Beyond Rice Sake | Celebrating Pre-school Expletives

I left my coffee at home yesterday. The realisation of this tragedy made me fumble for appropriate expletives. We were only a block away from home, but, turning back; getting in and out of the car seat and reloading was not worth a wee bit more caffeine.

As I grumbled and harumphed, Winston thought it would be an excellent time to chime in. He is such a helpful boy. So, we discussed the concept of expletives. In Winston’s case, it seems to be utterances which are used when Mama is vexed. It helps her "blow the angries away."

To be useful, he carefully ran through my entire repertoire for me. (They observe and learn everything - including it would seem vocabulary.) I was amazed that he remembered the whole list. I’d never realised that all of these must be prefaced by an “oh” for full effect.

You could say:

Oh, for goodness sakes!

Oh, flibberty jibbet!

Oh, for rice sake!”

Oh, slam it on a shell!

Oh, shim sham!

Oh, Jiminy Cricket!


“But, “ he says - looking very sly, “you could say:

Oh travesty packet!”

I burst out laughing. I chuckled and giggled. He wasn’t sure what was so funny. So, I explained what travesty meant. And he seemed well-pleased with himself.

So - my new expletive is “Oh, travesty packet!” And I’m so thankful I didn’t have that extra cup of coffee. I didn’t need it. I had him.

Comments

Anonymous said…
LOL...I read the title as Rice Sake (SAH-key)!

~Deesha
LOL! I thought that too and decided to keep the title. Afterall, I have found myself in desperate motherhood moments thinking, "Oh for rice sah-key...would that I had some. All would be mellow."

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