Dr. Metablog

Dr. Metablog is the nom de blague of Vivian de St. Vrain, the pen name of a resident of the mountain west who writes about language, books, politics, or whatever else comes to mind. Under the name Otto Onions (Oh NIGH uns), Vivian de St. Vrain is the author of “The Big Book of False Etymologies” (Oxford, 1978) and, writing as Amber Feldhammer, is editor of the classic anthology of confessional poetry, “My Underwear” (Virago, 1997).

Lola’s Language at Eighteen Months

Her language consists mostly of nouns: "baby" — both herself and her beloved doll; "wawa" (water);  "mommy";  "daddy"; "ayi" (Chinese for aunt);  "didi" (Chinese jiějie, older sister); "paopao" (Chinese, grandmother); "pock" (pocket); "book"; "ball": "eye"; "nose" etc.  Her words are occasionally less specified than they will soon become; for example, "duck" seems to mean "bird." At the zoo, she identified an emu as a duck. Similarly, "gogo" (Chinese for dog), means mammal, even including the zoo's llama. "Up" can mean either up or down; it seems to signify a change of position. "No" occasionallly means "yes"; she seems to conceive it as a response to a question. There is, however, no ambiguity to her very definitive "mine."

When she slid down the slide in the park, her audience exclaimed "whee."  Lola responded, "I do whee," understanding "whee" to be the name of the action rather than an exclamation of pleasure. 

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