On our car ride last Sunday, Jane regaled us with stories of she and her old housemate, Chesty, trying to one-up each other with surprise scare tactics (he won: she ended up naked in a fetal position on the floor when he surprised her just after a shower. That uncomfortable moment effectively ended the contest). Jane offhandedly commented that he had scared the crap out of her.
Lily, ever listening, picked up on the turn of phrase and asked in her innocent-sounding six-year-old voice, "Mom, has anyone ever scared the crap out of you?"
"Yes, but Lily, 'crap' is not a nice word, and even though Jane and I just said it, we really shouldn't have."
Lily wondered why it wasn't a nice word, and I explained that it meant poop, and that if a person gets really really scared, they can poop in their pants. Lily was impressed.
The next morning, on the way to camp, Lily turned to Molly in the back seat of the car and said, gleefully, "Molly, I'm going to scare the crap out of you today!"
"Lily, you're not supposed to use that word, remember?"
"I know, Mommy, but now that I know what it means (giggle) I just want to say it all the time! I love scaring the crap out of people!"
I tried to think of alternatives such as "scared the piss out of me" or "scared the pants off me" or "scared me to death" but after the literal explanation of the crap version, none seemed appropriate.
Lily helpfully suggested: "How about if I say "scared the crabs out of me?" That one gave me a nice visual.
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2 comments:
I just made a room full of Chicagoans laugh by reading this post to them. Thanks.
I love Chicagoans.
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