Boy-Girl Speak

We don't allow Boy or Girl to put each other down or to use profanity (see Swear Jar article).  But being who they are Boy and Girl have come up with alternative ways to bug each other and drive me crazy at the same time.  It's a win-win for them.

I can't even tell you how it started, or when, but the use of the word "hobo" has come to be used as noun, verb, adjective and adverb -- none of which are used the way the word is intended to be used (as in a hobo was a homeless drifter; most commonly used in the Great Depression of the 1930s).

I hear things like "you have hobo hair," and "why don't you hobo away," and "oh yeah, you're smart like a hobo, ha ha" etc. etc. 

I have corrected both children repeatedly.  As an English major improper use of the English language bugs me. And they know it.

Sometimes Girl will ask hobo questions.  Like "do hobos wear underwear?" or "do hobos really eat cats?"  No, no, no I explain.  Hobo is not a species, hobos were homeless men.  There really aren't such things as hobos anymore, I say.

"Yeah," says Boy.  "How come Girl smells like a hobo?"

Then Girl usually chases him and says, "well you look like a hobo!"

So I give up.

But I'm thinking the solitary, quiet life of a hobo seems pretty good to me.....