Pez

In Spanish class at the Pre-School yesterday, we reviewed a list of animal names we had learned the previous week.

I held up a picture of a cat, and the three/four-year-olds collectively shouted, "Gato!"

I help up a drawing of a pig, and the little ones yelled, "Cerdo!"

And then I lifted up a picture of a fish. This is what I heard: "Piss!"

"Uh, no. Pez," I corrected, stressing the vowel in the middle of the word pez.

"Piss!" the class shouted.

"Pez," I said.

"Piss!"

I am dumbfounded as to how they came to this conclusion. Maybe I was slurring my words last week, and they just got it in their head that a fish is called Piss in Spanish. These kids don't actually know what it is to "piss" or to "piss off" or be "pissed" or "pissy" or anything like that. It's a complete fluke. Right?

In any case, next week's class is steering clear of animals.

But I am just waiting to hear from that parent who pulls me aside next week and says, "I heard you taught my kid a slang word. Little so-and-so came home shouting Fish Piss."