Some of the things kids say are so cute, it’s a crime to correct them. Over time, they’ll fix their pronunciations of callipitter (caterpillar), so enjoy those mistakes while they last. If you have a favorite little-kid mispronunciation, tell us! This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Cute Things Kids Say”
Over the years on this show, since my son was born, I have shared some of the progress he’s been making with the English language.
Yes.
One of his big accomplishments recently, I was very proud he’s able to phonetically write some words now.
Oh, I know. You’ve been failing about that.
But as his language is improving, those little cute things that he says that aren’t quite right, but we don’t want him to correct, they’re disappearing.
Oh, yeah.
So he used to say Calipiter instead of Caterpillar.
And that’s a common one.
He stopped saying that.
Yeah.
Calipiter.
I love it.
But he still says, instead of saying T-Rex, as in Tyrannosaurus Rex, he says Team Rex.
Oh, that’s nice.
Yeah, so my wife always joke, yeah, we’re on Team Rex.
That’s nice.
And it’s so hard to know whether you should correct it or not.
You know, and the same thing happens with speakers of foreign languages.
You know, I have a friend who confused piece of cake with cup of tea.
You know, she would say, oh, that was a cup of tea.
That’s not my piece of cake.
Yeah, they’re cute.
They’re very adorable.
With my son, my wife and I just kind of like smile at each other and let it go because we know the school will fix it and he’ll automatically correct it and it will go away after a while.
If there’s anything egregious by the time he reaches his teens, we’ll correct it then.
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