hesitation
cam asked me the other day if i had written about a particular topic. i cycled through my entries in my head and came up short, so here i am.
the word (if you can call it that) that i've been hearing most frequently from paul isn't "more" or "nilk" or "thomas," it's "um."
"um" starts most replies to our questions.
me: are you hungry?
paul: um...
me: do you want rice, broccoli or tofu.
paul: um.... tufu!
me: how about mushrooms?
paul: um... tufu. tufu. no. mush. room.
(i wouldn't want to go to the mush room, either.)
i wonder where he got it. i suspect he picked it up from me. (like the way he bellowed, "ccccrrrrraaaaapppp!" after hearing me hollering in the kitchen.) i know i say "um" far too much -- and let's not even start on how often i say "like" -- i may have been an english major, but i sure as hell wasn't a member of the debate club.
he's using it appropriately, if one could say that. it really does seem to express some useful thinking pause -- a sound to indicate that the question is being mulled over and processed. most importantly, it shows that he heard me and i don't need to repeat myself. but what is so odd about this is that it's an awfully grown-up sound to be coming from him. i never thought i'd be characterizing "um" as grown-up, but when it's coming from a toddler who likes calling out musical-sounding gibberish for the fun of it, well, it sure takes on an surprisingly adult cast.