Tricky thing the English language, practically every word one picks is an exception to the rules of phonics, not to mention the rules of grammar, spelling and a load of other rules that take up rather too much childhood time.
On the way back from seeing a friend in Holland Park we play spelling the names of her friends.
‘Me and my best friend, it’s OK.’ She says, delightedly.
Ok, to get the (what I choose to call a ) joke you need to know that her best friend’s name begins with K and hers O. Ok, even after that it’s not exactly a belter but it’s her first wordplay joke, as far as I'm aware, though maybe she puns and riddling with the teachers and minders all day every weekday.
We begin to sound out the name of another friend.
“A, m, e, l, i, a….”I enunciate in my best consonants and vowels (might as well do a bit of elocution at the same time).
“Eh?” she says.
“Yes: A, m.....- e! Clever girl!”
“U?”
‘No, e!’
“E?” I catch her eye in the mirror, she’s looking very pleased with herself.
Oh, eh! I geddit…another little wordplay. At this rate I’ll have to get her a Shakespeare red nose
t-shirt for Comic Relief.
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