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发帖数: 25759 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 MiddleSchool 讨论区 】
发信人: NWWolf (西北の狼), 信区: MiddleSchool
标 题: Whassat?
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Mon Oct 11 02:54:05 2010, 美东)
"Whassat?" (Translation: "What's that?")
An innocent enough question, wouldn't you say? I mean, what
could be easier to handle than a wide-eyed little munchkin
pointing at a strange animal covered with black and white stripes
on the TV screen and asking: "Whatssat"? Right?
Well, if you happen to be dealing with one particular angel-faced
munchkin who resides in my household, things may not be that
simple. Now, in case you'll ever be confronted with her unique
brand of "whassat," please let this veteran daughterologist share
with you some hard-learned lessons resulting from two and a
half years of diligent studies.
The very first thing you need to do upon hearing that question,
mind you, is to focus your attention on the index finger of her
right hand. If that finger is sticking out and lined up with an
object, congratulate yourself. The question is a piece of cake
in that context, and all you need to do is to provide the correct
name for that object. Even if you have no idea what that object
is called, you can always get away by telling her that it is, in fact,
a gabligoodock of the blabbovaslope variety. That will buy you
enough time to seek the necessary help from Google and
Wikipedia, because she will not be able to remember those long,
scientific-sounding words, and will inevitably have to ask you
again the next time she sees the same object.
If, on the other hand, that index finger is not on prominent display,
sorry, you are in for some real intellectual challenge, because that
means she is referring not to something she sees but to something
she hears, or heard a little while ago. That, of course, is much more
difficult to figure out, and the subsequent conversation usually
evolves into a series of trials and errors:
"You mean the 'meow' sound?"
"Whassat?" With her, incorrect answers simply get ignored.
"You mean the 'bzzzz' sound?"
"Whassat?!" She usually gets a little impatient if she has to repeat
the question for a third time. Who can blame her?
"Your brother groaning when he got killed in the video game?"
"WHASSAT?!?!?!"
"An airplane passing overhead?"
"Yay! An airplane!"
Oh, did I mention that, when she asks the question in that context
these days, nine times out of ten she knows exactly what the
answer is supposed to be?
Unfortunately, there are occasions when that same question gets
even more taxing on your intelligence and/or imagination, and
when that happens, I can only wish you luck. For example, about
an hour ago, right before she went to bed, my daughter put her
favorite little blanket on her shoulders, stuck out both arms, and
asked, quite innocently: "Whassat?"
It took me several minutes and more than 20 tries, but I finally
succeeded in getting the correct answer out of her: "I'm a butterfly!"
Of course, indeed…who wouldn't know that? |
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