The Median Sib

Everyone should occasionally have the opportunity to listen to a conversation between kindergarteners.  It’s rarely boring.

Today as I worked with two kindergarten boys, they started talking to each other.  Here’s a transcript:

Alex:  My name starts with the first letter!  (definite bragging tone to his voice)

Linc: But GOD has the beautifulest name.  (slight pause to let that sink in)  You’re supposed to think that. You should believe in God and Jesus.

Alex:  And God and Jesus are the same thing . . . person.

Linc: Yes they are.

Alex: And black is the goodest color.

Linc:  It’s a BOY color.

Alex: Yeah - the famousest color.

Linc: Like Elvis.  He’s famous.

Alex: Yeah - and Jack Black.  He’s famous.  (They both solemnly nod their heads in agreement)

And there you have it.  From God to Jack Black in 20 seconds.

 Thirteen words taken from someone’s name

(because I think it’s fun to find out the origins of words)

(Thanks to The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists by Fry, Kress, and Fountoukidis)

1.  boycott: named after Charles Boycott, a British army officer

2. Ferris wheel: Named after G.M. Ferris, an American engineer

3. America: Named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian merchant/explorer who came to the New World shortly after Christopher Columbus

4.  bloomers: Named after Amelia Bloomer, a pioneer and feminist who made them popular

5. macadam: Named after John Loudon McAdam, a Scottish engineer who invented the road-building material

6.  graham crackers: Named after Sylvester Graham, a vegetarian and an American reformer in dietetics

7. decibel: Named after Alexander Bell, a Scottish-American inventor of the telephone

8. volt: Named after Alessandro Volata, an Italian physicist

9. saxophone: Named after Anton Sax, a Belgian instrument maker who combined a clarinet’s reed with oboe fingering

10. sideburns: Named after Ambrose Burnside, a Civil War general and governor of Rhode Island who had thick side whiskers

11. vandal: Named after the Vandals, the Germanic tribe that sacked Rome

12. watt: Named after James Watt, a Scottish engineer and inventor

13. nicotine: Jean Nicot, a French diplomat who introduced the tobacco plant to France around 1561

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