Wordplay

{From the archives...these few paragraphs were originally posted in June of 2009 when Megan was nine years old.}


Have you ever come across a word while reading, that you don't really know, but kind of get the gist of from the context? My Meg has experienced this a time or two. 


Megan will, from time to time, take a word from her growing vocabulary bank and use it in the proper form, yet with such an upside-down and backwards pronunciation that the rest of us have no idea what she has said. A long pause usually follows and then a blurt of laughter escapes from the one who figures out the mystery word first. It's really great fun, especially since my oldest gal is the first to see the humor in the situation and usually enjoys a good laugh even at her own expense.



We experienced just such a situation at the breakfast table this morning. As Cole and Meg were finishing their meal, Meg made an eyebrow-lowered grimacing face at Cole and then grinned. I asked her what was going on and she said, "I'm trying to send Cole a tele pathetic message." 


"Telepathic message?" I guessed, and the laughter broke out all around. It didn't occur to me to ask Megan where she'd come across her big word of the day until I was tucking her into bed. She said it was from a book she had been reading about a dog who could send telepathic messages. 


I completely neglected to ask her a what really is the more pressing question, "What message were you trying to send to your brother telepathically?"



Since then, I've been pondering a fitting definition for "tele pathetic". Perhaps it should describe those times, which occur more and more frequently these days, when you sit down to watch TV and there is absolutely nothing on worth watching--even though you pay out the nose for the privilege of having cable. 


It might sound something like..."I sat down to watch TV this evening before going to bed, however, as I considered the tele-pathetic choices, I read a book instead."