A Toboggan . . . or A Toboggan

I do a screening with Kindergartners to see how their speech-language skills are developing. There's this part where I have to get them to say certain words in order to hear how they produce the sounds.

HAT, HAT, all I want them to do is say HAT. My prompt, "When it's cold outside you wear a coat, gloves, and a _ _ _." I say this as I am pointing to my head.

Kid #1 response, "A toboggan." Oh poor kid. He only understood the cold part, totally missed the prompt of me pointing to my head. I corrected the young lad, explaining a toboggan is something you ride down a hill in the snow; you know like a sled.

Kid #2 response, "A toboggan." WOW! That's the second kid that said that. Kinda weird. Did they go to preschool? Again, I corrected this child and moved on.

I had a couple more students make the same mistake. Well they are only Kindergartners, they live in Virginia, there's not much snow here . . . I made excuses for them.

A few weeks later I found myself in the room when the preschool teacher was giving instructions for an activity. I was listening with one ear as she identified the different winter clothing items.

"Coat, mittens, scarf, toboggan, boots, snow pants . . . "

My ears perked up. WHAT . . . wait . . . did she just say toboggan? I looked up and sure enough there was a picture of a winter hat.

Surely she must have misspoke. Is this where all the Kindergartners got it from? It stemmed from preschool? Not wanting this class to mislearn the vocabulary I enquired. And sure enough . . . toboggan is a term they use for a winter hat. Who would have thought . . . not me.

I was dumbfounded. They were right. All those kids I thought were mixed-up. This . . . this stocking cap was their toboggan.

I grew up in Michigan, of course I knew what a toboggan was. But did I really? I knew what my toboggan was. And they knew what their toboggan was. But our toboggans were not the same.

I thought they were mixed up. They probably thought I was crazy.

English is one language, but we cannot forget the great dialectical variance it has.

Rojelio & Annie enjoying the first snowfall of the year in their nice warm toboggans.

GOFF . . . HUH . . . ?

What is Goff?
Goff is a city in Nemaha County, Kansas. In the 2000 census, the population consisted of 181 people, which included 60 households and 43 families. The non-diverse racial makeup included a 91% white population. The median income for a household in Goff was $35,781; the male median income nearly $10,000 more than females. None of the population was below the poverty line.

What is Goff?
A misspelling of the word golf, goof, or another word similar in nature.

What is Goff?
One could use Goff as an onomatopoeia. You know a word, or occasionally, a grouping of words, that imitates the sound it is describing, and thus suggests its source object. Goff could be used to describe an audible swallow that often occurs in a nervous or awkward situation.

Here is an example:

Kelly calls her fiancee Austin on his cell phone.

"Hey Aut!"

"Hey . . . uh who's this!?" Austin replies.

"Austin! It's me Kelly," she said in a stern tone.

" Yeah, uh . . . err . . . (GOFF) I knew that (GOFF) . . . just kiddin with ya Kel," Austin spoke nervously.

Awkward silence.

"So . . . what's up Kel!?" Austin tried to recover.

Continued silence from Kelly.

Austin attempts to repair the situation, "I love you . . . Kel . . . you there!? . . . hello?"

What is Goff?
Goff is the 946th most common family name in the United States. It is particularly prevalent among those of Welsh or Irish descent.

So what is the point of this? Why define Goff? It all has to do with Annie's friend Kelly. Though all these definitions are meaningful, the last definition is the most relevant to Kelly. As of December 31, 2006 she joined the Goff family, now too having the 946th most common name in the United States.

Congratulations Kelly and Austin. The wedding was a blast and a great way to bring in the new year.

The newly announce Mr. and Mrs. Goff

Kelly just realized she had advanced in the alphabet. Going alphabetically from the Ws to the Gs. Way to go Kelly! We're so proud you have moved up in the world!

Shannon, Mrs. Goff, Annie, Alissa, & Cindy

Shannon with her Seth

Cindy with her husband Tim

Alissa with her husband Mark

Whether it be geography, spelling, English grammar, surnames, or just good friends, I think we all inadvertently learned a little something about GOFF.