Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Strange choice of words

I love this. It should have its own thread... Kids quirky use of language!!! I laugh at least once a day from the way my kid words things. Yesterday, while discussing that he didn't feel well, he said "I have mucous, and that is a featured symptom of a cold according the the sign in the nurses office". What???

I don't know. This strikes me as an introverted, creative kid who, as others have said, is getting her vocabulary from reading. Honestly--as long as she is happy I don't see anything wrong with it. Think of Anne of Green Gables. Other kids always think my dd12 is British because she enunciates and has a big vocabulary and loves words. She thinks that is funny. She has friends and is happy. I am not a big believer in conforming or dumbing down vocab. to fit in. Perhaps there is some kind of issue here, but I just don't see it.
http://www.amazon.com/Some-Best-Friends-Are-Books/dp/0910707960

I think that deacongirl's 12yo DD would really have liked my own 12yo self. That's what I think.

:)Sometimes a time machine might be cool! I admire her for the way she is SO much herself. I occasionally showed what I knew, but not with the confidence she does, and I think kids pick up on that. In art class a boy called her a "goody two shoes" and she was like, "yeah, so?" Her friends were like, "well...she kind of is but we love her the way she is!"

People described my son as smart and quirky when he was seven. He does not have an autism spectrum disorder. When he was elementary school age, he had a gifted friend who was three years older who asked me how my son came up with all those words he used. I remember hearing my son describe something as having crenelated edges but don't remember anything else he said because I was so used to him talking this way and didn't think anything of it. I told the friend that he just read a lot and liked words. He didn't like reading things that didn't use a high level vocabulary. He would also use some words in an unusual way for comedic effect.

Now that he is almost 15, he looks like he could be a college student so his vocabulary might not seem as unusual, but he still would not fit in with the high school students in our small town. I sometimes listen to their conversations at restaurants and my son just seems so different and so much more mature. I really don't want my son talking the way they do.

I love listening to smart, quirky kids. I like the way they think.

Adding another one she said today.

"Don't push me violently on the swing." in place of don't push me too hard. lol

I thought of this thread the other day so decided to revive it...

DD recently spent a day visiting a 2E school. She was so excited about the prospect. She said "You do realize that every day when I go to school I have to leave 90% of my vocabulary at home - right? It's just so frustrating. I have never been able to have a conversation with another 8 year old where there wasn't at least one word I used that they couldn't understand. It would be great to have other kids who could understand what I'm talking about." This tells me DD is aware of her choice of words and tries her best to use appropriate words for her audience. It just gets very frustrating for her to feel that she is always required to "dumb it down".

Just the other night we were at the first rehearsal for a musical DD will be doing this summer. Most of the kids hadn't seen each other since the winter show ended in March so lots of hugs and big hellos all around. She was hanging out with one friend when another came up behind her and grabbed her shoulder. Instead of something like "Wow - you surprised me" she came out with "Well THAT was unnerving!"

As I was typing that I overheard her telling DH about "a realization" she had. She was also recently a bit upset at a play date with a friend who is a year ahead of her at school. I don't know what the conversation was about but as the girls walked up to the other mom and me her friend was saying "I'm sorry "DD" but I just don't know what the word perseverance means..."

"I need more personal space!" ... DS4.9 when he wanted me to move over a little while we were reading a book in his bed

This is completely my 2 boys. Neither on the spectrum. Both have always been fascinated by words, making up their own at a very young age and laughing about it. My younger, DS3.5, seems even more into words than the older DS5.5. He constantly asks about what words mean storing them in his "memory bank" for later use. We also tend to use, maybe not the most common of word choice in our family, which exposes them to more advanced language.

DS 3.5 will use sentences like "I ACCIDENTALLY hurt myself", "This dinosaur is very IMPRESSIVE", "I am very CONFUSED right now". Maybe not the most natural choice of words for a 3 year old....:-)

I think it is wonderful though when kids develop an advanced vocabulary at an early age. I really enjoy reading everyone's posts!

DS7 does this frequently as well. He does appear to be somewhere on the spectrum (diagnosis is not finalized just yet) but then this is only one symptom or behavior among many that he displays. Personally, although I realize that it can interfere with interpersonal relationships among his age-mates, I find it kind of cute. He has always been like this, though. As a toddler when I would ask him a question like "What starts with the letter O?" his response would be words like "odd" or "oblong" - just not the words you would expect to hear from a two year old