Unless you’re a linguist (or any other incarnation of a language expert), learning a language will likely be just a skill to get by in life.
Now, if you do focus on the journey and not the destination, however, you will learn just how fun it is to learn a language. Especially if you’re somewhere between the ages of 2 and 6 when you learn complex words and mispronounce them with equal yet entertaining complexity.
And then your parents laugh about it with the rest of the world because social media requires a sacrifice.
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As a former food service worker, that would have made my entire month.
One of the superpowers that humans have is to soak in knowledge and information in the early stages of life. Language is one of the major things that we acquire as kids and continue to refine as we grow older. This happens automatically and requires no formal teaching. As long as they are surrounded by language, it will come to them eventually.
It is important to note that surrounded by language means interaction. Parents and other people (not just adults, but kids too) do still have to interact with the kid in order for them to pick up the language and to be able to use it for communication. In fact, it’s just as easy for them to acquire multiple languages this way, as long as it’s done in the early stages in life for maximum effect.
A friend's 5 yo daughter burst into the house from the backyard announcing she'd found a "bird leaf". It was a seagull feather.
TBT when I flew Qantas to Japan and found that their OFFICIAL pronunciation in Japanese - as in, the one they use on all their Japanese documentation and in their Japanese inflight announcements - sounds like “cünt åss”. They are Australian, I guess.
And as is with every journey, learning a language comes gradually. Kids will start off from babbling and move on to monosyllabic and polysyllabic words, then will venture into building simple two-word sentences, then add words to build longer sentences ad infinitum.
In the same manner, they will also experiment with and practice languages, leading them to make mistakes in all facets of language use, including mispronunciation.
There is this hilarious video where a little girl is eating puto, which is a Filipino rice cake as her mom is Filipino, but her dad who is Colombian is not comfortable hearing her happily declare “It’s puto!”This gets even funnier when she says it around her grandma. “It’s big puto!”🤣
My younger sister, who is a total dinosaur geek, corrects me and my family on dinosaur facts all the time (and is usually right) yet still manages to mispronounce this one.
Oh my glob I have never heard that one before and I count myself blessed for reading it now lol 🤣🤣
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To paint a picture of both making mistakes and the gradual learning of a language, consider this: a kid first learns by mimicking the language. So, if they learn the word feet, they will for a time say it perfectly. But then, they might revert to foots.
Now, saying revert is not really accurate—they have actually moved forward, just that they started applying grammatical conventions instead of just mimicking.
At this point, the kid understood what the singular form of feet was, and they understood that plural words take an s at the end. Hence feets. But it was wrong because English is a hot mess of a language that follows rule sets from ten if not more languages, and folks who learn it as a foreign language have to deal with the constant facepalming when they realize that buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo is a grammatically correct sentence.
There are multiple people in my life who repeated even ruder expressions that they learned from their respective parents in the car. 🤣
My mom says that's how I used to pronounce it too! I gotta show her this one lol
And so, learning a language happens pretty much in the same gradual way, no matter if it’s language production or reception. And this is where mishearing and mispronunciation come into play.
When children learn languages, they will sometimes learn to pronounce them just like they would other words they already know. Hence, cheese crisis and whack-a-mole like guacamole.
It’s this similarity that empowers kids to learn further, applying the rules and paradigms they know to words that the English language ends up ruining for them.
So, yes, it’s quite logical to pronounce fettuccine as if it rhymed with medicine, mishear French hens as henchmens and, instead of saying heebie jeebies, you say Hebrew Bee Gees.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is fun in more ways than one. Not only are these tiny linguistic mishaps cute and adorable, it also shows the beauty of watching kids grow up and grasp concepts that are mundane to us. Yet, how they experience it might just defamiliarize us, broadening our own perspectives, thus continuing the cycle of learning and better understanding the world.
At around 2 years old, I screamed "BUNNY MILK!" for a few days until my parents figured out it was Nestlé Strawberry Milk powder I was after. Their mascot is a rabbit.
In fact, kids are an amazing source of understanding the world. Because of their unrestricted way of thinking outside the box, they often find very smart, and sometimes funny ways of expressing their problem solving skills. And that’s just what we see on the surface—inside their heads, tons upon tons of processes are going on, and creativity is just one of many results that follow.
The Japanese word for “cook” (as in a person who cooks professionally, not the act of cooking) sounds like “cøck” too.
So, with all that said, have you ever heard kids mispronounce the heck out of something to a degree that made you crack up? Why not share those instances in the comment section below!
Be sure to upvote the listicle, and if you want more, then check out another of our listicles about the times kids delivered stories in their own words that could only ever result in awkward and hilarious misunderstandings.
I thought bubble juice was the stuff in the bottles that come with bubble wands, for blowing bubbles... It's like juuuuust barely soapy water.
I still call it a merote, and eat "melly melon" because that's what my 46 yr old daughter called it when she was three. And because she now owns and directs a daycare, we still go potty and frequently point upwards, exclaiming "Airplane!"
Swing and a miss for the auto-censor. From now on, I declare that the F-bomb can now be spelled "KFC" on this forum. What the KFC is going on here?
If he pronounces "cat" as "tat" maybe a lot of people are curious about mom's artwork.
use the horse! erect a horse field! Luke, I am your siiiirree
These make a lot of sense and it's easy to understand how new dialects spring up in different communities!
Maybe your toddler helped to program the "speech to text" function on my band friend's phone, because he's always talking about the sex parts.
My daughter when little would remark "the problem is dissolved." Many years later that's become standard.
Note: this post originally had 76 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
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My nephew use call skunks "stunks". I always thought he was on to something.
That's what my little sisters called them and I still do too.
Load More Replies...
My son was good for mispronouncing or redefining words. Chameleons had "cameraflage" (meaning you couldn't take pictures of them, I guess). A cookout was a "steakout" because you cooked steaks on the grill. His uncle, who he disliked he said had OCAD which he explained was Obsessive, compulsive a*****e disorder. My niece used to call omelettes "omelopes" and macaroni "mickeyronis". My grandson pointed to a church and told his mother that "cheezitz" lived there. But the top prize belongs to his mother, my stepdaughter, who called getting a splinter under her skin as "having a "woody".
My son came home from playing with the little girls next door and announced, "I know what a BAGINA is."
My son called the back of his knees his "knee pits" and I think this should be in all the anatomy books.
I always wondered why my dad announced ' The bathroom's bacon!' every morning. My mum eventually told me he was saying 'the bathroom's vacant'.
My brother used to call "the fat controller" from Thomas the tank engine "the f*****g troller"
My daughter called our microwave a Michael Wave when she was little, we've been calling it that for many years now.
My now 18 year old son couldn't pronounce popcorn when he was a wee guy. Instead he would loudly ask for some "cockporn" at the kiosk in the cinema - was a sad day when he learned how to say it properly
My son called the lawnmower the "mowlawn machine " and he'd hate it if I told anyone. He's in his 40s and is a professional landscaper.
I will never forget the child who mispronounced Pennsylvania as Pencildavia.
My maternal grandparents were Polish. Hiccups in their language is czknięcie....however, it sounds like "itchy cookies" and to this day that's what we call hiccups. We're all adults, and it doesn't matter. That's one way to keep our Nana & Grampa with us.
I was around 7. My sister around 4. She couldn’t say the “T”. Came out as a “F”. My Grampie was a trucker. So obviously my cousins and I got her dropping the F bomb till we got caught.
Youngest niece called them memellows and they've been that for 12 years now.
My son would pronounce "clock" without the l. Imagine my embarrassment when my son would loudly exclaim in the store, "Daddy, look at that huge c-ock."
Although she denies it now, my daughter called the December Jewish holiday "Honeyguy" and we are collecting signatures for this now.
It took about 10 minutes of careful questioning before we realized our four year old's "croak sore" was actually a canker sore. She's eleven now and isn't happy I contributed to this post, lol.
My 15yo coined diangle in our household when she was 2 or 3. Makes more sense than diagonal. You have a triangle, why wouldn't it be a diangle??
My son called refrigerator refridgelator and tractors were cackeys. Popsicles were pop kee kees
Thanks to this article I just realized oatmeal porridge is probably called housemouse porridge by my parents because I couldn’t pronounce the dutch word for oatmeal as a kid, and NOT because it was mouse food.
My favorites from my daughter were sprink-U-ler and ridicleous. The worst is she called breakfast break-thrast until she was like 9 no matter how hard I tried to correct it. It's so much easier to say it right! My niece called balloons kabloons, which was adorable. I also still call reflectors befwactors thanks to my sisters.
My son slipped me a note under the bathroom door "ken I go out to play?" Got angry and refused to believe it was spelled CAN not KEN
As a kid, spaghetti was always pronounced "pesketti." Knife was "K-nife" (pronouncing the "k") and band-aid was "ban-baid".
Favourite words from when mine were toddlers...some we still use as they are super cute.. Alligator instead of escalator. Beach Ball became Beeballbut then anything round also became Beeball, even peas! 😂. Breakfast was Bakefust. Spaghetti became Sketti. Yogurts became Yourguts. Oh, and my favourite... freckles became crackles, which I loved. Especially as I am covered in them, as is one of my daughters 🥰 .
I made pancakes one morning and my son asked for abc weed. I had no idea what he wanted and asked him to show me. He led me to the bottle of maple syrup. For a long time my youngest called flamingos flimbos. Now we all do.
My son was a big fan of Sia's hit song "Cheese Frills" 😄 Found out when he requested in in the car. "The song where the girl says 'I love cheese frills!'"
I remember reading on here that a kid called Rhinos "battle unicorns" and ever since that is what I have called them.
My ex from the Nordics and I were driving across the USA, east to west, when he suddenly asks: What's Yak in the Box? And it was so very funny *and* appropriate, I've called it that ever since.
I was upset to discover (in a first grade book) that these things on my hands are not THINGERS. Thumb and thingers. Made perfect sense to me.
I pronounced moustache as mouse tash. The municipal offices as the munciples and, this one would probably offend americans more than we british, hotel as ho tail.
My daughter called screwdrivers "poobibers" and the remote was a "mokeycho". She corrected her daughters so we missed out on their fun pronunciations.
There's a guy on social media who teaches theatre at an elementary school in Louisiana, and he often posts the funny things that his students say to him. One of my favorites is the story of a little boy who talked about going on vacation to "Murder Beach". The theatre teacher was doing his best to figure out what a "murder" beach could be, and why a 7-year-old would go there, when he realized the little boy was talking about Myrtle Beach.
As a Deaf child without a language for 7 years, when I first started to learn to speak - I couldn't understand how to pronounce consonants (s,f,c, g, etc) - my family tried to teach me how to say "cute" - instead I would always say, "Cuke!" They still always say "Awww, isn't that so cuuuuke?!" *eyeroll* and I'm 54 years old! LOL!
Let's see, between my two kids.. "belax" for relax, "drac-lee-ah" for Dracula, "hostabule" for hospital, any snack before bed was a "bidnight (midnight) snack."
My oldest when she was 5 got to see newborn kittens nursing. She burst into the house and announced, "There's a Sibanese (Siamese) cat and her babies are sucking on her nibbles!" Cracked me right up 🤣
When my nephew was a preschooler, he couldn't pronounce "Ghostbusters" properly; it always came out as "Buttfuckers." It was especially humiliating for my sister when they would be standing in line at the supermarket and he would spot toys from the movie. "Look, Mommy, BUTTFUCKERS!!" He only stopped when it was obvious that some people were trying to get him to say it. But still......🙄
My nephew use call skunks "stunks". I always thought he was on to something.
That's what my little sisters called them and I still do too.
Load More Replies... My son was good for mispronouncing or redefining words. Chameleons had "cameraflage" (meaning you couldn't take pictures of them, I guess). A cookout was a "steakout" because you cooked steaks on the grill. His uncle, who he disliked he said had OCAD which he explained was Obsessive, compulsive a*****e disorder. My niece used to call omelettes "omelopes" and macaroni "mickeyronis". My grandson pointed to a church and told his mother that "cheezitz" lived there. But the top prize belongs to his mother, my stepdaughter, who called getting a splinter under her skin as "having a "woody".
My son came home from playing with the little girls next door and announced, "I know what a BAGINA is."
My son called the back of his knees his "knee pits" and I think this should be in all the anatomy books.
I always wondered why my dad announced ' The bathroom's bacon!' every morning. My mum eventually told me he was saying 'the bathroom's vacant'.
My brother used to call "the fat controller" from Thomas the tank engine "the f*****g troller"
My daughter called our microwave a Michael Wave when she was little, we've been calling it that for many years now.
My now 18 year old son couldn't pronounce popcorn when he was a wee guy. Instead he would loudly ask for some "cockporn" at the kiosk in the cinema - was a sad day when he learned how to say it properly
My son called the lawnmower the "mowlawn machine " and he'd hate it if I told anyone. He's in his 40s and is a professional landscaper.
I will never forget the child who mispronounced Pennsylvania as Pencildavia.
My maternal grandparents were Polish. Hiccups in their language is czknięcie....however, it sounds like "itchy cookies" and to this day that's what we call hiccups. We're all adults, and it doesn't matter. That's one way to keep our Nana & Grampa with us.
I was around 7. My sister around 4. She couldn’t say the “T”. Came out as a “F”. My Grampie was a trucker. So obviously my cousins and I got her dropping the F bomb till we got caught.
Youngest niece called them memellows and they've been that for 12 years now.
My son would pronounce "clock" without the l. Imagine my embarrassment when my son would loudly exclaim in the store, "Daddy, look at that huge c-ock."
Although she denies it now, my daughter called the December Jewish holiday "Honeyguy" and we are collecting signatures for this now.
It took about 10 minutes of careful questioning before we realized our four year old's "croak sore" was actually a canker sore. She's eleven now and isn't happy I contributed to this post, lol.
My 15yo coined diangle in our household when she was 2 or 3. Makes more sense than diagonal. You have a triangle, why wouldn't it be a diangle??
My son called refrigerator refridgelator and tractors were cackeys. Popsicles were pop kee kees
Thanks to this article I just realized oatmeal porridge is probably called housemouse porridge by my parents because I couldn’t pronounce the dutch word for oatmeal as a kid, and NOT because it was mouse food.
My favorites from my daughter were sprink-U-ler and ridicleous. The worst is she called breakfast break-thrast until she was like 9 no matter how hard I tried to correct it. It's so much easier to say it right! My niece called balloons kabloons, which was adorable. I also still call reflectors befwactors thanks to my sisters.
My son slipped me a note under the bathroom door "ken I go out to play?" Got angry and refused to believe it was spelled CAN not KEN
As a kid, spaghetti was always pronounced "pesketti." Knife was "K-nife" (pronouncing the "k") and band-aid was "ban-baid".
Favourite words from when mine were toddlers...some we still use as they are super cute.. Alligator instead of escalator. Beach Ball became Beeballbut then anything round also became Beeball, even peas! 😂. Breakfast was Bakefust. Spaghetti became Sketti. Yogurts became Yourguts. Oh, and my favourite... freckles became crackles, which I loved. Especially as I am covered in them, as is one of my daughters 🥰 .
I made pancakes one morning and my son asked for abc weed. I had no idea what he wanted and asked him to show me. He led me to the bottle of maple syrup. For a long time my youngest called flamingos flimbos. Now we all do.
My son was a big fan of Sia's hit song "Cheese Frills" 😄 Found out when he requested in in the car. "The song where the girl says 'I love cheese frills!'"
I remember reading on here that a kid called Rhinos "battle unicorns" and ever since that is what I have called them.
My ex from the Nordics and I were driving across the USA, east to west, when he suddenly asks: What's Yak in the Box? And it was so very funny *and* appropriate, I've called it that ever since.
I was upset to discover (in a first grade book) that these things on my hands are not THINGERS. Thumb and thingers. Made perfect sense to me.
I pronounced moustache as mouse tash. The municipal offices as the munciples and, this one would probably offend americans more than we british, hotel as ho tail.
My daughter called screwdrivers "poobibers" and the remote was a "mokeycho". She corrected her daughters so we missed out on their fun pronunciations.
There's a guy on social media who teaches theatre at an elementary school in Louisiana, and he often posts the funny things that his students say to him. One of my favorites is the story of a little boy who talked about going on vacation to "Murder Beach". The theatre teacher was doing his best to figure out what a "murder" beach could be, and why a 7-year-old would go there, when he realized the little boy was talking about Myrtle Beach.
As a Deaf child without a language for 7 years, when I first started to learn to speak - I couldn't understand how to pronounce consonants (s,f,c, g, etc) - my family tried to teach me how to say "cute" - instead I would always say, "Cuke!" They still always say "Awww, isn't that so cuuuuke?!" *eyeroll* and I'm 54 years old! LOL!
Let's see, between my two kids.. "belax" for relax, "drac-lee-ah" for Dracula, "hostabule" for hospital, any snack before bed was a "bidnight (midnight) snack."
My oldest when she was 5 got to see newborn kittens nursing. She burst into the house and announced, "There's a Sibanese (Siamese) cat and her babies are sucking on her nibbles!" Cracked me right up 🤣
When my nephew was a preschooler, he couldn't pronounce "Ghostbusters" properly; it always came out as "Buttfuckers." It was especially humiliating for my sister when they would be standing in line at the supermarket and he would spot toys from the movie. "Look, Mommy, BUTTFUCKERS!!" He only stopped when it was obvious that some people were trying to get him to say it. But still......🙄
