The Owl and the Pussy-cat: Are you Dad Awkward too?

What’s dad awkward?

I was flipping to random stories and nursery rhymes in a new book my two-year-old got from her Gramma, and reading whatever was on the page to her. Mostly, it would be something familiar. Mostly.

This page opened and I started reading:

IMG_0400

Apparently, it’s a well known poem by Edward Lear from 1871 that he wrote for his buddy’s three-year-old daughter about the marriage of an owl and a cat. I somehow missed it. It actually caught me a little off guard.

I had to stop at the third “Pussy.” I started laughing and got a little uncomfortable. I think I even mumbled, “Okay, that’s enough.” And my daughter asked, “What’s wrong?” which is her favorite question. I told her, “Nothing,” because I didn’t want to try explaining to a two-year-old what “immature” and “idiot” mean.

But, whatever, we as society haven’t shortened “pussy-cat” to “pussy” in decades. It means something else. It just does. And only weirdos say “pussy-cat.”

That’s dad awkward.

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this:
search previous next tag category expand menu location phone mail time cart zoom edit close