I am ROTFL tonight

[fuddleduddledee]

I think I have finally lost my mind. This wonder child of mine picks a new and different phrase or word to say and then he's stuck with the word for phrase for a very long time. There have been a range of words and he will just out of the blue for no reason whatsoever blurt out the word or phrase wherever or whenever he sees fit. Last year it was "Barney's on fire", drove everyone crazy, year before "Smoke Pot", he'd write it on schoolwork, blurt it out in class, say it in the grocery store, kind of like a tic. This year's word is "LEG", yes "Leg". There is a bit of history behind the word "leg" but now it's just a word he will blurt out. I was discussing a new bus issue from this morning with his teacher and one of us mentioned the word "leg" in the conversation. Then the teacher said to me, Mr. Science Teacher said he was mad at difficult child today. All I could think of was UH OH, here we go. Well, then she goes on to say that Mr. Science Teacher was mad at difficult child because when he was out mowing his lawn this weekend, out of the blue, this teacher blurts out at the top of his lungs "LEGS". Well... I could not contain myself I just started belly laughing on the phone, and his teacher in turn starts belly laughing...so, I've concluded that difficult child has driven us both over the edge. Then, out of the blue he said it this evening and I just couldn't help myself I was ROTFL again.

I am curious does anyone else have a child that just out of blue picks a word or phrase and repeats it out of the blue like this??

 

[tryinghard]

My difficult child doesn't but I got a great chuckle out of your story...and I needed a good chuckle today!

 

[KTMom91]

Miss KT keeps telling me she's a hot Babylonian...

 

[TerryJ2]

Not at the moment. Cute story though!

 

[Marguerite]

It sounds very similar to the way certain noises or sounds become a habit then a tic, especially with difficult child 1. He likes to imitate various sounds etc. For him, it seems connected to not only being able to recite slabs of soundtrack from a movie, song or comedy routine, but also to be able to sound exactly like the original - accent, sound effects, everything.
I remember difficult child 1 being fascinated with the meerkats exhibit when we went to the Sydney Taronga Zoo when he was little. That evening he was describing the meerkats to a friend and I watched him imitate the body language of a meerkat - impressive and so skilled we had to laugh.
When he was working at the zoo nearby he would listen and observe the animals and birds while he was working around them. I remember when he managed to acquire a good imitation of a male emu's call - it's a challenging sound, not loud but intriguing. The trouble was, once he had mastered it he couldn't stop. he doesn't do it so much now, but he would end up annoying HIMSELF with his emu call.

The plus side - when auditioning for "The Black Balloon" he was asked what animal or bird he could portray and he immediately chose a Rainbow Lorikeet and began an extremely good impression of one of these birds getting aggressive with a much larger parrot. He got the part, on the spot.

I do think the word thing is similar - difficult child 1 picks this up while exploring a sound or practising it. It takes VERY LITTLE exposure to develop a very strong habit (and I think the rapid rate of habit-formation is very much part of his Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)).

I've also known workmates to do something similar - a word or a phrase will become the "in" phrase, and it gets used non-stop, often by one particular person.

Marg

 

[trinityroyal]

Repetitive speech and echolalia are pretty common in people on the autism spectrum.
difficult child and Little easy child have been known to get stuck on a word, phrase or even a random noise for weeks or even months at a time.

Recent ones have been:
difficult child (Baa-Boh!)
Little easy child (Hello Mr. Pop!)

With me, it's usually snippets of songs. I have learned over the years to hum them under my breath rather than singing them at full voice, but you can usually hear me muttering to myself and if you listen clearly, you'll hear whatever song is on my mental tape loop.

I used to work with a woman who was obsessed with the word "rebar" (as in the metal rods used to reinforce concrete). She would say it over and over and over. Between her rebar and my singing, no one wanted to work near us for a while there.

Trinity

 

[cabletvl]

My 13 year old has been saying "What the Heck" for about 2 months which is an improvement over the high pitched sound he was making before that.

 

[trinityroyal]

Today, I am obsessed with the theme song from the game show The Price is Right. The old one from the 1970's with Bob Barker in his prime, not the newer jazzed up one.
Thankfully I'm working at home today so I'm not annoying my co-workers with this. However, husband has retreated to the back yard to avoid my yowling. (The ones with no words are the worst)

After hearing that all day, a bit of "Legs" or "What the Heck" would be a welcome relief.

Trinity