The Musical Version

I tend to adopt bastardized or altered forms of words or phrases when they please me, for whatever reason. In my years immediately after high school, I worked with a gentleman who substituted the word “squirrel” for “girl.” Before long, he and I started singing “go away, little squirrel.” That has stuck with me to this day.

Another one that stuck is a new way to pronounce “binoculars.” This one came from a little kid who had his own version: “by-nock-lee-urs.” Well, that's now permanently with me, too.

Desiree often uses the phrase “blah, blah, blah,” but she says it in this fashion: “ba-la, ba-la, ba-la.” A sort of musical version. I like it!

—Mitchell Hegman