Eternal Tomboy
TMF Master
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2001
- Messages
- 980
- Points
- 18
I guess I'm in the majority on this one - I simply can't say tickle or any variation of it. Since early elementary school (when this tickling fascination kicked in), I was always very tight-lipped when it came to talking about tickling. If I HAD to talk about it, I became like a walking thesaurus and always found a substitute word (for either tickle or ticklish): sensitive, touchy, caress lightly, scribbling fingers, etc. I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I had said it my whole life. Loved hearing OTHER people say it and talk about it... I just didn't want to have to say it myself.
In fact, it was only when my brother in-law bought my kids a book for Christmas that I was painted into a corner - the title sent me into a panic "Elmo likes to be tickled". GULP. There was NO way of getting around saying it when the damn word was right there in black and white. And OF COURSE the book quickly became one of my kid's favorites. I would never read it when someone else (other than my kid) was in the room with me because I knew I read it awkwardly. I would just take a breath and kind of speed my way through the word every time it came up (and let me tell you, it came up A LOT!) The gist of the book was that Elmo had a secret that everyone had to guess, and at the very end of the book it was revealed that Elmo likes to be tickled..... well Elmo, guess what? So do I. 😛 I thought the fact that the book was being read by a mostly closeted tickle freak, was kind of a funny (albeit uncomfortable) twist. Thank god my kids are too old for Elmo now!!!
In fact, it was only when my brother in-law bought my kids a book for Christmas that I was painted into a corner - the title sent me into a panic "Elmo likes to be tickled". GULP. There was NO way of getting around saying it when the damn word was right there in black and white. And OF COURSE the book quickly became one of my kid's favorites. I would never read it when someone else (other than my kid) was in the room with me because I knew I read it awkwardly. I would just take a breath and kind of speed my way through the word every time it came up (and let me tell you, it came up A LOT!) The gist of the book was that Elmo had a secret that everyone had to guess, and at the very end of the book it was revealed that Elmo likes to be tickled..... well Elmo, guess what? So do I. 😛 I thought the fact that the book was being read by a mostly closeted tickle freak, was kind of a funny (albeit uncomfortable) twist. Thank god my kids are too old for Elmo now!!!