You Say Tomah-Toe

One of the more amusing past times during our trip to the States was listening to my kids trying to pronounce American words. This time around, they can all read...and they all have strong opinions about what they want to eat or not eat - so they would look in stores and at menus and basically make their own decisions. The major problem was that most of the time, I had NO IDEA what they were saying, to whit:

C: Mom, can I have a snack? (Yes, she changed from Mum to Mom. When in Rome and all that.)
Me: Sure. What do you feel like?
C: Well, I'd really like a bag of Cheh-toss.
Me: A bag of what?!
C: Cheh-toss.
Me: What?
C: (getting increasingly frustrated) MOM! You know, the bag with those twisty orange things in them. CHEH-TOSS! CHEH-TOSS!
Me: OH! You mean CHEETOS? *insert hysterical laugher* Yeah, you can have some, but they are pronounced CHEE-TOES.
C: No, they're not. See? Right there on the pack. C-h-e-e- is "CHEH" and t-o-s is "TOSS" so they are CHEH-TOSS.

At this point I stopped arguing and decided that Chehtoss sounded cuter than Cheetos anyway.

However, we then had run ins with:

Dorie-toss (Doritos)
Ennerman's (Enteman's)
Hear-she's (Hershey's)
Roofles (Ruffles)

...and so on and so forth. Bloody hilarious, I tell you. I could spend HOURS with my kids wandering the junk food aisles of American supermarkets, just to hear them say funny stuff.

Funnier still? Listening to my Aussie-accented, super-lisp-afflicted son, trying to imitate Paula Deen. "Hawww-dee, Yooolll. We's goinna cuhk sumfin' FRAHH-D tonight!"

(and the post about American food will follow soon enough. Hold onto your hats, Yoll.)