Carrie from Waupaca, Wisconsin, confesses she was stumped when that her son Aidan asked,”Mom, can you do a winter pepper?” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Winter Pepper”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
I wanted to share an email we got from Carrie Van Ornam, who lives in Wapaka, Wisconsin.
She writes,
We were all in the car listening to your show on the way to the state fair, and Aidan, my 11-year-old, brought up a memory from when he was probably about five years old.
He was describing to me some acrobatic act, asking me if I can do one.
His words were confusing me.
Mom, can you do a winter pepper?
I was stumped.
After much explaining and him showing me a regular somersault and then saying, but backwards, it finally dawned on me.
A backwards somersault is a winter pepper.
Just the opposite of summer is winter and the opposite of salt is pepper.
That’s nice.
Isn’t that nice?
And did he earnestly, honestly believe that that was the word for it or did he just coin it on the spot?
That’s really clever.
I don’t know.
I found it in a joke book.
I don’t know.
Am I obligated to say that the summer and the salt aren’t the same summer and the same salt?
Okay, I just did.
Feel free.
Feel free.
Well, bravo to Aiden.
That’s super clever.
Yeah.
We know the kids in your house come up with funny stuff all the time.
We want to hear it, 877-929-9673.
Or tell us an email, words@waywordradio.org.
