(Thank for concern due to my recent whining about stress. It’s regarding the child I tend to call Challenge Child, and we’re hanging in there)
Background info: My mom and sister are visiting. My sister is waaaay Ivy League and smart.
At lunch today she looked at my mother and said, "I didn’t know you had read up on paleobotany."
My mother looked at her and blinked a couple of times, but said nothing. She knew what she meant, of course, but did not reply. I on the other hand, did the following:
a) tried desperately to remember what the heck we were discussing before she came out with THAT. (still haven’t remembered, or I’d tell you) But it was not the sort of conversation you’d expect to find that whopper of a sentence in. I could have just said, "Ethan likes lettuce now" or "There’s a lot of poo at my house" or anything dumb like that.
b) tried desperately to figure out the meaning of ‘paleobotany.’ gave up easily, since it sounded boring. yawn. (old plants…? …huh? Is that even close…?)
c) wondered who else in the whole entire world works a word like that into casual conversation. (and why, since it stopped the conversational flow COLD)
d) tried desperately to come up with something smart to say. gave up and then tried to prevent Caden-2yr from dipping a chocolate chip cookie in salsa. Ew. Gave up on that too, and watched him eat salsa/cookie.
e) wondered when the last time I casually dropped a SIX SYLLABLE word into a conversation.
f) realized the answer was probably, um, NEVER, and whatever. I can effortlessly work the words poop, vomit, pee, and burp into any conversation too many times to count, so there!
5:22 pm
I googled it, here’s what it said… The branch of paleontology that deals with plant fossils and ancient vegetation.
Wow, who knew?? She is way smart!!
5:23 pm
LOL, that Paleobotany thing just cracked me up. Like you said, think about all of the great things we, as parents, can casually drop into a mealtime conversation without blinking. Heck, before parenthood asking a child if they had to go potty in the middle of eating was stictly taboo…
6:00 pm
Ahhhh - the days. I think I used to be smart. I remember days of sitting up all night at college and actually enjoying discussions about…see! I can’t even remember what the discussions were about!
I blame it on three pregnancies, and years of sitting in a rocker nursing my babies. It’s great for the bonding, not so good on the noggin.
I watched an entire episode of Barney and erased the three hour History channel biography on Lincoln. I try to at least fool my Tivo into thinking I’m smart.
Does your sister have kids? If she doesn’t it would prove my theory about the leeching of brain cells during pregnancy. If she does - well, I’ll just have to pretend I’m still right!
6:05 pm
Kids suck brain cells, ya know! (That being the case it’s a wonder I can even form complete sentences. But now I suppose you’re going to tell me that your sister has a bunch of kids and STILL manages to toss words like that!)
Mary, barely coherent some days
7:42 pm
Hmmmm…thinking…..
ummmmmm…
Um-deedledeedledeedle um-deedleday
anyone know what multi-syllable word Holy Mamma may have used?
Um-deedledeedledeedle um-deedleday
I’m sure you’ve used it a time or two….
Um-deedledeedledeedle um-deedledeedle
Maybe even more!
Um-deedledeedledeedle um-um um-um um-um
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
See, even tho your sister is holy-shamoly–smart–she can’t make us all smile like you do!
Diane
8:33 pm
Hey! That last comment reminds me of a SONG!
http://chaotichome.blogspot.com/2006/03/todays-cleaning-song_01.html
HolyMama! I’m SO SORRY! But I’ve passed along a virus to you. Check out my blog…
9:06 pm
Yeah, try IM ing with Carol sometime.
9:16 pm
hehe I love the poop in the conversation! So True!
9:22 pm
Next time she does that just ask where she stands on Transubstantiation.
See Christians have big words too.
10:21 pm
Yes, Carol IM’s quite eruditely at times. Not me I hate big words!
11:08 pm
Well, I see someone already suggested euridite…
So I will offer my two favorite big words…
Untenable:
1. Being such that defense or maintenance is impossible: an untenable position.
2. Being such that occupation or habitation is impossible: untenable quarters.
and
Ebullient:
1. Zestfully enthusiastic.
2. Boiling or seeming to boil; bubbling.
I always get postive remarks from those two coversational volleys….
12:40 am
Well, see, maybe having a sister is not all it’s cracked up to be. After all, I am the smartest daughter in my family! ;D
2:03 am
smart is in the eye of the beholder - personally i wouldn’t be too into paleobotany chats… (i had no idea what it was either!)
8:41 am
Paleo-whaaaaa?
Okay — I’m starting to like this Patrick fellow. Yeah. I do. YOU GO, Patrick… kickin’ up the Christian Vocab a notch… love it. You’ve redeemed yourself from the sugar free comments.
So basically, when dear sis throws in words with a gazillion syllables (oh MAN I can’t spell) — slam her with Christian-ese!!! Love, love, LUUUUUUUV it…
Go Patrick, it’s your birthday, go Patrick … go, go, go… ummm, errr … sorry. Got carried away in the excitement.
8:43 am
Ummmm .. Patrick — got blog?
9:21 am
That is pretty funny! I can see the whole scene.
Those big Christian words scare me too!
10:05 am
I was always the dumb one in the crowd. When they said stuff like that, I usually said, “Hey guys, watch this!” and then proceeded to do something incredibly stupid. It’s all about diversion.
11:11 am
Patrick does not have a blog at this time. However I am in the process of creating a website of my own.
11:58 am
Too funny. What you should do is jot down some long words and find the meanings of them then casually throw them into conversation here and there just to see what she says! LOL! Kind of like Joey when he bought the “V” encyclopedia on Friends just to get smart!!
12:45 pm
A-pa-a-what?
Can’t even pronounce the word. Sorry, my vocabulary is limited to kidspeak. We have a whole new language going on in this house. And I feel realy smart when I figure out what my 2-year old is trying to say!
1:22 pm
LOL!! I am glad someone looked up the meaning, because I was gonna ask to ask jeeves!
8:10 pm
I’ve got a interesting mix of characteristics in my husband. He’s in graduate school and so he can toss around those multisyllabic words with the best of them. But our family also has this ongoing joke of how fast he can make a conversation deteriorate into “potty talk” over dinner. He never ceases to amaze me.
1:27 pm
I just gave you a virus. Go check it out on my site.
And I just saw that Chaotic Mom gave it to you too. Hooray for you, double infected!
10:18 pm
funny, funny, funny, Kelsey. Thanks for the chuckles.