The other day I read a book to Baylor that was new to me. But Not the Hippopotamus is now one of my very favorite children’s stories. However, I am puzzled as to why the author chose to begin the story in this way:
A hog and a frog cavort in the bog. But not the hippopotamus.
Cavort?! Since when is that a kid word?* Not that I’m opposing the use of it by toddlers around the world — it just strikes me as odd. How about:
- A hog and a frog play in the bog.
- A hog and a frog dance in the bog.
- A hog and a frog do a jig in the bog.
But cavort?! We might as well have said:
- A hog and a frog gambol in the bog.
- A hog and a frog carry on with their merrymaking antics in the bog.
- A hog and a frog calculate and pay their federal income taxes in the bog.
Listen, I’ve got nothing against the book — I think it’s great. Sandra Boynton is a brilliant writer. There’s even an awesome plot twist at the end. A surprise ending in a baby book… the woman’s a genius.
But when I want my daughter learning words like cavort,** I’ll sign her up to take the GRE.
* Not that “hippopotamus” is the easiest word in the world…
** But I also have to wonder how often I choose fancy, religious words when a simpler one would do just fine.
c’mon, brett…how could you be so oblivious? granted, you got yourself on “freshly pressed” (no small accomplishment to be sure!) and i loved your 100 words essay, but it’s plain that you’ve missed it on this one…
hogs and frogs don’t pay federal income taxes. sheesh!
how do i get in that tax bracket?
Perhaps she was going for more of a lyrical tone, as much as content. If so, we can give it a pass as a poetic line. You do still get to read it the way you would prefer it was written–at least until Baylor starts reading (may come earlier than you would imagine). But if you are going to edit it, you better do it quickly and consistently because stories have a way of sticking in those little brains early.
i’m happy to read it as “cavort.” i think it’ll be nice to hear baylor use words that are way too big for her. it’s always cute when little kids do that.
I am more focused on the ** at the end. So often pastors/teachers/whomever try to show their religious knack by trying to impress others. I mean, how many non-religious people understand justification and sanctification and inerrancy, et al? True, they are in the Bible but I think we need to bring it down to earth so people can understand what in the world we are talking about. Me? I don’t know any high-falootin’ words…like cavort and the and it. Point well-taken Brett.
spoken like a pastor who knows how to speak to his flock in words they understand. i’m sure they’re blessed to have you, bill.
haha, I read this book to the baby I nanny for and I always feel like I should re-explain what cavort means each and every time I read her the book! I, too, love Sandra Boynton.
you should institute a “cavort time” with the kid. like every afternoon from 4 – 4:15, you could cavort together. you may even be able to make a bog in the backyard with a water hose…
i know i’m going to.
Eh, that’s great vocabulary-building for any language. Throw in one new, odd word among other more familiar ones. Even in our native language, if we understand 90% of what we hear, that is nativelike competency. We can fill in the other 10% using common sense. Like here: I assume there’s a picture of a hog and a frog mucking about on the log. You could say “A hog and a frog ____ on a log,” and, because it’s contextualized, the meaning would be perfectly understood. Replacing the blank with ‘cavort’ does not make it less intelligible.
**Which is one reason why I am not opposed to the occasional use of specialized ‘religious’ vocabulary within context. People use the context to get the meaning, and their knowledge is expanded at the same time.
good ideas, james. neither am i opposed to religious vocabulary. provided we know how to explain those ideas in regular language as well.
Cavort: to behave in a high-spirited, festive manner.
Sounds like a good word for your daughter to understand. I picture a horse prancing around in a meadow or field, enjoying his freedom on a spring day.
As always, enjoy your posts.
thanks, steve. baylor definitely should know the word. and i hope she dances.
Ooooh, that was hilarious. I absolutely love Boynton. My favorite is “Your Personal Penguin” although “Let’s Dance Little Pookie” had me cracking up in the bookstore. Do you have either of those?
we don’t have either of those. we only have the hippo and ‘barnyard dance’ (or something like that)… but on furlough i may try to find more.
Same reason Paul Simon chose Joe Dimaggio instead of Mickey Mantle for the lyrics of Mrs. Robinson:
“Syllables, man, syllables…”
larry, syllables may be important there, but i know lots of two-syllable words other than cavort. the english language is full of them. brimming i could say. or crowded. bursting. chock-full.
True. She could just as easily have said “chew gum”. I bet you they’re just as likely to be chewing gum as they are to be cavorting. I see your point now.
the line used to be “a hog and a frog do a dance in the bog” – at least, that’s what it said circa 2001, about a year after my first kid was born. Our books were so worn out that we bought them again last year, and now all of a sudden it says “cavort” (!). I just googled the line and found this page.
Funny you picked that word out – because it was not even in the original book. I’m curious why it was changed.