November 21, 2006
I was taking Alesia home from her pottery class last night, and as we were riding along in the car she said, “Mom, let’s discuss homonyms.”
I wracked my brain for a moment trying to remember what a homonym is, and finally said “Sweetie, what IS a homonym?”
“It’s two words that sound alike but have different meanings, like so and sew, s-e-w.”
“Oh, OK.”
“Go ahead Mom, ask me one.”
I thought a moment. “OK, steak.”
There was a pause. “Isn’t that just a kind of meat?”
“Well, yes, but there is another kind of stake. A sharpened pointed stick you plunge into Dracula’s heart to kill him – that’s another sort of steak.”
“Oh, OK.”
She thought another moment.
“Oh, I have one! Pool!”
“Sweetie, there is no homonym for pool.”
“Yes there is! Pool, p-o-o-l, and p-u-l-l. Pool.”
“Nope, p-u-l-l is pronounced “ugh” not “oo.” So it’s not a homonym.”
“Oh, OK. What about heat?”
“What two words? Spell them.”
“You know, h-e-a-t and h-i-t.”
“Ugh, nope. H-i-t is pronounced HIT, short “I” sound, not the “ee” sound. Russians always have trouble with the short “I” since there’s nothing like that in their language.
We played along some more, and she got them all right. She is developing a fascination with words, which is terrific.
I finally said “This would be a good game to play in the car on the way to
Myrtle Beach.”
I was reminded of the famous family story of the Ultimate Car Game Victory, won by my grandmother [Wilma] in 1974. She was riding with us up to Chicago to see my aunt and uncle, and happily played along in our own personal car game, which we just called “The Game.” If it was your turn, you would think of a famous figure. You would tell the first letter of the person’s last name, for instance “C” and everyone would ask that person questions with yes or no answers until the correct person was guessed. Mam-ma said her letter was “S.” We started questioning her. “He is a famous military man,” she said. We asked question after question, riding probably a hundred miles. We finally gave up – galling to my father, who prided himself on knowing all famous military figures from American history. She finally smiled and said – “Colonel Sanders!”
I am not sure if I will be able to post much for next few days. We are leaving Thursday for
Myrtle Beach
for the long weekend, and will have Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle and family members who live there. Should be a fun trip. I will likely have computer withdrawal.
I saw this link to the Library of Congress collection of panoramic photos, and looked on here and it’s fascinating, particularly for photography or history buffs:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/panoramic_photo/