Names and the Bad Word.

It has already been an interesting summer.
No being lazy and getting addicted to soap operas for me. OH no.
I can't be that lucky.
I am going to graduate school, driving hours to get to class every day and then reading reading reading on the hours I am not in class. Makes for a really super fun summer, let me tell you!
But I am really not complaining. I am learning a lot in my class and have had some adventures.

As part of my class, I am to tutor a child. I picked Destiny. She is darling but a struggling reader.
She is also an enigma.
I tried to get to know her the other day and she told me all about her family, some of the names are made up. I would be willing to bet you could pick out which ones.
The funny thing is, she kept trying to convince me that they were real.
Here was our exchange:

Me: Destiny, who lives in your house?
D: I have my mom, my dog, my dad, and all my brothers and sisters.
(to my knowledge there are only two brothers and no sisters)
Me: Really? What are all the brothers and sisters named?
D: well, Carlos, Michael, (those are the real ones) then there's... what's that kid's name? Oh yeah, David. Then there is Smokey and Fishy. They are my brothers too.
M: (thinking...really? when did your family turn into a mob movie?) Oh, I see. Smokey and Fishy. I have never heard of them.
D: Yeah, they are older and gone.
Me: I see. Tell me about the sisters.
D: Well, there is Queen, my mom named her that, and Horsey, my mom named her that too, and Unicorn, Pony, and Zebra. Yep. there are my sister's names.

OH MY.

But the best one came when I asked the Dog's name. I would be willing to bet that that one isn't made up.

Me: did you say you had a dog?
D: yes. It is a little brown dog that barks a lot.
Me: Really? so you don't like it?
D: I like it, but it is smelly all the time.
Me: hmmm. interesting. what is the dog's name?

D:Chingar (pronounced chingow)
Me: (shocked) uh, what did you say?
D: Chingar.
Me: Oh, I see.
D: sometimes my dad calls it poo poo.
Me: That is probably a better name for the dog.

Friends, those who aren't familiar with spanish slang, the word means Fuck.


On my way home from that meeting I called to tell my mom about the dog's name.
Ever the English teacher, decided she needed to know how to spell the word so she looked it up in her old Spanish/English dictionary and was surprised to not find it there.
We have since found the spelling and found all of the great ways in which you can insult someone with that word.

I never realized how much I would learn from this graduate class. I am sure there is more to come!