Words are such powerful things, even when we are little and not quite sure how to use them. All of my children and siblings have used words to express themselves. They are not the words we would use but far superior and more amusing. All of them used these words in innocence.
My little sis Jax, now a school nurse in Australia, called me 'Netty' when she was a baby as she could not say my name. To this day it sticks and my granddaughter Angelina calls me Netty. Her words were indeed powerful things, even at her young age. At school, a boy called Paul Brewer would call me 'toilet' and make me feel so small and ashamed as 'Netty' is Geordie slang for 'Toilet'.
Enough! Onto the funnier ones. My son Joshua was born 11 years apart from his siblings. He could not say Sian and to this day my lovely Sian is 'Nin', which is all he could manage at the time. 'Nin' only comes out when he is telling her in a roundabout way that he loves her.
When Josh was little we lived in a seaside town and the local Seagulls were ferocious. As a toddler he would hang on to his ice-cream for dear life and tell us all that that the 'Ski- Gulls' would try and bite it! Josh also loved something called an Armerica. We spent ages at the toy shop with him, trying to find out what it was, then it finally dawned on us that it was a Harmonica! Sian and James spent a lot of time on Ascension Island with my parents and when Sian (now 25) was a toddler she would ask her Bampy to collect some 'Shallows' with her - shells in our language, but a wonderful description don't you think!
James (now 22) had a few of his own. When he was little we would plant a garden together and I would name the flowers he was growing. He decided that Marigolds were Garimolds, which is what they are to this day. I still grow them for him. A recent one of James' was hilarious, forgive me son, I know it was just a slip of the tongue...but it was wonderful. My mum is a member of the Mormon church and I was talking to James about it last year. 'Yeah' said he ' The Moomins.........' That was me howling with laughter and having to dash to the loo! Think about it..Mama Moomin, Papa Moomin and each and every episode a parable of faith and good deeds. I have to say that he hit the nail on the head with that one.
Josh came up with a new one last week, even at the age of 12. He said how great the 'Stun Glasses' his sister had given him were. Again, what a brilliant description. Think Aviator Specs/ Tom Cruise (shudder) /being cool....hence Stun Glasses!
So here I am thinking about the words we use in society today. There were no labels or words to describe people when I was at school. No Gay/ Disabled /ADHD /Autistic /Transvestite /Black /White /Yellow. Ad Infinitum.
Words remain powerful but perhaps we have let them become too intrusive in our lives? Think about it.
Namaste
Muse x
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