Home » Articles » Acronyms

Acronyms

Kids are fond of secret languages and weird ways to say things that stubbornly avoid actually saying what they mean. SmallFry’s latest kick is acronyms. He no longer speaks in words but in strings of unrelated and often undecodable letters.

Now, I am no stranger to acronyms having worked in a career that dealt with the EPA, DOT and OSHA on a daily basis. The government is riddled with acronyms which is why no one ever knows what exactly knows what they are doing. Don’t believe me – have you noticed that the 17 Billion dollar (or whatever outrageous sum they finally decided on) bail out plan in no longer called the bailout plan but the TART fund. Sounds like something to pay for the senators extracurricular activities to me. The internet is filled with acronyms. Knitters use acronyms too. EZ = Elizabeth Zimmerman; FLS = February Lady Sweater; CPH = Central Park Hoodie. But I digress.

The problem arises when I attempt to communicate with my children. When I ask the kids what movie they want to watch, Small Fry can no longer say Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but instead says CATCF; Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Back becomes SWTESB. He has gotten especially creative when asking for lunch. He will hand me a note that says “For lunch, I want CNSWPBJ” – which translated means chicken noodle soup with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sometimes gets quite inventive with his lunch choices particularly the sandwich choices. He likes to combine odd things. For example, PBM would be peanut butter with marshmallow, TWCOL means turkey with cheese, olives and lettuce. I get quite a mental work out trying to decode his lunch requests. So last week, I decided to fully embrace his acronym lunches (and give him a dose of his own medicine at the same time) and I served him PBRMPCC. SmallFry couldn’t guess that one. You probably can’t guess what I served him either.

So how about a contest. I will give a free download for two of my designs (the Raindrops on Roses bath set and my latest and soon to be published sock) to the person who correctly guesses what I served SmallFry for lunch. If there is more than one correct answer, I will have SmallFry draw a name out of a hat. If no one gets the correct answer, I will choose a winner with a random number generator or have SmallFry draw a name out of a hat.

I will tell you that he ate what I served him (only after peaking inside to make sure it wasn’t toxic)and he lived to tell about it, so everything on his sandwich was entirely edible. Have fun decoding.

12 comments

  1. knitandputt says:

    I’m putting my name in the ring for kicks, can’t make that one out, but I hope to win the rose set. thanks for the contest.

  2. knitandputt says:

    I’m putting my name in the ring for kicks, can’t make that one out, but I hope to win the rose set. thanks for the contest.

  3. kadezmom says:

    Okay, I have spend 15/20 minutes on this. Woman, I love this and I am NOT going to come up with it.

    However, I will gander a bad guess

    Peanut butter, raisins, marshmallow, peanuts, and cream cheese

  4. kadezmom says:

    Okay, I have spend 15/20 minutes on this. Woman, I love this and I am NOT going to come up with it.

    However, I will gander a bad guess

    Peanut butter, raisins, marshmallow, peanuts, and cream cheese

  5. Cavallon on the Creek says:

    Think the best I can come up with is peanut butter with roasted marshmallows and peanut chocolate chip, or something with potato chips

  6. Cavallon on the Creek says:

    Think the best I can come up with is peanut butter with roasted marshmallows and peanut chocolate chip, or something with potato chips

Comments are closed.