Thursday 12 June 2014

Ammar's Toddler Language

Masha Allah, my son Ammar is now 10 years old..............
As a toddler, like most kids, Ammar had his own peculiar words and ways of saying things.......some samples.........



When he would be angry with me or Farah, he would say -

Main aapka Papa nahin hun मैं आपका पापा नहीं हूँ.............Main aapki Mama nahin hun मैं आपकी मामा नहीं हूँ................instead of saying....
Aap mere Papa nahin hain OR Aap meri Mama nahin hain -:)

When he was still smaller, maybe 4 or so he would repeat words like -
Humko khai-kahi karna hai (I want to eat)...
Humko soi-soi karna hai (I want to sleep)..... 
Then he will say things like - Maine jaaya tha मैंने जाया था .........
When he would need water while in the toilet, he would shout 'Potty da Piya'..............this sounds like a Punjabi expression inadvertently invented by Ammar!!

when he was 5 or so he would mis-pronounce words like -

I am very us-pet (upset)
I want chillo-cate (chocolate)
I have eaten it al-daily (already)
This should be in cati-pal (Capital) letters.......
Eminy (Emily) is my friend.........
I got a Perna-memt (Permanent) Pupil Pass......

Ammar's first school in England was called Coppice Primary. His best friend in this school was a Chinese boy called Ho Long. Farah used to give him lunch everyday. Here in UK if a kid gets his lunch from home, it is called 'Packed Lunch'. The other option being, eating the lunch served in school, this is called 'School Dinner' (though it is lunch)........
Ammar's friend Ho Long used to have 'school dinner' every day..........so one day Ammar told Farah -
'Ho Long school dinner ho gaya......humko bhi school dinner hona hai !!'

As we moved around so much, Ammar went to schools in US, India and then a number of schools in UK.........this left a trail of  friends in its wake......Pandu & Faris in Hyderabad (India), to Ho Long in Coppice Primary, to Ella Elli, Barratt (real name Bharat !), Latif in Highlands Primary (London), to Rahul, Daniel, Orien in Lakenham Primary (Norwich)..........

Another memorable incident......
When Ammar was 5 years......all of a sudden many of his friends had their Birthdays........
He will ask us daily 'When will I be 6, why is my Birthday not coming....why do you people don't celebrate my 6th birthday when the other parents are celebrating their kid's birthdays?'....when we explained that there are a few more months to March when his Birthday will be celebrated, and we can't have it before that........he didn't really believe us, thinking that unfortunately he has got really lazy parents who keep putting off his birthday.........!!

Once, for fun Farah told him 'Hum uss din ka wait kar rahe hain jab Ammar ki shaadi hogi aur bahu aayegi...'. Then she asked him - 'Do you know what is a Bahu?'.....

Ammar replied - 'Haan Haan, I know.........Bahu TV main hoti hai' .............all the Saas-Bahu serials had this effect on him !!

So that he in touch with the language, I encourage him to watch lot of Hindi movies. His favourite is 'Andaz Apna Apna'.....which is my favourite too. He also loves Govinda films.

Having watched the full series of Coolie No 1, Hero No 1, Anari No 1, Jodi No 1.........it had a profound effect on his language.........I was stunned one day when he told me in pure Govinda style -

Papa.... aap faaltu bakwaas bahut karte hain !!













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