A Little Hoarse

Martha relates a story from a listener in Valdosta, Georgia, about her four-year-old’s misunderstanding of a homophone in her expression “a little hoarse.” This is part of a complete episode.

Transcript of “A Little Hoarse”

Here’s another one of those childhood misunderstandings we were talking about on an earlier show.

Linda Floyd from Valdosta, Georgia, called us to say that when her son was a toddler, he had a coughing, and she said, “Baby, are you a little horse?” And she said she’ll never forget the look in his eyes. You know, he was trying to figure out, why is my mommy asking me if I’m a pony?

That’s pretty good. That reminds me of a time my son was refusing to brush his teeth before bedtime. And I was like, “You better get in here. There’s a toothbrush with your name on it.” And he came in here and he picked up the toothbrush and he’s like, he points to the words R-O-B and he says, “Is that my name?” Oh gosh, how great is that?

Share your stories about language with us. 1-877-929-9673. Call us anytime, night or day, or you can send them an email, words@waywordradio.org.

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