As an educator I am constantly asking questions designed to challenge the youths to further themselves. I am also used to fielding various strange questions posed by the kiddies too. So imagine my surprise at being flumoxed by a question recently.
Me :"Yes small child A"
Small Child A: "Y'know Onomatopoeia?"
Me :" Yes - the word that describes the sound that it makes"
Small Child A: "Yeah like Boom and SQUELCH."
Me: (thinking) "Are you stalling to get out of doing the focused task that I have set you?"
Me: (talking) "Yes, do you understand what I've asked you to do?"
Small Child A: "Oh yes, I know what onomatopoeia is, but what does it mean?"
Me: "It means the sound..."
Small Child A: "No, I mean the word O-N-O-M-A-T-O-P-O-E-I-A. Its not English, so what does it mean"
Me "GET ON WITH YOUR WORK!!" (this last bit is just fiction - secretly I was fumbling for an answer, anything - C'mon rudimentary Latin lessons from 10 years ago - Do I know any Greek? Is it Welsh? Aggghhhh!!
Genuinely stumped, I congratulated the child on his ability to bamboozle the teacher and proceed on a quest to locate the eytomology of this complex word. So it is Greek...
onoma meaning "name" and poeia "I create". So Onomatopoeia means I create a name...further thought reveals it to mean "I create a name for this sound!"
A genuine new learn!
And something to share with the Small Child A who I hope will appreciate the answer! :)
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