Twist of the Tongue

While watching the Giants-Eagles game yesterday, my Sweetie was rooting for the Eagles. The singular reason being that the Giants were despised (by him) only less than one other team.....

"Whoa. Be careful, you're with folks who are only one generation removed from some Dallas Cowboys fans."

He laughs. "Callas Dowboys, huh?"

I look at him quizzingly. "What....wait, did I just say that?" And I look to someone else in the room who nods.

He says it again, but the way I had sounded - Callous Dowelboys!!

Well, from here the conversation turned to how he might wish to use my new phrase sometime in the future.

In the meantime, I'm still trying to think it and say it correctly.....and having a hard time. I am, however, able to laugh at myself. One of the things which came to mind was a post I wrote last summer - Watch It, Smartie Pants.

What we are talking about is Apraxia of Speech, also known as verbal apraxia or dyspraxia, which is very mild in my case. It is a speech disorder in which a person has trouble saying what he or she wants to say correctly and consistently, but is not due to weakness or paralysis of the speech muscles.

Here is a bit of what the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) has to say about symptoms -

"People with either form of apraxia of speech [acquired or developmental] may have a number of different speech characteristics, or symptoms. One of the most notable symptoms is difficulty putting sounds and syllables together in the correct order to form words. Longer or more complex words are usually harder to say than shorter or simpler words. People with apraxia of speech also tend to make inconsistent mistakes when speaking. For example, they may say a difficult word correctly but then have trouble repeating it, or they may be able to say a particular sound one day and have trouble with the same sound the next day. People with apraxia of speech often appear to be groping for the right sound or word, and may try saying a word several times before they say it correctly. Another common characteristic of apraxia of speech is the incorrect use of "prosody" -- that is, the varying rhythms, stresses, and inflections of speech that are used to help express meaning."

There are other types of Apraxia as are outlined by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) -

• Buccofacial or orofacial apraxia (the inability to carry out facial movements on command such as licking lips, whistling, coughing, or winking)
• Limb-kinetic apraxia (the inability to make fine, precise movements with an arm or leg)
• Ideomotor apraxia (the inability to make the proper movement in response to a verbal command)
• Ideational apraxia (the inability to coordinate activities with multiple, sequential movements, such as dressing, eating, and bathing)
• Verbal apraxia (difficulty coordinating mouth and speech movements)
• Constructional apraxia (the inability to copy, draw, or construct simple figures)
• Oculomotor apraxia (difficulty moving the eyes on command)

Apraxia may be accompanied by a language disorder called aphasia. But we'll have to save that one for another day.

In the meantime, there'll be no cheering in this house for any Callous Dowelboys, or Cowless Cowboys, or Dallas Dollboys, or whatever!!!