A-Roo

So tonight when I told Michael I had an idea for my next blog post, he guessed, "A Roo?"

So even though that wasn't it, I guess I get to share the story: As some of you may know, I have a chronic nickname habit. It started when Nathanael was born and I went through the high-pitched-voice phase of early motherhood. (To those of you who endured my video-posts when Nathanael was tiny, I offer my deepest regrets. I had no idea what I was subjecting you to!)

So, as I discussed in an earlier post, I came up with a lot of nonsense names. This has now expanded to all words. I especially like to make up songs and new lyrics to old tunes. Frequently, I attempt to rhyme.

However, I am usually quite tired when these songs are created and it usually ends up that in order to rhyme I either use the same word again, or I use a nonsense syllable.

An excerpt from a song to Nathanael:

I love you, my sweet Baboo
I love you, a roo

(And because I sing the word 'you' quite often, the nonsense syllables usually end in 'oo'. Also, I usually need some filler, because my line lengths tend to be off. That's where the 'a' comes in. Thus: a roo.)

These syllables (a roo currently being the most prominent) are becoming quite a fluent part of our idiolects*. So much so that when Michael is trying to emphasize something, or agree emphatically, he will say, "a roo!" I've even caught myself just in time before punctuating an adult conversation with this sort of creative tidbit.

Well, I really can't say anything else after that kind of a confession. So I'll post pictures instead.













*idiolect: a variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested by patterns of word selection, vocabulary and word lexicon, grammar, or words, phrases, idioms, or pronunciations that are unique to that individual. Every individual has an idiolect; the grouping of words and phrases is unique, rather than an individual using specific words that nobody else uses. An idiolect can easily evolve into an ecolect—a dialect variant specific to a household. (from Wikipedia)