This post is dedicated to my son, who, by any definition, is one hilarious little guy. These days, his vocabulary is fairly advanced and he keeps us in peals of laughter with the things he comes up with all the time. However, this post is reminiscent of almost a year and a half ago, when he was just about learning to talk. At the time, barely two years old, he could only say a few words. A favorite activity would be for us to point to pictures in books or magazines, and he would say what he thought they were, or we would say the word, and he would try to repeat it, etc.
There was a time, when he was most interested in pointing to people in magazines. And we soon realized that he had exactly seven definitions for all the different kinds of people he saw in these pictures. After several trials, where we would scan all sorts of magazines, newspapers, etc and keep pointing to different people and ask him "Who's that?", and he would answer, what emerged was an unbelievable algorithm for logically identifying people that he was using.
The algorithm went like this:
Any young-ish looking man = Baba (dad)
Any youngish-looking woman = Mamma (mom)
Any older man = Jajja (grandpa)
Any older woman = Bomma (grandma)
Any child (ranging from babies to teenagers) = baby
Any bald person = motte boss (pronounced motthe bosh)
Any African man = Obama
:-D Don't ask who taught him this stuff....
The amazing part was that he had a very clear hierarchy that he would follow no matter what. So, for example, Obama always took precedence over Baba or Jajja. An African woman would always be Mamma or Bomma depending on whether she was old or young (so Obama was only reserved for a man, irrespective of age). A bald man always took precedence no matter what race, or age!!
It was crazy. At times we could not believe it. We would sometimes go really quickly through the pages and keep pointing and asking "Who's this?", "Who's this?". And pat would come the answer. We tried mixing it up, to see where his logic would fail. It didn't! Not once! He stuck to the algorithm. Consistently.
The whole thing provided for so much entertainment! Eventually he stopped doing this, as he graduated on to different things. But as parents, I don't think we'll ever forget it. I'm adding it to the list of stories I will tell him when he's older. Seriously, what a funny kid!!
There was a time, when he was most interested in pointing to people in magazines. And we soon realized that he had exactly seven definitions for all the different kinds of people he saw in these pictures. After several trials, where we would scan all sorts of magazines, newspapers, etc and keep pointing to different people and ask him "Who's that?", and he would answer, what emerged was an unbelievable algorithm for logically identifying people that he was using.
The algorithm went like this:
Any young-ish looking man = Baba (dad)
Any youngish-looking woman = Mamma (mom)
Any older man = Jajja (grandpa)
Any older woman = Bomma (grandma)
Any child (ranging from babies to teenagers) = baby
Any bald person = motte boss (pronounced motthe bosh)
Any African man = Obama
:-D Don't ask who taught him this stuff....
The amazing part was that he had a very clear hierarchy that he would follow no matter what. So, for example, Obama always took precedence over Baba or Jajja. An African woman would always be Mamma or Bomma depending on whether she was old or young (so Obama was only reserved for a man, irrespective of age). A bald man always took precedence no matter what race, or age!!
It was crazy. At times we could not believe it. We would sometimes go really quickly through the pages and keep pointing and asking "Who's this?", "Who's this?". And pat would come the answer. We tried mixing it up, to see where his logic would fail. It didn't! Not once! He stuck to the algorithm. Consistently.
The whole thing provided for so much entertainment! Eventually he stopped doing this, as he graduated on to different things. But as parents, I don't think we'll ever forget it. I'm adding it to the list of stories I will tell him when he's older. Seriously, what a funny kid!!
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