Beaver's Poor English - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

howilu · 03-20-2021, 09:41 AM

If you watched the early episode The Haircut, you probably noticed the scene where Beaver said to Ward after losing his haircut money "Dad, I losted the money." That's an example of very poor English because losted is not a word. It would have been proper grammar to say "Dad, I lost the money." Feel free to post any other examples of Beaver's poor use of the English language.

PracTz · 03-20-2021, 09:47 AM

In spite of him getting older, he never really improved- and it's hard to believe that he could have been raised by June Cleaver but then again it's hard to believe that George Jefferson could have been raised by 'Mother' Olivia Jefferson for the same reason. I could imagine both mothers commiserating over their offspring's less proper grammar despite all their efforts.

stevea · 03-20-2021, 10:54 AM

He needs lessons on speaking good.

Scrabjan1 · 03-20-2021, 11:22 AM

Beaver- “I told you ‘afore’ I’m not supposed to take it out alone.”

Wally- “Hey Dad can you drop Tooey and I off at the carnival?”

Wally- (Credit Card) “I just saw he and Eddie over at Eddie’s house.”

Beaver- “Did it make a short circus? for circuit

Beaver- Swift cheese for Swiss cheese. Says constellation prize for consolation.

Wally- ‘Can’t hardly’ and June corrects him.

Wally- Hey me and the Beaver are getting hungry. June says Wally the Beaver and I are getting hungry. Yeah I guess we’re all getting hungry.

stevea · 03-20-2021, 11:33 AM

When Beaver said "tricity" for electricity, June should have said, Beaver, you're too old to talk like that. It's electricity.

I was going to mention constellation prize, too.

Also Ward tried several times to correct Beaver when he said Middlesize village and town, to no avail.

When the boys come down to apologize to June in Visiting Aunts, she corrects Beaver on something, but I can't remember what.

One thing that really bugs me (in general) is misuse of me/I. Many people misuse I as the direct object, thinking they're right, as in, Please come with my wife and I on this wonderful cruise. You hear this misused in many scripted shows, on the radio, and on TV news. And it's so EASY to correct oneself by taking out the other part of the object and seeing how silly it sounds, as in Please come with I on this wonderful cruise.

vitoscotti · 03-20-2021, 11:36 AM

I'm near the end of season 2 and Beaver saying "thunk" comes and goes a lot.

stevea · 03-20-2021, 11:48 AM

Yeah, thunk is a good one. Beaver was getting too old for that, too.

In Jerry's book he said he disliked talking like that.

vitoscotti · 03-20-2021, 02:46 PM

Does any other kid in Beaver's class butcher the English language like Beaver does? The writers have him using bad english like a three year old would.

stevea · 03-20-2021, 03:42 PM

They all talk like normal kids (except Judy), but thinking about it, none of them butcher things like he does. I used to call it Beaver-speak.

Cx · 03-20-2021, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

Does any other kid in Beaver's class butcher the English language like Beaver does? The writers have him using bad english like a three year old would.

That's an interesting question. We'd never know since individual kids in his class aren't given much dialog as compared to Beaver on the show as a whole. A hallmark of many LITB episodes does seem to be a classroom scene where this seems to occur:

- Teacher brings class to order, states a subject of discussion or assignment thereof

- Kid in class, not necessarily Beaver, stands up and makes stupid remark or asks silly impertinent question.

- Another kid stands and either chimes in on the first kid's comment or rebuts it

- Another student does the same

- Teacher re-establishes order.

The other student's english may or may not stand out as much as their immature brashness.

FWIW, my younger brother ( 4 years younger than I am ) seemed to hold on to "baby talk" longer than any other of us ( there were 4 or us ). Though he was bright enough, scholastically, for his age, I still recall him having trouble pronouncing many words as late as age 8 or 9.

THREE would be "fwee", BRING would be "bwing", BATHROOM would be "bathoom", PLUTO would be "pwuto". He eventually got over it, but me and my friends used to razz him about it many times.

stevea · 03-20-2021, 04:00 PM

Of course some of this is being done just to add some comedy. Mosher might say, hey, my kid said (or says) 'tricity, or thunk, let's add some of that dialog for Beaver. And Mosher's kid could have been four.

And maybe the writers were told to pick up on that stuff, either from personal experience or anything they could come up with. Thus, short circus, constellation prize, etc.

I can understand why Mathers would dislike it, being 8 or 9, especially when the other kids weren't given silly dialog.

Bwing, Pwuto, etc. sounds like stuff a kid would eventually grow out of, and some things like a lisp can be exacerbated by a missing baby tooth, possibly. They had scripts about Cindy Brady's baby talk, which she eventually grew out of. I imagine some of that would be hard to fake, so maybe she did that talk for real and they wrote it in.

Tankeryanker · 03-20-2021, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevea

and some things like a lisp can be exacerbated by a missing baby tooth, possibly. They had scripts about Cindy Brady's baby talk, which she eventually grew out of. I imagine some of that would be hard to fake, so maybe she did that talk for real and they wrote it in.

I had a lisp for a long time. I had to go to speech therapy. I used to say "Please *s*h*i*t here, instead of please sit here". As a preacher's daughter that would never do.

stevea · 03-20-2021, 04:18 PM

Due to Cindy's lisp, Buddy Hinton ended up with a fat lip courtesy of Peter.

Cx · 03-20-2021, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevea

Due to Cindy's lisp, Buddy Hinton ended up with a fat lip courtesy of Peter.

"Baby talk, baby talk...it's a wonder you can walk"

vitoscotti · 03-20-2021, 07:17 PM

There's a tie in to Beaver's bad english. It's not baby talk mispronounced. It's poor memorization of the words. Then Beaver just makes up a word like thunk. Beaver never seems to be street smart like the other kids in the class when it comes to people pulling pranks and cons like Larry constantly does. Larry never could pull the Beaver stuff he pulls on Gilbert, Whitey or the other friends. The writers are making Beaver borderline mentally challenged in some aspects so there's a funny script premise to work with.

03-20-2021, 09:41 AM	#1
howilu Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 20, 2003 Location: St. Louis Park, MN Posts: 1,964	Beaver's Poor English If you watched the early episode The Haircut, you probably noticed the scene where Beaver said to Ward after losing his haircut money "Dad, I losted the money." That's an example of very poor English because losted is not a word. It would have been proper grammar to say "Dad, I lost the money." Feel free to post any other examples of Beaver's poor use of the English language.

03-20-2021, 09:47 AM	#2
PracTz Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 14, 2002 Location: United States of America [Happily Living in the 20th Century] Posts: 2,711	In spite of him getting older, he never really improved- and it's hard to believe that he could have been raised by June Cleaver but then again it's hard to believe that George Jefferson could have been raised by 'Mother' Olivia Jefferson for the same reason. I could imagine both mothers commiserating over their offspring's less proper grammar despite all their efforts.

03-20-2021, 10:54 AM	#3
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,935	He needs lessons on speaking good.

03-20-2021, 11:22 AM	#4
Scrabjan1 Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Nov 27, 2013 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 3,521	Beaver- “I told you ‘afore’ I’m not supposed to take it out alone.” Wally- “Hey Dad can you drop Tooey and I off at the carnival?” Wally- (Credit Card) “I just saw he and Eddie over at Eddie’s house.” Beaver- “Did it make a short circus? for circuit Beaver- Swift cheese for Swiss cheese. Says constellation prize for consolation. Wally- ‘Can’t hardly’ and June corrects him. Wally- Hey me and the Beaver are getting hungry. June says Wally the Beaver and I are getting hungry. Yeah I guess we’re all getting hungry.

03-20-2021, 11:33 AM	#5
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,935	When Beaver said "tricity" for electricity, June should have said, Beaver, you're too old to talk like that. It's electricity. I was going to mention constellation prize, too. Also Ward tried several times to correct Beaver when he said Middlesize village and town, to no avail. When the boys come down to apologize to June in Visiting Aunts, she corrects Beaver on something, but I can't remember what. One thing that really bugs me (in general) is misuse of me/I. Many people misuse I as the direct object, thinking they're right, as in, Please come with my wife and I on this wonderful cruise. You hear this misused in many scripted shows, on the radio, and on TV news. And it's so EASY to correct oneself by taking out the other part of the object and seeing how silly it sounds, as in Please come with I on this wonderful cruise.

03-20-2021, 11:36 AM	#6
vitoscotti Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 14, 2017 Location: Illinois Posts: 1,084	I'm near the end of season 2 and Beaver saying "thunk" comes and goes a lot.

03-20-2021, 11:48 AM	#7
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,935	Yeah, thunk is a good one. Beaver was getting too old for that, too. In Jerry's book he said he disliked talking like that.

03-20-2021, 02:46 PM	#8
vitoscotti Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 14, 2017 Location: Illinois Posts: 1,084	Does any other kid in Beaver's class butcher the English language like Beaver does? The writers have him using bad english like a three year old would.

03-20-2021, 03:42 PM	#9
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,935	They all talk like normal kids (except Judy), but thinking about it, none of them butcher things like he does. I used to call it Beaver-speak.

03-20-2021, 04:00 PM	#11
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,935	Of course some of this is being done just to add some comedy. Mosher might say, hey, my kid said (or says) 'tricity, or thunk, let's add some of that dialog for Beaver. And Mosher's kid could have been four. And maybe the writers were told to pick up on that stuff, either from personal experience or anything they could come up with. Thus, short circus, constellation prize, etc. I can understand why Mathers would dislike it, being 8 or 9, especially when the other kids weren't given silly dialog. Bwing, Pwuto, etc. sounds like stuff a kid would eventually grow out of, and some things like a lisp can be exacerbated by a missing baby tooth, possibly. They had scripts about Cindy Brady's baby talk, which she eventually grew out of. I imagine some of that would be hard to fake, so maybe she did that talk for real and they wrote it in.

03-20-2021, 04:18 PM	#13
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,935	Due to Cindy's lisp, Buddy Hinton ended up with a fat lip courtesy of Peter.

03-20-2021, 07:17 PM	#15
vitoscotti Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 14, 2017 Location: Illinois Posts: 1,084	There's a tie in to Beaver's bad english. It's not baby talk mispronounced. It's poor memorization of the words. Then Beaver just makes up a word like thunk. Beaver never seems to be street smart like the other kids in the class when it comes to people pulling pranks and cons like Larry constantly does. Larry never could pull the Beaver stuff he pulls on Gilbert, Whitey or the other friends. The writers are making Beaver borderline mentally challenged in some aspects so there's a funny script premise to work with.