Huh

(above: our very own Carmel-by-the-Sea Firetruck)

One thing I have discovered lately is that my own English is quite poor sometimes. The reason I've discovered this is that Tommy is copying what I am saying... and it sounds bad. The latest thing he's saying is "huh" all the time - usually at the end of a sentence or phrase. Dave was the first to really notice him doing this and now it's all I hear from him. But I think I've figured out where this is coming from. Until recently, my conversations with Tommy have been very one sided, with me doing all the talking and Tommy doing all the listening. So to include him in the conversation, I've added "huh?" to the end of the sentence which gives him an opportunity to say, "yeah!" which he's been saying for almost a year. So here's an example: "Look at the fire truck, Tommy. It sure is loud, huh?" And Tommy replies, "Yeah!"

And now our conversations go like this:

Tommy: "Big book, huh?"
Me: "That IS a big book, huh?"
Tommy: "Yeah!"

or

Tommy: "Food goes way way down there, huh?" (pointing to his stomach)
Me: "It sure does."
Tommy: "Yummy in my tummy, huh?"

then of course there are the more noticeable huhs like:

Me: "I love you!"
Tommy: "Love you, huh!"

or

"Spoon! Want it! Huh!"

Because the huh is standing out to me so much but I can't break the habit of looking for his concurring agreement during conversation, I unconsciously started saying "Isn't is?" at the end of my sentences the last few days. I actually think this will be worse than huh. I can already hear him saying, "Idn-it..?...."

Pretty poor English, huh?