Now, we have realized that your lexicon does not always match what we expect. It's charming, to be sure, though it sometimes causes a bit of confusion. When Kayla barks, you will say, "Kayla buh-koo," but in this case, 'buh-koo' appears to mean 'bad' (which Kayla certainly can be) to you.
How do we know? Well, you've used the word in other contexts. As in, you're mad that you aren't getting something you want--like Daddy's phone--and attempts to redirect you to something else--say, Rudolph--are rebuffed with, "Byebye, Woo [Rudolph]. Buh-koo, Woo." Generally this is accompanied by hitting or throwing the unwanted object.
That's not a big deal. 2yos are learning boundaries and have tantrums, and we're used to that by now. The problem is that sometimes what you say is vaguely homophonous with adult things one ought not say when still a toddler. So when you're mad at me and yell, "buh-koo, Daddy," it stops us in our tracks as we wonder if you haven't actually learned something bad from Schwartz at daycare (as foul-mouthed as I can be, I am only apt to write 'fuck you' on a blog, not utter it in front of you).
Anyway, I'd hate to have to explain this at the General Store or Town Meeting, so we might be isolating you until you're 21...
/daddy
2 comments:
Your story evoked a memory from my adolescence. I was riding home from school with my mother in our car. We stopped at a red light. A very young girl... couldn't have been more than 4... was trying vainly to persuade a dog almost as big as she was to come with her, by tugging on the dog's leash. As the girl tugged, she repeated again and again, "Come on, you little s**ta$$!" My mother looked at me, grinned and shook her head, not quite believing what she was hearing. But both of us knew, and 50 years later, I still remember the "charming" scene.
Afterthought: I've been reading Schlesinger's The Coming of the New Deal, and ran across an org that existed in the mid-1930s, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. Yes, they did indeed abbreviate it STFU. No doubt that's what the Union was told by landowners.
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