Feeling Foolish....Been There......Done That.

So, this is how it went down......we were eating appetizers at 75th Brewery watching the St. Louis Cardinals playing in post season.  Ron and I had ordered and were waiting on David, Erica and Violet....how nice to be able to write David, Erica, AND Violet.

I had thought about ordering what I thought Erica would want ahead of time.....big mother-in-law points......but I wasn't sure about how to pronounce the item.  I didn't mind being foolish in front of the kids but didn't want to risk it with an unknown.

After she sat down, I asked the big question,"Did you want humus (pronouncing it with a long u phonetically)?" at which she politely smiled and David laughed.

"Mom, it's humus (pronouncing the u as a schwa)."  Now, I don't mind being teased as I rightly deserve it most of the time.

I am known for calling the restaurants by the wrong name.....there is an entire list that we often go through when we need to chuckle or try to figure out where in the world I am wanting to go.

But today, I wanted to say it right....after all it is one of those new foods that has swept the nation in popularity among the young isn't it....or is that French Fries....I have no trouble at all with that food.

And so, in my mind, I tried to figure out was it with a long u, or a schwa.......u like humid, or u like hummingbird.....then I began recalling all those lovely phonetic rules we lived by or died by when we were young.....

"When you divide a word, and the first syllable ends in a vowel, it is long (paraphrase)......thus hu-mid with a long u.

So, I thought that I had my answer........and I asked her the big question, wrong.

Later, I began to think about how many of the phonetic rules are broken in the English language......"i before e except for after c"....that one we at least know about ahead of time.....most of them we don't until we stumble orally in front of someone that matters to us.

It is no wonder that those who truly struggle with reading, eventually give up and don't try to anymore. Who wants to play when you don't know the rules....or worse yet, you are given the rules but they don't always apply.  How fair is that????

But get those test scores up at school.....a little cynical. You bet.