I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. (Feel free to pause for a moment and recall a few personal anecdotes of my hilarious and endearing idiocy throughout the years. And....... we're back.) However, I consider myself a relatively learned person. At least, I did until a few days ago. And then I met my nemesis, the "Look and Learn ABC" book that I got for Weston at the bargain rack at Barnes & Noble.
It looks innocent enough, right?
It has cute, bright, real-life pictures of basic objects for all of the letters of the alphabet. It's been fun to read with Weston, because I can feel like I'm starting to educate my 14-month-old (who listens for 6.5 seconds on average and then walks away, leaving me talking to an empty room) by pointing to the letter, sounding it out, and then pointing to all the objects on the page.But then I turned to the Q-R-S page:
Look a little more closely at this example of the letter "Q":
Wait... what? "Quoits?" WHAT THE HECK IS A QUOIT???I have seriously never, ever heard this word before IN MY LIFE. And here it is, in an ABC book for babies. (Apparently my mom never bought me this book.) Anyway, after a spell of confusion, followed by shock, followed by plummeting self-confidence, followed by anger, followed by general curiosity, I decided to find out what in the world a "quoit" is. Wikipedia says that "quoits [apparently plural] is a traditional lawn game involving the throwing of a metal or rubber ring over a set distance to land over a pin (called a hob or mott) in the center of a patch of clay."
Ohhhh... quoits! Of course.
(????????)
In our house at least, this ringed object made by Fisher-Price is called the "ring stacking toy." Who knew that all along, it was actually supposedly the game of quoits? (On the upside, I have gathered that I should probably just call it "quoits" from now on. That's one syllable compared to four.)
So anyway, I learned a new word this week. Not from reading Shakespeare or The New Yorker. From reading my toddler's ABC book.
Good for me. :-)
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In other news, here is an absolutely darling picture of my lovies at the Americana today:
12 comments:
Wow. Quoits?! Who knew? Not me, not Jean.
Maybe that's why it was on the bargin shelf! I've never heard anyone use that word used in my life!
Quoits? Really? I have never heard that word in my long, illustrious life.
I think Weston will get into Yale if he writes his college entry essay on learning the word "quoits" at 14 months.
That is so funny. But don't worry, that toy is the "ring stacking toy" at our house too... and, for that matter, every other house where I've seen that toy.
Learn something new every day...
Your two manly-manly lovies look so comfortable in that last photo.
Our kids will get made fun of on the playground if they go around saying Quoits. But I will do my best to use that word today :)
That's good. I always feel a little funny when I'm reading a book to Eli and I mispronounce a word (usually due to tiredness, but not always) and Forrest corrects me. We learn so much from mothering, eh? I'm dreading the day Eli needs help with math homework.
Okay, that's hilarious! I have never heard that word either, and actually have always been stumped as to what that classic toy anyway, so this is great news! Yet, I'm sure no one else knows that word either, so I would be embarrassed to call it that in front of anyone else for fear they would think, "WHAT did she call that thing?!" Too funny, Jean!
I had no idea either. W said that quoits are the rings in that game and that they are also traditional Sikh weapons.
Awesome. This post made me laugh out loud, which is totally what I needed. QUOIT?? Are you kidding me? That's an SAT word if I've ever heard one...way to get Weston prepped early.
You are such a CUTE mom!!!!!
That picture of Tim and Weston is adorable!!
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