Geekymummy: cooties

Saturday, September 18, 2010

cooties

I've always rather liked that American term. I know, it isn't a cute word, I think it actually refers to body lice, but still, one child telling another "ew, boys have cooties" has a nicer sound to it than saying "boys have fleas", as we used to. Geekygirl doesn't seem to think that boys have any kind of bugs though. No, we have discovered that our four year old like to kiss the boys. Her teacher told me that she has been planting big smackers on the lips of her friends. When I asked her about this she told me "I kissed Will, because he is my best buddy, but he didn't like it, so I kissed Rowan. Rowan liked it."

I see trouble ahead.

I had worse news from school on Friday. Actual cooties, in the form of headlice. This was our first experience as parents of this plague though I had a few infestations as a kid myself. A stinky shampoo, much combing and an awful lot of laundry later, I think we are de-pestilenced. I can only hope that she didn't pass on the cooties to the objects of her affection.

Comments (8)

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TheMadHouse 92p · 758 weeks ago

We too had critters or nits last week - I am still itching at the thought!

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Crystal Jigsaw · 758 weeks ago

Eww, yukky things they are. I remember having nits when she was 4 and 5 and she had her hair cut as a result. We also stopped washing it every other day and started washing it just once or twice a week. Touching wood here, but she hasn't had them since and she's 10 now.

CJ xx

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iota · 758 weeks ago

Now I DON'T like the word cooties, because it's confusingly close to cuties. And saying to a child that they're a cutie is a compliment, whereas if you were to tell them that they're a cootie...

And I don't understand why cutie is pronounced c-yoo-tie (like it is in British English) whereas duty is pronounced dooty. So why isn't cutie pronounced cootie?

That's why I can't like the word cootie. Part of a whole complicated mix, in which I first confused cutie and cootie, and from which I've never quite emerged.

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exmoorjane · 758 weeks ago

Ewwwww, thank heavens those days have passed. I was totally ignorant of how common nits are nowadays and merrily ignored my son's head scratching. Consequently I ended up with them too and my head is itching now just remembering it (eight years back)!
Thank you for your comment on mine - now I just couldn't get on with The Children's Book. I very rarely give up on books entirely but the headshifting did my head in (maybe a case of literary nits) :) Maybe I shall try again as you loved it so much..

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hollishobby 4p · 758 weeks ago

Ewww I remember having nits and finding it strangely satisfying when my mother used that tiny toothed comb to brush out the eggs. What a freak I am. I wait with apprehension for our first experience...

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Pants With Names · 758 weeks ago

So far, touch wood, we've escaped the cootie infestation. It'll come in time though.

As for the kissing, I remember playing kiss chase every break time in my primary school. It was so ingrained that when I went to a single sex secondary school aged 11 I did rather wonder what games we were going to play. The teachers had been banning it for years but they were never successful. Wonder if they have been since?

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Expat Mum · 758 weeks ago

I said "cooties" the other day and my 7 year old was in hysterics. Apparently pronouncing the "t" in the middle is hilarious. (They all say it as if it's a "d".)