Mr. Vocab

I was helping the boys with valentine construction the other night and Eli was talking talking talking away. Theo and I were dismissing him, occasionally slinging over an "Ok, Bob's wife." (Have you seen Open Season? Eli often channels Bob's wife.) And then a word caught my ear. "What did you just say Eli?" "Oh, that I think some of the kids in my class have a rather Philistine-y sense of humor." "Philistine-y????" "Yea...you know they laugh really hard at things like someone bumping their head, or falling on the ice." He went on to give more examples of what would be included under the new adjective philistine-y. I had quit listening however because I was trying to wrap my head around the fact that Eli seemed to have a better grasp of using bibilically-tinged insults than, well, me. In fact I was forced to sneak upstairs and look up the word Philistine. I had a feeling he was indeed on the right track, but when I read the definition- a person smugly conventional, narrow, lacking culture- I thought that he had nailed it. That kid has always had a penchant for using not just any word, but one that illuminates his message perfectly. I have fear of what words are going to be used to describe me as soon as the moon of good favor that I currently am enjoying wanes in Eli's eyes.

And here's a secret I better keep from Eli. I did chuckle a little when I heard about the boys and the tongues and the flagpole. Of course I didn't laugh until I found out the boys were essentially ok, and I did wait until I was turned away from Eli. But it did cause a little philistine-y smile.