Vocabulary Lessons

Thanks to a long-lived obsession with "Tintin," my nearly-six-year-old has added many new words to his imaginative play.  Great words.  Like "opium," and "chloroform."

Yesterday, he called me a hoodlum.  Today he said that the public toilet had "an unbearable stench."  (I credit William Steig with that one.)  My boy has always been a fan of outrageous exclamations.  I can't wait to introduce him to this little sweetheart:

                                                                                  (he's Mr. O'Malley from Barnaby by Crockett Johnson)

According to the Crockett Johnson homepage:

Pronounce it "Kush lah m' kree" That's "Kush" as in "push," "lah" like the "la" in "umbrella," and "m' kree" as if it were written "McKree" or "Muh Kree," in which "Kree" rhymes with "tree." The primary accent falls on the first syllable ("Kush"), and the secondary accent falls on the last syllable ("Kree").