{Bringing Up Boogie} Grammar Police
by Denene Millner — Feb 27, 2011
By Bassey Ikpi
- Boogie: Oh, mommy! Today I saw some gooses…
- Me: Geese
- Boogie: What’s a geese?
- Me: Geese is plural for goose.
- Boogie: What’s a plural?
- Me: It means more than one. Just one is singular. So one goose. Several geese.
- Boogie: *blank stare*
- Boogie: I’m 4 years old and I was just trying to tell you a story!
- *walks away shaking his head*
- Boogie: Grandpa! I have a story to tell you about Gooses!
Bassey Ikpi is a Nigeria-born, Oklahoma-bred, PG County-fed, Brooklyn-led writer/poet/neurotic who is also the single mother of an amazing man-child, Elaiwe Ikpi, a.k.a., Boogie. A strong advocate of mental health awareness, Bassey is writing a memoir about living with mental illness and producing Basseyworld Live, a stage show that infuses poetry and interactive panel discussions about everything from politics to pop culture. Find more Bassey on her site, Bassey's World.
Denene Millner
Mom. NY Times bestselling author. Pop culture ninja. Unapologetic lover of shoes, bacon and babies. Nice with the verbs. Founder of the top black parenting website, MyBrownBaby.
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Too cute!
THIS is my life! Its a conversation I have with my daughter regularly!
Ha ha ha ha ha! I remember these days with my boys……
HAHAHA!!!! That sounds like several conversations that my son and I have throughout the day.
lol! this reminds of THE MOST WONDERFUL memories I have of my great grandmother correcting me at that age. I couldn’t tell a story about me and my friend, without having to back up and correct it to my friend and I. My sentiments were the same as “Boogie’s”…I’m only 4 and I was just trying to tell you a story…..now I miss her dearly and thank her as I am often complimented on my “diction”. I do the same to my kids….as she used to say “You WILL speak the “king’s english”! :o)
Thanks to my mom, whenever anyone ends a question with “at” I have to sometimes fight the urge to say “around the corner on preposiotion street”
I got popped in the mouth whenever i tired to talk like the neighborhood kids and a “You will not talk like everyone else. You will speak good English.”
But i do now speak ‘good’ English. Thanks Mommy (now without the sarcasm)
excuse the typos LOL
This is too cute. I love it!
My little man turns 3 next month and I can’t wait to have these convos. At 18 months, he was walking around here talking about, “Oh gawd.” LOL