Onoryanopoeia

One of the funniest things my son has ever said – and believe me, that bar is set pretty high – was when we had the following exchange:

Ryan (holding a toy truck): Mama, may I nun you with my impact hammer?
Me: May you what?
Ryan: YOU know, Mama. (Pokes me repeatedly with the truck) Nun nun nun nun nun…

As I’ve discussed in the past, I’m not generally a fan of “verbing,” or creating random verbs out of nouns, at least not when the newly-created words do not in any way enrich the English language. But at the same time, I am a big fan of onomatopoeia (so much so that I didn’t even have to look it up in order to spell it correctly), so creation of novel and expressive verbs that are onomatopoeic is an entirely different category. And it is a category that my son excels in.

There may not be a great need for a word that expresses poking someone repeatedly with a toy truck or other small object, but on the rare occasions that do call for such a word, “nun” is exactly what is called for.

“Nun” is not the only onomatopoeia that my son has coined recently. The other day, he was building some block towers and I heard one come crashing down. I asked him what had happened and he replied, “I ka-chunged it.” Not just “I knocked it down,” but “I ka-chunged it.” Knocking it down could have been caused by any number of factors, including accidentally bumping into it or overbalancing it with one block too many, but ka-chunging it implies a certain deliberation and intent, not to mention an unnecessary use of force.

There are many verbs that he needs to invent to include the deliberate use of unnecessary force. Yesterday afternoon, he informed me, “Mama, you are the bad guy, and I am going to hi-ya you.” The most accurate existing English phrase he could have used is probably “karate chop,” which indicates a striking motion with the side of the hand. But as anyone who has ever seen a 3-year-old imitating martial arts moves knows, this is a less-than-full description of how that child performs a karate chop. A hi-ya, as performed by a 3-year-old, includes the full body following through the motion of the arm, and often also includes a cartoon-like flying up into the air and landing on the posterior. It also usually involves a complete lack of contact with the intended target. All of that information is included in the verb “to hi-ya” in a way it most certainly is not in the verb “to karate chop.”

"Hiiiiii....."

 

"Yaaaaa!!!!!"

 

I am proud of the way my son is contributing to the development and enrichment of the English language. He definitely isn’t on his way to becoming the next Bruce Lee, but he just might turn out to be the next Shakespeare. After all, it was Shakespeare himself who said, “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.”

Up!

This morning, I woke up to the sound of a small voice down the hall announcing hopefully, “Up? Up?” A couple of times over the past few days I had thought that Ryan might have said, “up”, but I wasn’t completely convinced that he was really saying it or that it was in the correct context until this morning. But there is now no doubt in my mind that he not only said it, but that he knows what it means.

A baby learning to talk is pretty amazing, when you think about it. The fact that they can make a connection between the sounds they hear and their context is really impressive. I do sometimes say the word “up” by itself to Ryan, but most of the time he hears it in the context of a sentence: “Do you want to get up?”, “Ryan is going up the stairs,” “Are you ready to get up?”, “Come up on the couch with Mummy.” And I apply it to many different objects and situations: I lift him up, he hops up on the couch, we slide the beads up the string, Daddy throws him up in the air, he climbs up the stairs, I pick up the book. It’s a fairly complex directional concept. And yet, he obviously knows that in the morning, I pick him “up”. In the morning, or after his nap, I ask him, “Are you ready to get up?”, or “Who’s up?” or I say, “Come on up,” as I pick him up. So he’s learned to associate the word “up” with waking up and getting up and being picked up. That’s amazing!

And although he doesn’t say many words yet (“up” is the list in its entirety), he understands quite a few. He knows who “Daddy” and “Mummy” and “Grammy” and “Bammy” and “Pappy” are, and will look at the correct person if we say their name. He’ll look at the right object if you say “bottle” or “ball” or “book”. I suspect he knows a few others, like “kitty” and “snack” and “stairs” and “tubby” and “juice”. So know that he’s broken through the barrier and said a word in the right context and gotten the desired response, I wonder how long it will be before he learns to say new words to express himself.

What a sense of freedom and power that must be, to suddenly discover that you can communicate with others by using words! When he wants to get up, he can tell me so by saying, “up”. When he wants to look at his book, he’ll be able to say “book”. When he wants to play with his ball, he’ll be able to ask for it by name. Even if his sippy cup isn’t nearby for him to point at, he’ll be able to tell me what he wants by saying the magic word, “juice”.

A whole new world is opening up for both of us – the wonderful world of words!