Are you working on promoting or changing certain phrases?

[KBecks]

I'm only doing this consiously with one thing, and that's using "very" instead of "really" when describing things with Alek. It's very cold, not it's really cold.

I'm not sure if it's taking, but I'm trying. I know he got "really" from me to begin with.

I'm not freaky about this stuff. A friend said how she prefers "yes" to "yeah, and uh-huh", because it's unprofessional / low class. Me back to her, nodding "yeah, uh-huh". :) I use ya all the time too. Not worried.

My boys also have the bad habit of saying "um" before answering any question. I think I do this without even realizing it, and it's starting to get annoying, but I'm not campaigning against it either.

Wondering if anyone else has examples or suggestions, just to chat.

[sarahsthreads]

There are things I know DD gets from me that crack me up, but the only thing I'm actively trying to change is the non-commital "grunt". As in:

me: "do you want more ____?"
DD: "uh"
me: "was that a 'yes, please' or a 'no, thank you'?"
DD: "oh, a 'yes, please'!"

I really wouldn't have too much of a problem with "uh-huh" or "nope" or the like, I just can't interpret "uh" either way. The sad thing is, I've used it on my mom a couple of times too....

Sarah :)

[hillview]

I am working on:
"what?" into "pardon me" or "excuse me"
interrupting into "excuse mommy"
"I want" into "could I please have"
screaming into "mommy I need help"
all kinds of emotion words (frustrated, sad, mad, angry, happy etc)

/hillary

[egoldber]

LOL! There's nothing like hearing your conversational quirks parroted back at you to make you self conscious. :ROTFLMAO: I remember when Sarah was around 3 she yelled "You, stupid thing!" at the dog and I about died because she sooooo got that from me. I was very careful to stop calling the dog stupid after that. ;)

I also say a lot of "uh huh" as conversation filler when Sarah is telling me a story, but she recently informed me she doesn't like it. She told me a week ago "Mom, I really wish you would say yes. When you say uh huh I don't know what that means and I don't know if you heard me." It made me :ROTFLMAO: but also a bit bad because I usually do it when I'm only half paying attention (like also unloading the dishwasher or feeding Amy) and she's now picking up on the fact that I'm not giving her my full attention when she's talking.

[M&Mmom]

I haven't noticed too much of this, not because it isn't happening but because I am not noticing it! :innocent: (read: clueless!)

However, DH hates it when DD says "like" which I know she gets from me. We are also promoting asking for things "May I have some more _____, please? Rather than "Want _____. She's pretty good about saying thank you once she gets it.

[Ceepa]

I'm trying to work on "got" and "gotta."

"I've got three cars." ---> "I have three cars"
"I gotta tell you something." ---> "I have to tell you something." or "I want to tell you something."

[maestramommy]

I am really trying to work on saying "there're" when talking about plural instead of "there's." Dh brought this to my attention a while back, and we noticed it's everywhere, even NPR:ROTFLMAO:So that's one thing I'm trying to correct.

I am also trying not to say "like" unless I'm talking about similies.

[Drag0nflygirl]

It's all about the babysitter. Cara spends lots of time at her house. The babysitter lives there with her daughter, mother, father and 5 siblings. I guess it's hard to police that many people. Cara has started saying "Oh my God!". Every time I hear it I say, "Oh my goodness", but it's not sticking. This weekend I swear I heard her say, "c'mon b!tch!" :angry-smiley-005: ...babysitter got talked to about that one! :nono:

[niccig]

When DS is asked a question that he doesn't know the answer to, he says "I can't know". I'm trying to get him to say "I don't know", but DH thinks it's cute so now he's also saying "I can't know" :banghead:
I'm trying to get DS to copy my accent. Up until preschool he sounded more like me, but now he has the American accent, and only sounds like me if I ask him to copy me. He's good at putting the accent on, but it's natural to him as it's not what he hears all the time. He does use my choice of words though. I'm always telling him to do something properly eg. Eat properly, sit properly etc and he says that now. DH uses the word correctly. And a diaper is still a nappy and a binky is still a dummy, so I had some success.

[overcome]

For me personally, I try to say "difficult" instead of "hard" and I try to say an alternative for "got", usually "received" e.g. Instead of "I got your message" to "I received your message".

For DD I have to start on replacing "what" with "pardon me" and I REALLY have to work on tone of voice...I need to keep it more even as opposed to stressed or mean, b/c I hear it in her voice sometimes too.

[Pennylane]

I can not stand to hear "uh-huh or yeah", so I am always saying "Yes with a s please". I know it drives everyone in my house crazy!

Ann

[saschalicks]

I have/had a potty mouth :shake: I knew when I had kids I was going to have to tone it down BIG TIME! I decided to find alternatives that were *safe*. Instead of a-hole it's ding-dong. When I'm driving someone cuts me off I scream "what a ding-dong". One day on the way to preschool we're stuck in traffic and DS1 says "mommy are all of those cars ding-dongs?". I laughed so hard. It's good thing I changed my words early on. ;)

For me the most important is not to cuss in front of the boys.

[KBecks]

I can not stand to hear "uh-huh or yeah", so I am always saying "Yes with a s please". I know it drives everyone in my house crazy!

Ann

If you don't mind, where do you live? I'm wondering if this is regional or state based because my friend seemed to imply that people in my state are a bunch of yokels. :) But in a nice way.

[Pennylane]

If you don't mind, where do you live? I'm wondering if this is regional or state based because my friend seemed to imply that people in my state are a bunch of yokels. :) But in a nice way.

I am in North Carolina.....Don't think that will help your case with your friend !!

Ann

[KBecks]

LOL! I'm in Wisconsin and I know we're a little earthy here. :)

[MontrealMum]

A friend said how she prefers "yes" to "yeah, and uh-huh", because it's unprofessional / low class. Me back to her, nodding "yeah, uh-huh". :) I use ya all the time too. Not worried.


A lot of this is regional. Everyone has a regional dialect, or, if they're moved around alot, a smattering of different ones. It has little to do with class. The class bit - or educational-level, or just plain awareness, I don't really like attributing this to class - comes into play when you are someone who speaks differently in different situations; adjusting for your audience. I speak "properly" as Nicci would say, when I'm talking to other academics, or if in another authority-related situation. I speak colloquially (in my Midwestern regional dialect - ya and all) when speaking with friends and family. Here in Canada I try to tone that down if I don't want to stick out, and I make different word choices. But too many SAT-words and people think you're putting on airs, and that can be a bad thing. JMHO, but I think use of different speech is appropriate for different situations.

Of course, that doesn't answer your original question. And I agree that some phrases/words should be worked on if you're dealing with children. Grunting is not good, or screaming or shrieking. And potty-mouth is something to take into account :) Luckily we don't have to deal with that just yet, but I have been thinking about it lately. Poor DS, he's got two different English dialects to deal with, and he's going to French daycare. I'm going have have my work cut out for me next year!

[luvmypeanut]

We're working on a bunch here, but what's killing me is that DS is picking up DD's speech patterns as well. Cute but a tad frustrating.

[AngelaS]

We're learning to stop saying "Sucks to be you." Yeah, I know, so nice isn't it? It works so well as a comment to SO many situations and it started as a joke between DH and I if one of us was complaining about something. But then the girls picked it up and it wasn't exactly respectful coming from them nor teaching them compassion. :P

[jayali]

We are doing yes instead of yeah and excuse me instead of what. I am trying to get DH to stop cursing, but since he doesn't think he does it has been hard. I guess DS is getting his potty mouth from Dora!

[mom2chloe]

I have/had a potty mouth :shake: I knew when I had kids I was going to have to tone it down BIG TIME! I decided to find alternatives that were *safe*. Instead of a-hole it's ding-dong. When I'm driving someone cuts me off I scream "what a ding-dong". One day on the way to preschool we're stuck in traffic and DS1 says "mommy are all of those cars ding-dongs?". I laughed so hard. It's good thing I changed my words early on. ;)

For me the most important is not to cuss in front of the boys.

OMG, this is me too! Slightly ashamed to admit it, but the story is funny... when DD was learning to talk, and I was still married to her father, she let out an "Oh S***!" said and used exactly the way I always did. Her father laughed and said that she definitely got it from me...and I knew he was right... He said that if she dropped an F bomb, it was from him.... Wouldn't you know the next day?!?!? "F***" :hysterical:

Funny story, but that was pretty much when the cussing stopped cold turkey. Luckily, none of those words stuck and we've both cleaned it up. :)