definitions: crocalator / ballei

double-definition tuesday:

crocalator - noun, a toothy amphibian that lives in places like Florida and that we don't touch because "it bite you!"

edited: K&L's grandmama suggests that a crocalator may in fact be a reptile rather than an amphibian. She probably knows, given that she lives in AL, closer to any crocalators than we do.

usage:

me: Look at this.
K: What!?
me: K, you shouldn't just yell 'What!" like that. You could say 'What did you say Daddy?'
K: What!?
L: What that, Daddy?
me (holding out the newspaper for L to see): Can you see it?
L: A crocalator! It a crocalator!
me: Uh... (deciding it makes as much sense as anything)... yeah. I guess it is.
K (being a big sister): It's a alligator, L.
me: More or less.
L: We don't touch that. It bite! Crocalator bite you!
me: Right. We don't touch it. We don't touch any wild animals.
K: Yeah.
L: Yeah!

ballei - noun, a garland placed around someone's neck. Originally of flowers or feathers, the cheaper ones now come in plastic. The best are made from plumerias picked in your own yard!

usage:

L: Look Daddy!
me: What's that L?
L: It K'th ballei.
me (looking at the white plastic lei she's holding and wishing we lived in Hawaii with our own plumeria tree so these girls knew what a lei really meant): Oh.
L: You want to thmell it, Daddy?
me: Sure. (leaning to smell the plastic)
L: It thmell good!
me: You think?
L: Yeah. It thmell good. It K'th ballei.
me (thinking): Oh how I love you, and oh how you don't have a clue!

Note: Listening to "Brown Gabby" and that only contributes to my homesickness....

see also: ballady -- a dancer who wears a tutu and dances on her toes. (M's childhood word.)