Need a bit of help here.
So Jonah’s “phrase” for someone he doesn’t know is “somebody else.”
So, like if another little boy is at the beach and ruining his sand castle, he will yell “‘Somebody else! STOP IT!”
“If he’s playing Roblox and another player is ‘getting’ him, he yells “SOMEBODY ELSE! GO AWAY!”
I mean, it makes perfect sense to him. It makes sense to me if I actually think about it…
“Who’s that?”
“Oh, that’s not anyone we know… it’s… ‘somebody else.’ “
“That’s not Mama, or Daddy, or Bubba… It’s ‘SOMEBODY ELSE…”
Makes sense, right?
But it doesn’t vernacularly SOUND right.
It’s like when Jonny was younger, he would refer to “yesterday morning” as “last morning,” the same way you would refer to “last night.”
It makes sense right? That sounds “right.”
But it’s NOT.
English is crazy.
So I’m trying to think of a good phrase to teach Jonah to address people he doesn’t know.
I’ve come up empty. This phrase has to encompass ALL people he may not know. “Sir/Ma’am” doesn’t sound right when addressing say, a peer, or another child.
What do you think?
I’m seriously considering just teaching him “dude.”
“Dude! Stop it!”
“Hey! Dude!”
(Now I’m picturing Jonah running around talking like “Crush” from Finding Nemo. )