Homeschool Posts

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

On the Ambiguity of the English Language...

Mary (age 7) prefers her toast to be so lightly browned that you can only just barely tell it is toasted. David (age 10) refers to it as "warmed bread."

Mama (after realizing she forgot the toast and it was very brown): "Mary's toast!"

Peter (age 5, while sitting on the potty): "God did not make Mary out of toast!"

Mama: ???

Mama: "OH!"


You might also enjoy reading about how inflation affects the Tooth Fairy.

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4 comments:

  1. LukeMarch 16, 2011 at 9:38 AM

    ...I had the ??? for a long moment there too. Then I realized that the possessive (the toast belonging to Mary) was being converted into a contraction (Mary is toast).

    What made it worse is that I am familiar with the colloquialism where when someone "is toast" they are in trouble. This made the "Mary is toast" = "Mary is made of toast" jump even harder for me.

    I really enjoyed that mental exercise. Thanks for sharing!

    ~Luke

    ReplyDelete
  2. SusanMarch 16, 2011 at 4:29 PM

    I actually had the same thought at the time (and am sure my
    10-year-old would have, too), I think it took my Mommy brain a full
    couple of minutes to realize what he was getting at. He is too clever
    for me. Thank you for stopping by. :0)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pebblekeeper ~ AngieMarch 21, 2011 at 10:02 AM

    Very Cute! We often have these conversations - and I have to stop an turn around too! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. BrianaMarch 22, 2011 at 2:14 PM

    Lol, cute! I love the things little ones say!

    ReplyDelete

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