Toddler Linguistics, part the nth

[nmg]

An account of a conversation while waiting at bus stop with ias and the garklet:

garklet

My¹ like coiley-wotey.

ias

What's coiley-wotey?

garklet

Coiley-wotey!

nmg

Colley Wotty?

garklet

Coiley-wotey!

nmg

What sort of a thing is coiley-wotey!

garklet

*pause* Coiley-wotey!

ias

He's making this word up.

nmg

Are you making this word up? Is this another silly word?

garklet

No, coiley-wotey!

ias

How big is coiley-wotey?

garklet

*looks confused*

ias

Is coiley-wotey big or small?

garklet

Coiley-wotey!

ias

He's just saying that! Stop saying that!

nmg

*has flash of inspiration* What colour is coiley-wotey?

garklet

Grey.

nmg

*thinks* What sort of animal is coiley-wotey?

garklet

He a woof, chase roadroader. Roadroader goes beep-beep!

ias

Aha! He's a wolf! You're talking about Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner, aren't you?

garklet

Yes, my like coiley-wotey.

nmg

That's Wile. E. Coyote. Can you say it after me? Wile E.

garklet

Coiley-wotey.

nmg

*sighs*

1. This is a persistent verbal tic that he's had for the last six months. My, how we've tried to cure him of it.

Comments

[watervole.livejournal.com]

He's not wolf, he's a coyote...

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Canine taxonomy is possibly a little beyond him at the moment.

On the other hand, I don't recall having described Wile E. Coyote as a wolf at any point, so he's worked that much out by himself. Colour me impressed.

[lionsphil.livejournal.com]

The kid has at least developed a proper appreciation for the engineer of the Looney Tunes line-up.

(Sigh. Obligatory XKCD.)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

LOL! I thought I'd read all of XKCD, but I seem to have missed that one.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Why are you trying to correct verbal tics and mispronunciations? They sort themselves out of their own accord and you will remember them fondly.

Mind you, how we laughed when we got Marianne to read out loud to us and she put an r in the middle of mascot.

[wednesdayschild.livejournal.com]

It might say something about me that I realised he meant Wile E Coyote without the prompts... :s

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Heh. Please accept this award for Toddler Understanding.

[opadit.livejournal.com]

Verbal tic, eh? My username here is a verbal tic of my daughter's when she was a toddler.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Indeed - "open it", if I recall.

[opadit.livejournal.com]

Yes -- and infinitely easier to spell than "uppa-tayah," which meant "up the stairs."

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Lovely. I do like 'Roadroader' - absolute classic toddlerism.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Also, I love the way the coiley-wotey is almost a Spoonerism.

[lionsphil.livejournal.com]

>-wotey
>-wotey
>-wotey
You appear to be a raisy-dasing a Flan-diddly-anders.

[ruthj.livejournal.com]

Aw sweet ;-)