Deciphering Sterlingspeak…
I’m fascinated by language, the English language to be more specific. Word origins, pronunciation, dialects, even the version of the language my two-and-a-half-year-old son Sterling seems to have created. Trying to decipher his early speech ends up being a fun game, if challenging at times:
- “hotdog song” - Who Let the Dogs Out by Baha Men; I guess he’s mixing up his favorite food and favorite song.
- “body song” - All Star by Smash Mouth, from “Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me…”
- “trøll” - the TV remote control; nice little abbreviation.
- “boon” - balloons; a contraction, so I guess technically that should be “b’oon”.
- “black pooter music” - the visualizations (you know, swirling lines and dots) from MusicMatch Jukebox that show up on a black background while playing music on the computer. Sheesh! That took a very long time to figure out.
- “yemms” - M&M’s; I like this version, although I think “yumms” would have been even better!
- “shake-uh shake-uh” - everything from salt to cinnamon sugar, basically anything you shake onto something else.
- “sauce” - ketchup, mustard, honey mustard, barbeque sauce, salsa — anything that can be dipped in or poured on.
- “side” - inside or outside, which ever is most appealing at the time.
- “Bren’joe” - Sterling’s collective, contractive term for Brenden and Joe, our across-the-street neighbors.
- “B’ent” - well, that’s Brent, another of our favorites.
- “Mo’cca” - Monica — last, but certainly not least…
If you’re looking for an even bigger challenge, enlist the help of someone else’s two year old and try to guess the meaning of their baby English. Heard any cute or where’d-that-come-from sayings?
