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How do I break him of this?
- This topic has 19 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 11 years ago by
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Robin, your saying on the t-shirt (I got it!) reminded me of a visit my family paid to Shelburne Museum in Vermont when I was a young teen. The guy who was giving a demonstration in the print shop showed us a page he had printed and asked if we could read it. Most of the adults thought it was something in Latin. Here’s how it read:
Sibili si ergo, fortibusis in ero.
Nobili demis trux. Sewatis enim?
Cowsendux.
Since nobody seemed to know how to translate it, the colonial printer read it to us as follows:
See, Billy, see ‘er go; forty buses in a row.
No, Billy, dem is trucks. See what is in ’em?
Cows an’ ducks.
I’m chuckling just thinking back on those family vacations….
Love it!
And though we’ve deviated quite a bit from the original question, I ain’t gonna apologize cuz it’s been fun. 🙂
But seriously, do whatever your preferences are. There are things I prefer not to be said in my household as well, which is my prerogative. The only thing I would caution about, as has been said, is implying those who use certain words or phrases are somehow less than bright. It’s really sad when people shun others who could wind up being really special in their lives because of a perceived barrier.
I’m told there is a wonderful , wise lady who speaks at the Childlight conference each year. (I get to go this year, yay!). She has a very thick Southern accent and, although she’s very respected, she is still laughed at and told her IQ drops 30 points every time she opens her mouth. Jokingly, I’m sure, but still irks me that someone’s intelligence, or worse yet, wisdom is judged by the way they pronounce their words.
I’m not saying those are your intentions AT ALL but those of us who hear it all the time are just pokin’ a little fun back at the fun poked at us. 🙂
I would also caution about saying it is a bad word since often children equate that to mean that someone who uses it is a bad person…a friend recently told me that when her kids were younger, she told them that smoking was bad…not meaning that the people who did it were, just that it was a bad health habit. Her daughter came home from college the other day and called her out on it saying that she had been taught that these people were bad, but in her experience they weren’t. My friend was amazed b/c she didn’t intend to instill that belief, she was trying to protect her kids from a potentially bad health habit. It has made me rethink how I am presenting these types of things to my kiddos. (Obviously, I am not picking on smokers. It is an example!) But whatever your reason for teaching your child to not do something, I think that it should not carry connotations that someone is not bright or is “bad” for whatever reason.
My sister in-law calls certain words lazy words such as stupid, dumb, and such..not saying ain’t is in that category..just giving people another way of saying ‘bad word”.
Robin and Sue- Cracking up right now that as a forever East TN girl I read each of your phrases just fine!
I agree with what Robin and Lindsey have said. We say ain’t, ya’ll, etc. and I do feel like it has to do with where you are from and your heritage/culture. And I agree with some other posters that we all have certain words that we don’t allow in our home and whatever words are not allowed in your home is your business. I do agree, though, that it can be hurtful to say that if you use the word ain’t, etc. you don’t have sense because that’s simply not true. We don’t allow the words shutup, stupid or crap in our house even though a lot of people use them. Others may not have a problem with those but we just don’t like them. However, I tell my kids that we as a family just have a problem with that word and we just don’t feel that they sound nice to say to others. And we don’t look down on others who do use those words because that’s their family and their business.
Where I’m from it would be weird if you didn’t hear at least a few people use words like ya’ll, goin’, fixin’ to and ain’t. LOL
On a side note: One phrase that tons of people use around here that absolutely makes me cringe is “Oh my (I’m sure you can fill in the blank). For us that is the biggest no-no! However, that isn’t because it’s slang that we don’t like. For us, it has deeper implications.
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