"Grandma, you said a bad word!!"

Grandma was by the house recently and was sitting at the kitchen table with the DD while they were waiting to be fed (BTW, it seems like they are always waiting to be fed ;-) and they were talking amongst themselves. All of the sudden Katie yelled out "Grandma, you said a bad word!!...MOM, Grandma said a bad word!!" I was very amused and a little curious as to what the "bad word" was. My mother in law looked as confused as I was, so I asked Katie what the offending word was. She told me that she could not tell me. I told her that of course she could tell me, to which she shook her head NO, quite vigorously. I then told her to whisper the "bad word" in my ear. She agreed to do that and whispered the following word................

W H A T E V E R

Yes, that's right... "Whatever" was the word that had Katie in an uproar! I began to laugh and had to explain to Grandma that when the one of the DD use the word "whatever" in response to something that I have said that they are told not to say it. That it is not a nice word to use in the context that they are using it.

Example:

Mom: "Here is your turkey sandwich honey."

Katie: "Mommy, I don't want Turkey."

Mom: "Well, that is what I am serving today so that is what you will need to eat."

Katie: "Whatever!" (said in the snottiest tone possible)

I explained to them that when they say "whatever" in that way, it implies that they do not care in an offhand manner and we always need to care and not respond like we do not.

Of course, My mother in law's response of "Whatever" was to a question posed by Marc as to whether she wanted Cereal or eggs for breakfast. So when she responded with "Whatever" it was not used in quite the same way! Obviously, that nuance was lost on our Starr so "Whatever" may as well have been the F word for all of the excitement it caused at breakfast.

Gotta love the use and intent of language and the four year old mind! Interesting combination is all that I can say.