How to explain what a word means. It's actually REALLY hard, isn't it?

[HecateQueenOfWitches]

If you actually try it.

If. What does if mean?

actually. What does actually mean?

Actually means really. But what does really mean? genuinely. But what does genuinely mean? actually...

How do you explain what words mean to a child when you have to use words that mean what you are trying to describe and they don't know what they mean either?

To describe a word - they have to know the word, or the concept, or another word that means the same thing, don't they?

You can teach words that name things. That's easy. Point to the sofa and say "sofa". But apart from names of things?

It just goes to show how much we take language for granted. Most children just absorb it. Having to teach it is hard!

Anyone come across any good books?

Slap for the first person to suggest thesaurus

good book is "what did you say? what do you mean?" but for slightly older ones, but still good :)

ooh, thank you. I've just looked that up now on amason. I'm going to buy it.

amazon. tsk.

The dictionary or a thesaurus. Could give you the answers that you put in to simpler language if needed.

Oh I hate this ... It hurts my brain on a regular basis.. Ds uses words in the wrong places.. And then we have to explain...

And then there is the whole world of slang..thank the Lordy for ds1

a thesurus might help give me ideas.

Oh, language is hard!

Recent explanations have included

"not my cup of tea" which he thought meant that he wasn't allowed a drink of tea.

the difference between how charming and how charming - iyswim

have a pop at it

Oooh we had hysterics when I said " that a photo of everyone toasting the bride"

you explain why toast is toast and not just toast!

I'm going to do the charming one on ds.. I'll update lol

Okay that was a bad idea!

Ds is just repeating " charming charming Chinese charming"

I said to him one is good one is not so good .. How do you know which is which.. His reply... " how do I know! Why don't you just say " that's not nice"?"

so there you go.. An answer fro a twelve year old for you :)

How about a hot dog!

Ds looked at us in horror when we suggested one for lunch recently!

In answer to the "toast" one...

Back in ye olde tymes, ordinary wine didn't taste too great (and the water was disgusting) so they would toast the cork with spices to make it taste better on special occasions.

How the f*ck do I know all this crap? Can I have babies yet please so I can think about something else? lol

Ha haaaaa that's brilliant :).. I shall explain tomorrow thank you :)

Let me know if there's any more. DP and I both have random shite like that stored for no apparent reason - he got 11 questions on University Challenge last night, scary bugger!

Sounds like fun in the pidgin house - but i will have to tell everyone i know about the 'toasting'. Thanks.

Only for that half an hour a week

I just drown it out with the sewing maching clatter lol

thst book arrived this morning - it's bloody fantastic!

You don't need a thesaurus, you need a dictionary

DS1 constantly, I mean CONSTANTLY, asks "what does xyz mean?" We give him so much information then either put an embargo on questions or direct him to his dictionary :o

Ouryve, I worked with people who need that constant explanation or reassurance. I've found that, to keep myself sane during a barrage of questions, asking "What/why do you think such-and-such happens?". Otherwise, if I had to keep answering questions like "Why do you put the lights on on the car when it's dark?" I would eat my own head with boredom! Some of the answers are highly original but, if they satisfy the craving for attention/reassurance, I figure it to be win-win :)

If can be displayed mathematically using a family tree type structure (starting with heads/tails or a light bulb on/off, progressing through dice)

Working as IT support in a school with an ASD resource, I found myself a while ago trying to explain to a very persistent enquirer why a plane's directional control was called a joystick....

does this help

We looked it up on the Internet and found the facts, but then he wanted to know why the pilots called it a joystick. I couldn't tell him that that was slang for something else that was long with a knob on the end....

But wiki says it was george stick then joy stick - nothing rude at all

My Dad worked on early radar just before and during the war - a lot of the senior Air Force guys he worked with had been early pilots - they told him the 'George stick' version was invented as the polite story....

Well you should be polite

purplepidjin - I often answer with "what/why do you think?" and sometimes I plug him into wikipedia! There are definite "not ow" moments, though when he's so busy asking questions he's not concentrating on eating or weeing or whatever else he needs to do at the time. Sometimes the questioning is purely habitual in origin and he often employs it as a stalling technique. We also find that if we don't impose limits on the questioning, he actually works himself up into a frenzy and becomes really agitated. Hence the "no more questions" replies we sometimes give.