Though my number of posts marks me as a stranger, I have been lurking on this wonderful board for a while now, and I'd like to take this opportunity to ask all of you to welcome Abigail Reine Provost into the world. If it truly does take a village to raise a child, I can only hope that the village that raises my daughter is as thoughtful, warm and fun as the virtual village that is AWADtalk. I can hardly wait to know what her first word will be, and I wonder what all of your first words were. My wife's family rejoices in telling everyone that her first phrase was "son of a b*tch", and while I imagine yours might not have been as colorful, I think it would be interesting to know what words started you all on the path to linguaphilia.
Congratulations to your family, flatlander! And welcome to your glorious daughter.
I've long believed that a baby's first word betokens something significant about his personality. A friend of mine, who is known for his robustness of energy and appetite, appropriately spoke this as his first word: "More!"
My first word, which (I hope) pertains to my love of animals, was "kitty."
Congratulations to you and your family, David! (and i would take the opportunity to welcome you a-Board, but your profile shows that you've been a member as long as i have, so somehow it seems presumptious)
I suspect most of our first words were all the same... some form of "mama". My third (and last) child just put together a sentence this morning for the first time (the predictable "Daddy go bye-bye") and i was nonetheless astounded anew at the miracle i was privileged to witness.
Congratulations on the birth of your daughter, Flatlander, may her life be long and satisfying. I am told, with no way of verifying the statement, that my first word was "bugger". Make of that whatsoever you wish.
Congratulations and best wishes. Great to have someone else of child-bearing (or -siring) age here; we seem to have only a few youngsters, like Jazzoctopus and Belligerentyouth, to liven up us old geezers.
I don't know what my first words may have been. But an interesting story I was told in my Philosophy class years ago concerned John Stuart Mill, who apparently had an IQ of awsome dimensions (if IQs have dimensions). Anyway, it was told that he never spoke at all until he was 2 years old, by which time his mother had borne another son. The baby was having a squalling fit, so John's first words were, "What ails wee Jock?"
my first word(s) where nothing memoriable-- but one of my younger sister-- like your wife-- was a bit cheeky
Her first words were "God damn Kids!"
(My mother was mortified-- and reformed- and became a reformer--so i have no memory of this mother who took the lords name in vain, I only knew the reformed one!)
A warm Mazel Tov and Baruch HaShem on the arrival of little (and I'll bet beautiful) Abigail!
Your request for "first words" reminds me of a little old story about Johnny, who never spoke a word (not even any goo goo-ing) until he was about, oh, 11 or 12 years old. Then, one morning at the breakfast table, he remarked, "Mother, you've burned the toast." Whereupon, everyone gasped, and his mother replied, "Johnny, you spoke; why did it take so long and why now?" "Well," replied Johnny, "up till now, everything's been okay."
Shoshannah
suzanne pomeranz, tourism consultant
jerusalem, israel - suztours@gmail.com
Welcome Flatlander and your new daughter Abigail. May she live well, laugh often and love much.
Abigail, according to my source book, is from the Arabic and the Hebrew meaning "a father's joy" or "a source of joy' Her name translated into Hawaiian is : Kumu Oli (long O) Kumu = source Oli = joy, happiness, pleasure.
Congratulations, David and Mrs. P.! A lovely day to be born on, I can assure her.
My son's first word, appropriately, was 'eat'. My daughter astounded me when, an TEN months, she repeated 'hamburger' after me--twice.
Bob, your post made me decide to share this story. I had not known that the British pronunciation of geyser is the same as we say geezer. My English friend was telling me about an excursion, and when he said, "halfway down the mountain there was a geyser", I pictured a white-haired, wizened gentleman squatting there for eternity...
No idea what my first word was, but I'm told I was nearly three when it came forth, which worried everyone. Apparently I just decided I wasn't going in for this language lark until I'd got it sussed properly.
Shoshannah's story reminds me of the story of Lord Macauley, who also didn't talk till quite late. His almost first words came when he was three and a visitor accidently scalded him by spilling some tea on his hand. After it was kissed better, he said: "Thank you madam, the agony has sensibly abated."
Lord Macauley said: "Thank you madam, the agony has sensibly abated." ---------------------------------------------- At age three? Do you know the name of his publicist?
Shoshannah: That story is one I heard many years ago (the evrything's been fine 'till now) Looks like it's still alive and making its way atound the world! wow
Auguri italiani di una vita serena alla piccola Abigail.
When my son was ten months old he was not able to say almost anything, and I was very envious of the daughter of a friend, same age , able to say "preciutto"=prosciutto, jam. A friend of mine, mother of 3 daughters, said: you will regret this time! And I did! Emanuela
Congratulations. I hope you got plenty of sleep in your previous life because you can forget about it from now on!Late night feedings are only the start...
To my wife's chagrin, our first son's first word was papa. Our second son rectified the situation as if you listen very closely, he COULD be saying maman.
Last year when listening to a CBC comedy special featuring a troupe of mothers, one of them explained how difficult it was getting to explain to her mother that her son was actually trying to say "truck"
Congratulations on the birth of little Abigail. All my best wishes to the whole family.
My first "word", according to my mother, was "gali", which no one could make any sense of. Apparently I used it for everything for a while, holding long conversations with whomever was around: "Gali gali gali.. Gali gali? Gali!", or even simply talking to myself in "galis". Then all the other normal words like "papa" and "mama" started coming, and I haven't stopped talking since. On the other hand, I showed no interest in walking at all, much preferring to have people come to me to hold our grave "gali" discussions. I suppose I felt crawling about did the job quite well...
Oh and Bob, count me in as one of the "young'uns", although I have no idea what kind of criteria you are using here...
Aenigma thinks "gali" meant Galilee... reminiscences of a previous life, perhaps?
Welcome to the World, baby Abigail! A belated Welcome to the Board to David from Scribbler, who is more "Stranger to the Board" than you.(Board members, reading this, immediately think, "Scribbler is, and ever shall be, stranger than anyone. Oh, well) Clarification from Bridget -- As you know, AWADers are particularly keen about precision of expression. Cara Dea, did you mean, speaking of your third child, "third, and last" or merely "third, and latest". (All in fun, he, lamely, seeks to explain.)
I have no idea what my own first words were. Looking back from the perspective of these years, I wish I could have said something for the ages. High up on my present list is, "Thank you, Madam, the agony has sensibly abated." Where is esprit d'escalier when one needs it - but then, that's the paradox. Enough now, for me, of FIRST words, which are as last week's newspapers. Let's talk of the LATEST words with David and our other Boarders, words that will both de-light us and en-light-en us.
I don't know what my first words were, but my mom says once when I was very very small I tried to climb up a tall playground slide that was menat for larger children to play on. A nun at the school ran and grabbed me (probably saving my life) and pulled me down from the ladder. My mother was present at the time, and she said that I was at that stage where my speech was mostly unintelligible (and certainly to the nun it was), but to her it was clear that I was saying to the nun "Put me down, damn it!"
Cara Dea, did you mean, speaking of your third child, "third, and last" or merely "third, and latest".
i think i have enough on my plate; they are 4, 2 and 1. AAMOF, i happen to be home today awaiting the plumber, who shall attempt to extricate several matchbox cars, some AAA batteries and an undisclosed amount of construction paper from *two* of my toilets.
that being said, let me assure you that in saying *LAST*, i meant *final*. [snip snip]
Adding my happy, hearty congratulations on the new baby! I've got a 3.5 year-old, and my partner's belly is getting rounder and rounder, with our baby due in June. In fact, we're off to see the midwife in a few minutes.
Funny about some of these first words - I'm told I had the same issue as Max Q, that one of my first words was "truck" but that I had a hard time with the "TR" and sounded it like an "F" and sounded it LOUD.
Also have a British friend whose first word was "bugger" (like Maverick, I believe).
My sweetie's (partner, not kid) first word was "bamboo" - no idea what the significance of that is.
"Kinder" (Ger. for "children") comes from an Old German word meaning work.
Since "Kinder" is the plural of "Kind", that means that it would be "Kind" that derives from a word meaning "work". I would love to see the etymology for this one, particularly since it seems like a big leap from anything resembling "Kind" to "Arbeit". This sounds truly fascinating, and I would love to see the progression from one to the other. I shall beetle off now and try to find it. Thanks, inselpeter. Now if you had said that "Nike" was an ancient word meaning "child slavery" that I could accept readily!
Thank you so much Faldage for another example of my skill at missing the bleeding obvious. I had never thought about the link between Kind and "kind", even though the connexion really is quite mindnumbingly simple. And, if Kind comes from a root meaning "birth" then it definitely is connected to "work", hard labour to be precise.
I thought I might get beat up on this one. This is the third of three memories from that single session in Konstanz 20 years ago. I considered a warning but decided to favor the tidings.
Faldage--do you think you try it the other way around? Could Arbeit be an antecedent of Kind?
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And, if Kind comes from a root meaning "birth" then it definitely is connected to "work", hard labour to be precise.
