One of my boys wants to be a physicist. I asked him the other day what he thought he'd like to be for Halloween and he said, "The Higgs boson."
He was critiquing his younger brother's plan to cause some mayhem in their Lego world and he said, "That's a violation of Newton's first law." The brother, predictably, said, "What?"
"Inertia," came the explanation. The brother said, "What?"
They cycled through again. "Inertia." "What?"
I could see a trace of uncertainty in my future physicist's face, the way a person looks when he wonders if he's mangled an unfamiliar word. (I used to think I should say ASK-ance (rhymes with Haskins) and AW-ry (rhymes more or less with story).) He tried again. "Intarsia. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion."
Such are the hazards of chatting with your mother the knitter about the socks she's making. In Newton's alternate laws, #2 and #3 will address Fair Isle and entrelac.
Oh, I laughed at this! I'm tempted to include Newton's Law of Intarsia in my Mechanics notes now!
Posted by: Charli | August 21, 2010 at 10:10 AM
Oh man, I never had to say either awry or askance out loud, but I thought they were wrongly pronounced the way you pointed out. Now I know better!! Other words that I think have a weird pronunciation are disheveled (I want to use a hard 'h' instead of dish)& can't remember the other one.
Now, my dear speech therapist friend, tell me, why, oh why in the world is margarine pronounced with a soft "g" in this country? Are there other words with a "g" before an "a" that have a soft sound in English? In the three other lggs I know (French, Portuguese & Spanish) g before "a" is ALWAYS hard. What's up with that? I, the rebellious one, almost refuse to say it, or say it complaining that it's an ABSURD way to pronounce the g before the a.
Posted by: Lilian | August 21, 2010 at 02:39 PM
Margarine is pronounced with a soft g because English is wacky. You're right -- makes no sense.
Any chance the missing word was misled? It always looks like "mizzled" to me. :-)
Posted by: Jamie | August 21, 2010 at 10:57 PM
My husband the physicist LOVED this and said to tell you that you've done your job as a mother. :)
And you can buy a Higgs boson here: http://www.particlezoo.net/index.html
Posted by: mary | August 22, 2010 at 06:50 PM
Ha! I always say "mizzled" (to myself) because that's the kind of thing I think is funny!
Posted by: Mary Beth | August 23, 2010 at 08:59 PM