andamu

Usually, if you need to explain the joke, it ceases to be funny.
However, not being there, not necessarily speaking all the languages involved, not being intimately familiar with our interactions and setup, most anecdotes require setting the scene before getting to the actual story, so here we go.

My precious one does not speak Afrikaans; repeat a word a few times in conversation in his presence (which one tends to do with a four year old in the picture) and he picks up on it and asks for the translation. In fact he can make a pretty good stab at translating some of the simple common sentences we throw about the house.

Also, while Nini and I have areas of convergence, as sisters will, there are also areas of radical divergence, as will become clear later.

In the mornings, while Nini is downstairs making tea and cereal, Angel Face snuggles in our bed, and then I dress her and brush her hair before plaiting it or tying it in a pony tail. Yes, she can (and mostly does) dress herself, but this has become a ritual, a way for me to spend a little bit of special time with her because by the time I usually get home we hardly have time for dinner before she needs to go to bed.

We had a discussion this morning around the way she is growing and the fact that her jeans are getting too small. Trousers in Afrikaans is "broek," pronounced much the same as brook, or Brooke...

So, there is mpo sitting up in bed, repeating idly "broek, broek, broek..." when suddenly he breaks off and asks me "Is André Agassi still married to Brooke Shields?"

Me: "Huh?"
MPO: "Oh, I forgot." Turns to the door and calls, "Nini!"
Nini: "Yes, bhawa garu?"
MPO: "Is Agassi still married to Brooke Shields?"
Nini: "No, not for a long time. He's now married to Steffi Graf."
MPO: "Wasn't she married to Boris Becker?"
Nini: "No-o-o. I don't think they were ever an item."
Etcetera...

One thing to be said for this exchange is that my precious one is surviving in this overwhelmingly female household and have us and our interests/specialties pretty much figured out.