Out driving, I sometimes hear fascinating conversations from the backseat. Mostly, I hear touching violations, or angry eye crimes being reported but today, I heard a good one.
Genea: I can't use this one, because it's bad. I don't know why but my friends at school said so.
Teena: How can it be bad?
G: I don't know. It doesn't make any sense to me but they all said so.
T: What makes it bad?
G: I don't know. My other fingers aren't bad, just this one.
Pause. I look in the back and there are middle fingers flapping in the breeze all over. Inquisitive eyes are checking out their collection of fingers.
T: I don't think that's true. Look at my pinky, is it bad?
G: No, just this one (waves it again)!
Me: Daddy, you want to take this one?
LOL! Last year GB had a large wart on her middle finger. After the treatment, she had an enormous bandage on THAT finger. She was the center of attention on the bus,, but all the bus driver saw was THAT finger waving around. She threatened GB with a referral and GB promptly burst into tears. She didn't know what a referral was, but she recognized it was a threat. I guess in today's world we have explicitly teach our kids something they are to young to know, just to keep them from inadvertently getting into trouble.
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ReplyDeleteLOL! We had the same conversation recently. Levi told me, "Daddy won't tell me why this finger is bad', so I explained that it means a very bad insult, worse than calling someone stupid. It can make people very, very mad and want to hurt you so don't use that one finger all by itself. Hopefully that wil keep him out of trouble....for a while anyway.
ReplyDeleteSo funny! We had a similar discussion a few months ago. I told them some people consider that finger up disrespectful, and they would have trouble at school if they stuck it up there. There was no way to avoid how attractive this would be to Peanut. I actually PLANNED to duct tape the rest of her fingers down (so she could "practice") when we got home, but she quit far earlier than I expected. Bonus.
ReplyDeletethat is brillant!
ReplyDeleteAs a non-relevant side-note. In Brazilian Sign Language "that finger" is the sign for Father. Just in case anyone visits a Deaf community in Brazil :D
ReplyDeleteMy oldest pointed with That Finger until he was about 5 years old.
ReplyDeleteLol, Genea used it as her "pointing" finger while reading forever. I tried to tell her..... but no, she had to hear it from booger nosed boys at school before she believed it.
ReplyDeleteWhat was so funny was they were confused as to how a finger, by itself, could be bad. They think in global terms, and bad is like, you are watching cops and the running guy who beat up that lady and stole her purse, he is bad. How can my finger be bad like that? And on its own? Just a big mystery!
My, they are literal minded, aren't they? Can you tell them it's not the finger that's bad but the gesture of waving it at someone is bad, rude, disrespectful, or however you want to phrase it.
ReplyDeleteYou may want to tell them it will get them in trouble if they waggle that lone finger. Little kids "get" the concept of "in trouble" and its avoidance.
You can move on to a few gestures that are nice, like waving and throwing kisses and gestures that are rude, like sticking out one's tongue. That will provoke some tongue sticking-out but it will get their minds off their middle fingers.
As a side note, showing the soles of one's feet is considered to be a sign of disrespect in some arabic countries and thumbing one's nose gets people pretty angry in Italy. My BIL is in the foreign service and he knows dozens of rude gestures from all over the world. It makes you wonder how they got invented in the first place.
lol, I just had this conversation with Wonder Girl this morning. She was showing me how dextrous she could be by making the middle man stand up, all by himself. And I laughed and said, "well..."
ReplyDeleteDo you have assigned seating in your vehicle? Sissy notoriously injures siblings when my eyes are not on her so I've had to isolate her in the van, mostly to protect WG who gets the brunt of Sissy's angst.
The twin girls I babysat were in kindergarten and had a similar conversation in the backseat (fortunately with their parents, not me...)
ReplyDeleteGirl one: (holds up middle finger)
girl two: "You should never do that because that means F u _k i _ g"
I don't have car seating problems anymore. I only have 2 kids, but I drive a family sedan so we have a no touching law. If I had a minivan there would be separate benches.
ReplyDeleteI bought a second rearview mirror when we first got Genea, it just attached to the original one and I adjusted it to be able to see them clearly in the backseat. Also, I confess to doing the reach-and- smack a few times. I also drove down a quiet street and jerked the car around a few times and told them it was because they were fighting. They were young enough to fall for it.
Long answer to a short question, lol!
Matry, LOL, I am so slow, I read that 3 times before I got the double humor in it!
I have a vivid memory of my dad taking me to a "History of Our Local Pioneers" class when I was a little girl as I was an odd little girl obsessed with pioneer history. Anyway, this class was held in a classroom at the University of Colorado. How surprised I was that anyone would carve things in desks! And on my desk there was a big four-letter word carved in. I asked my dad what it meant, and he told me it was a "bad" word. Believe it or not, I was probably twelve and the concept of a "bad word" had not entered my life (yes; I had lovely, wonderful no-bad-word-saying parents - ever). So, this was just such a funny and challenging thought - HOW could a WORD be "bad"? Surely words just express ideas - so a "bad" word??? I repeated the word loudly (and multiple times, as I recall) so as to prove that such a thing could NOT be true! See? I said this "bad" word - and because I had no "bad" intent - obviously the word itself could NOT be bad!!! Seemed to illustrate the concept, to me, young philospher-linquist that I was. I can only imagine how embarrassed my father was.
ReplyDeleteMy students discuss this every year. I go with, "It's just a finger. Fingers aren't bad. But some people think it isn't nice to point with that one."
ReplyDeleteAnd, as the sign is different in every country, that's usually enough.
Annie, I think EVERY little girl adores pioneer history.
I don't see any double meaning in Marty's comment and feel like a nigel.
REALLY came here to say, before I got distracted by the other comments, that I think this story is precious and am so glad it's preserved.
ReplyDeleteAhem. Tee frequently flips people off for me when I'm driving. When she was younger, she saw someone flip me off because I wouldn't let him cut me off after he sped around me in a lane with parked cars. She was shocked! Why would someone do this. I told her he was giving me the "I'm stupid" gesture.
ReplyDeleteAt least they agree on something! No violations to report this time.
ReplyDeleteOkay kate, first its funny cuz the kid held up her finger. Then its funny cuz the other kid said not to because it means "effing". See, the second kid said don't do that and then did it. I think. I lost track now.
ReplyDeleteAnd btw, I never in my life imagined being a pioneer and I started life as a little girl. Dang, one read thru Little House was enough to settle any questions I might have had there! Ugh! I dreamed of being independently wealthy. Guess it didn't matter either way in the end I became neither.
HA ha, yeah, they did agree on something finally! LOL!
ReplyDeleteI had an incident in high school when I caught a football wrong and it jammed my middle finger. Nothing like having it on a splint with absolutely no way to "un fly" it! Yes, I was a bad girl and used it on occasion but then again, I have older siblings that are evil!
ReplyDeleteOh,oh,oh, I almost forgot! The origins of the middle finger: French and British heading into yet another battle. British had been losing repeatedly. Their best hope for defense? The yew bowmen....who pulled back on the string of the yew bow with their middle finger. French declared they would hack off the middle finger of their bow hand once the battle was won. British surprisingly won and waved their "yew pluckers" while yelling (I think this last part is accurate, not sure) "Pluck yew!" as in they still could. Can you tell I was a history minor? History is FUN!
ReplyDeleteThat. Is. HILARIOUS. So innocent at that age!
ReplyDeleteThats really funny. I think I was kind of born knowing what to do with that.
ReplyDeleteJeri, are you serious?!
ReplyDeletelol! how did I miss this one? so funny!
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