Sunday, January 4, 2009

When I Grow Up

In our living room, just after Christmas

Morgayn: When I grow up, I want to be a gypsy.

Me: When I grow up, I want to have children who don't drag their feet on their chores.

Matisse: When I grow up,  I want to be a velociraptor.

Morgayn: When I grow up, I want to be a parasaurolophus.

Me: When I grow up, I want to be a really big pterosaur.

Morgayn (using an English pronunciation with a short e): Quetzalcoatl, maybe.

Me (using a Costa Rican pronunciation with a long a for the e and a soft s for the z): When I grow up, I want to be a quetzalcoatl!

Morgayn: You can't pronounce it like that; it's pronounced kwetzelcoatl.

Me: Why can't I? Quetzal is Spanish, isn't it?

Morgayn: Yeah, but kwetzelcoatl's name isn't pronounced like Spanish.

Me: Okay then, when I grow up, I want to be a kaytsalcoatl that doesn't speak English!

Dissolve to a fit of laughter.

2 comments:

Phoenix said...

"Quetzalcoatl" is the Aztec god, Mum. "Quetzalcoatlus" is the pterosaur.

Heather Madrone said...

And what if what I really want to be is Quetzalcoatl, not a quetzalcoatlus?