Learning New Words . . .

Last week we had dinner at Brad's mom and dad's house. A tradition in our family is to play games at the table after a meal. They are not really board games, but more along the lines of guessing games, 20 questions, etc. We decided to play the "Dictionary" game and pulled out a couple of copies of dictionaries for reference.

The instructions were to look up a word, say and spell the word and each person around the table would offer up a definition. Each round had two winners - the definition closest to the actual definition and the most creative option. The person choosing the word would pick the winners each round.

My 9-year old son flipped through the pages, plunked his finger down on the page and announced, "Trowloup." Hmmm - trowloup? Wow that is an interesting sounding word. Never heard it.

"Buddy - can you spell it for us?" I asked.

"T-r-o-l-l-o-p. Trowloup." He said proudly.

Grandma and Dad start to snicker.

"I have a definition," I said. "A fruit filled dessert. Like a tart."

Grandma just about fell off her chair she was trying so to contain her giggles.

And by the way, I won that round. But I had some explaining to do later about the words in the real definition. I was hoping to expand our kids' vocabulary but not with words like, prostitute, promiscuous, and sexual exploits. Maybe we should go back to 20 questions next time.