My little son’s good friend, Joshua, sometimes like to make fun of his pronunciation or should I say “mis-pronunciation”.  Joshua, being over a year older than my little son, could pronounce his “s” and “f” and what have you.

Once we went out and my little son told his little friend to “old my and” (hold my hand).  “Yes,” Joshua replied cheekily, “I will old your and”.

In my little son’s “mis-pronounced” world, a fish is a “cheesh”.  Football becomes “chootball”.  Night Safari (which is the nocturnal zoo in Singapore) is “Night Afari”.  Rambutan is “lambutan”.

However recently we noted some changes in his pronunciation.  What was “old my and” is now hold my hand.  Fish has evolved to “pish”.  Football is sometimes “pootball” but other times still “chootball”.  Night Safari is unfortunately still “Night Afari”.

We have never attempted to correct our little son’s “mis-pronunciation”.  He sorts of self-corrects as he grows older.  Or maybe the teacher in school taught him.

As much as I am happy that my little son’s linguistic ability seems to be on its way to maturity and that one day he will be able to pronounce difficult words with ease, when that day comes I will surely look back and miss those days when a rambutan was a “lambutan”.

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