[Ads-l] Language and children; flee/flea.

[Laurence Horn]

> On Apr 4, 2016, at 4:27 AM, Margaret Lee <0000006730deb3bf-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> wrote:
> 
> My husband says that when he was in elementary school and had to repeat the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag,  he heard and said  "... and to the republic for Richard Stans  ..." (he thought it was a person). 
> --Margaret Lee 

Yes, for my younger brother it was "and to the Republic of Richard Sands", commemorating a (non-existent) relative of the Sands family, our neighbors in those years.

LH

> 
>      From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
> Sent: Sunday, April 3, 2016 11:19 AM
> Subject: Re: Language and children; flee/flea.
> 
> Many thanks for the reply below and for the others pertaining 
> to children's language. Daniel's reply *is* helpful; it lets me
> know that the flee/flea story wasn't from a friend or family
> member of his. A family story of that sort would remain
> in one's memory. 
> 
> Btw, Here are two examples of children's misinterpretations,
> provided to me by a student some 35 years ago: 
> (from a six year old boy): "Our father, who art in heaven,
> Hollywood be thy name."
> (from a child reciting the Pledge of Allegiance): "...with liver
> and onions for all" (= with liberty and justice for all). 
> 
> If anyone has any other examples, please send them along
> any time.  I'm compiling them and will of course give due
> credit.
> 
> Gerald Cohen 
> ________________________________________
> David Daniel wrote (02, 2016 6:41 PM) wrote:
> 
> 2008? I have a hard time remembering what I did yesterday. However, I
> suspect I just ran across the joke somewhere. If you Google the
> exchange/joke there are a number of instances of it out there, and I doubt
> that I started them. Sorry I can't be more help.
> DAD
> 
> Sender:      American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:      "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      Language and children; flee/flea. Was: Antedating of Flea
> Market
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -
> ---
> 
> I've been collecting information on children's language, including
> 
> children's misperceptions of adult speech.  In this regard, I
> 
> noticed David Daniel's 2008 message below, in which a child
> 
> humorously mistook the verb "flee" to be the noun "flea."
> 
> Might I now ask David:  Does he have first-hand knowledge
> 
> of this humorous incident? (Did he hear it himself? Was it told
> 
> about a child of one of his friends or relatives?) Or was it
> 
> perhaps a fabricated bit of humor that can't reliably be judged
> 
> to have actually occurred?
> 
> Gerald Cohen
> 
> ________________________________
> Original message to American Dialect Society on behalf of David A. Daniel
> (dad at POKERWIZ.COM<mailto:dad at POKERWIZ.COM>)
> Sent: Wed 7/9/2008 10:52 AM
> Subject: Re: Antedating of Flea Market
> 
> Sunday school teacher, reading Bible passage: "The man named Lot was warned=
> 
> to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was
> turned to salt."
> 
> Concerned four-year-old: "What happened to the flea?"
> DAD
> 
> <snip>
> 
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