Help me work out why my 3yo is saying 'silly wanker'

[firstpregnancy1]

My son is 3.5yo. He has just started randomly saying 'wanker' 'silly wanker' and what sometimes sounds like 'you're a wanker'.

I am not naive enough to rule out him having perhaps heard this language and copying it but it seems like he's actually trying to say something else as his speech isn't the clearest for age 3.5

I'm 100% confident he's not heard it at home as we genuinely just don't use that word but he does go to nursery and is around other kids at parks etc.

At first it sounded like he was saying 'one car' and it still does sound like one car more than wanker but when I tried to ask him if he was saying one car he said no.

I asked him a few times who says that as he's usually quite good at telling tales about kids who hit or are naughty at nursery but he just said 'I say it' , until today he said 'Randall says it' . He's just got into watching monsters inc and monsters university and I know lots of films try to do silly play on words to appeal to adult audiences which usually goes over little kids heads, and so I'm considering if he's heard Randall saying something similar and am asking for help trying to hopefully work out what!

As I said, it may well be he's just heard the word somewhere, but it's bugging me thinking he's trying to say something else and I can't work out what!

Thanks in advance

Had he just watched Sunack's interview?

😂 no.. I should add he isn't saying it to someone either, not using it contextually, just randomly saying the words whilst going about his business. He doesn't seem to know or think it's a bad word or trying to use it as an insult or to be mean

Nothing helpful, but my daughter was adamant for a while that ducks say 'fuck'!

Maybe try watching monsters inc with him so he can point it out?

Sounds like he's heard a lot of stuff from his car seat 😁

😂 ducks saying fuck, brilliant.
Thanks yeah I had considered this but weighing it up against making more of an issue of it/drawing more attention to it if he'd likely otherwise just forget about it!

Wazowski? The blue monster is called Sully so that could be ‘silly’.

I would be the first to assume this too and I'm sure plenty of parents would say 'he hasn't heard it at home' but genuinely it's not a word we use.

A bunch of kids at my daughter’s nursery have seen the Wonka movie with older siblings and now spend a lot of time calling each other mangled versions of Wonka, Willy Wonka etc… could it be that?

Willy wonka?

Oh is he not trying to say Wazowski but can't get his tongue around it so using the closest sounds he can?

No he can say wazowski. I just asked him again and he's adamant Randall says it. In monsters inc not monsters university.
Maybe ranker not wanker? I'm going to have to watch it all

id be tempted to reply “who’s a silly boy?”

if he agrees, moves on, repeats silly wanker he’s probably picked it up from nursery

if he says “no! silly wanker!” then it probably isn’t silly boy that he means - it’s probably an alternative phrase you’ll never guess!

my daughter about 2 and a half, and she came out of the womb talking! and myself, my then husband and her were in the car, her in the back in her car seat.. hubby driving and me as passenger..

she suddenly shouts 'look daddy, theres a wanker!' i turned in disbelief and asked her what she meant, and she pointed to a bloke on a pedal cycle just infront of us.

i asked her why she would call him that and pointed out that it wasn't a nice thing to say and her reply was.... well daddy say's it all the time!!!

case solved... your child has heard to somewhere..

we had another occasion where we were at the grandparents for sunday lunch and she her grandma say something, and she asked.. grandma did you just say 'fuck it'? grandma and grandpa were vicars.. grandma was shocked and said no i would never use a word like that... my daughters reply; well daddy does!!!

Yeah I'm sure he probably is, I'm just trying to figure out if he is mispronouncing something.

If I can figure it out I can correct him and teach him how to correctly say what he's trying to say rather than confuse him by telling him not to say it.
Equally if it is 'wanker' he's heard then I would know to correct him to not say it

Have you tried asking him to show you?

From.memory they also use the term scare floor a lot so maybe he is combining a couple of sounds and it's getting lost in translation.

Case very much not solved. OP's DD hasn't been around your DH. Anyway now I'm invested and want to know where her DD heard it exactly

Entirely possible. He's not seen willy wonka at home but entirely possible kids at nursery

Yeah this is my thoughts, I tried that when I thought he was saying one car. I tried saying one car two car three car etc but he said no

i didnt mean their DD was the offender... i meant, they will have heard it from someone somewhere

I'm really not trying to be all 'perfect parent' I'm just very very sure he's not heard it from me or his dad as it's just generally not the sort of thing we say.

We're rewatching it right now while the baby naps so I shall hope something gets pointed out

Randall sometimes calls Sully 'Sullivan', sneeringly. Maybe he's mishearing that?

Scream extractor?