"Could you please use that in a sentence?"
My father is very uptight. Even now, if we're watching a movie with excessive foul language and even a minor "adult" situation, he will squirm in his seat or make up an excuse to leave the room. It's obvious that it makes him feel very awkward. And in turn, everyone else feels awkward as well.
My mother, on the other hand, is a realist. She's not one to skirt any issue no matter how potentially uncomfortable. She's not crass. She's just one to call a spade a spade. Or in this case, a penis a penis.
She once recounted a story to me about when my oldest brother was 2 or 3. Like any normal and curious little boy, he was becoming more aware of his anatomy. So when he asked my mother what "it" was, she told him matter-of-factly, "That's your penis." My dad was absolutely beside himself with embarrassment. He said to my mother, "Why can't you just call it his pee-pee or his winky or something like that instead?"
But that just isn't her style. She doesn't believe in making up "baby" names for things like that. In her opinion, doing so attaches a stigma that it's somehow funny or weird or embarrassing, when it's actually completely normal and natural.
So what about you, parents? Do you make up "baby" names, or are you more into the medical terminology?
Photo by Flickr member Swami Stream, used under a Creative Commons License.
