somewhere.

Don’t get me wrong…they aren’t always coarse words. Sometimes it is simply a word such as  “superfluous”…I cannot fathom where they would have gotten that…but they have picked up on it and sometimes throw it into a sentence just for fun.

Who else finds new (or rediscovered old) words so enjoyable as to let them roll around in your brain until the perfect opportunity presents itself for the word usage?

I am surely not that only one.

Yes, yes, I do use it in my “every day” word-smithing, as well as my blog.

I do save my best for you, my loyal fans…and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Anyway…”superfluous”. It’s a fabulous word, no? Why wouldn’t you use it?

Other times, words from the PBA enter into a conversation which I know full-well they did not get from me.

Sometimes, to eliminate the embarrassment of not knowing a word’s meaning, they will slip it in all casually to see if they elicit any sort of response.

No, no, they are not to the point yet, much to my chagrin and not from a lack of my efforts…in which they will actually look a word up to learn it’s meaning.

Baby steps, people. Baby. Steps.

I am just glad they’ll add new words to their vocabulary every now and again.

So anyway, if they use a word and I don’t respond, or if I respond with a, “Oh, nice word choice”  or something of that nature…then they know it’s a safe option and will begin to use it freely.

However, there has, on more than one occasion, a response from me which has been, “I’m sorry…what did you say?”

I’ve discovered that this is an immediate way to clue in the PBA that whatever it was that they just uttered should not have passed their lips.

Case in point:

One morning before our Bible Time (no less)…

10yo: Hey Mom…it’s ballsy.

Me: I’m sorry…what did you say?

10yo (mistaking that I actually did not hear him, repeated his statement): I said it’s ballsy.

Me (attempting to wipe the shock and horror off my face which was undoubtedly there): Ummm…what are you talking about?

10yo holds up his football…on which he has placed his favorite knit stocking cap.

And repeats himself (thinking to himself that I need to get my hearing checking, and in addition, he’s beginning to lose patience with me): It’s “Ballsy”.

Me (still very much confused about why he’s saying what he’s saying, and shocked and aghast that this sentence is even coming out of his mouth): I’m sorry, Honey, but I still don’t understand.

12yo (seemingly unaware of the coarseness of the 10yo’s comment, steps in to translate): Mom, he’s talking about the football.

10yo: Yeah his name is “Ballsy”.

Me: Oh. (Insert pregnant pause here…pardon any pun or euphemism you may be thinking of) We’re going to have to come up with another name for him.

10: But why? He’s a ball!

Me: Yes, I know, but…well….

For the third time this week: For. The. Love.

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