Who told them that gogurt was a good name for yogurt in a tube? I know that the idea must have been "yogurt on the go", but gogurt? The two humans at our house have been disgusted by this word since we first saw the product at the store; our distaste has prevented me from even considering purchasing the item. Now, by the way, it is even more out of the question, since gogurt, is not organic and contains sugar, but that is another subject entirely.
Anyone else remember sniglets?
We had books of them growing up. I don't remember where the word sniglet came from, but I do remember that my family of four was thrilled to learn that we already owned a barkuum. The "sniglet" was a word made by conbining two other words that likewise meant exactly what those two words did separately. The "barkuum" is a dog that cleans floors.
Sniglets became a part of my childhood experience. They were creative, they taught us to really think about vocabulary, and they were funny! I wasn't the word slueth in my nuclear family, however. That was the job of my older sister. I didn't really become a "reader" until I'd already finished school and started teaching. Sniglets taught me a ton about words! Looking back, they were invaluable in my education, even though it was something I only encountered at home. Maybe we should consider teaching them to kids...
In our home today, word play is an everyday occurance. A lot of our everyday laughs come from unintended puns and other intentional vocabulary "mishaps". We mispronounce things intentionally just to be cute. We even replace words with similar ones on a somewhat permanent basis.
Today I went to yogurt, I mean Yoga, class for the first time. (That is, again, another subject.)
We recognize the importance of the play on words as adults in it's value for humor, but do we really know how important it is? Kids can learn so much from word play. They learn to laugh at their mistakes, to make connections between seemingly disimilar items, to define, use and understand new words, the parts of a definition, the importance of understanding meaning and vocabulary in general... I could go on and on.
One of the things that struck me when I moved from teaching inner city middle schoolers to teaching suburban elementary kiddos was that the younger kids in the suburbs got the word play. I can't turn it off - I tell the same stupid word jokes and make the same "unintentional" puns in my classroom as I do at home. The suburban kids had the depth of understanding to know how to manipulate language; therefore, they not only recognized, but appreciated it when others played with words. My inner city kiddos, even though they were older, had to be taught to recognize and them understand the word play.
The moral of the story is, of course, that word play is terribly important. Even when it is silly and playful, but especially when it is smart and witty. Maybe we should try to rename gogurt; I am positive that if I didn't buy the product just because I thought the name sounded gross, there must be others out there like me. Any ideas?