English at home

This time we had to write a story based on the 5 gibberish words:

Florple,Draemol,Grimble,Strawp,Plarft

English at home

“Mum… Mum… Mum… Help me finish my English assignment”, Josh, hopped in front of me (actually between me and my beloved TV) and said.

“What help do you need?”

“I have to invent 5 new words and provide meanings to them tomorrow in class. I can’t let Ryan score again, please help”, couldn’t help smiling for that. But seriously, inventing words...

“Just put some letters together. Why do you need my help for that? I asked.

“Mum… the words have to be authentic”, he said excitedly.

I smiled at him, tilted my head leftwards to catch a little of TV. He blocked my view. I tilted right, blocked again. Why does he have to be so stubborn? Well, I’m his mother.

“I can’t. I’m busy”.

“Florple”, he mumbled.

“What”?

“Florple. Thinks only about oneself, even if someone near needs their help”, he explained.

“Excuse me!!!.... I… Let me guess, you thought of me, while inventing that word.”

“Not excused and yes, I thought of you. You form the best example!! You are watching TV instead of helping me”. I tried to defend.

“Fine!” I snapped. “We’ll make a deal. We work together to find these words and their meaning. Whoever gets to the 5^th word first, will get their wish granted. Deal?” I asked.

He thought for a while. It had no “visible” loopholes, so he agreed.

 “So, your first word is… “

“florple”

“Right. And, your next word will be….. Grimble. It means… multitasking. Like, I’ll make coffee and still assist you in your homework”.

He gave a wide smile and said, “Nice……..”

I rolled my eyes and went to the kitchen to get some coffee. Josh would come up with few jumbled letters. 

Few he would reject, the rest I.I grabbed a tray, put few snacks on it, placed the two coffee cups and carried them to the hall. But it wasn’t our hall anymore. Josh had spread books, laptop... papers all over the floor.

“What are you doing?... draemolling this place???”

He looked up, confused. I signaled towards the scattered mess.

“These are just for reference... Mum… I need to invent words, not write them. And what did you call this?”

“Draemol… litter a place.” I replied.

He tried few more words. I rejected all of them. He creased his eyebrows, and said” Strawp”.

“And what does that mean?”

“It means modifying your opponent’s thoughts to make them loose.” he explained. How was he able to catch that? I put a poker face and tried to defend, but he cut in.

“Yes. I’m taking you as example”. I had to shut after that. He invented a few more, but rejected them instantly.

“Apart from Strawpping, can you do anything?” I asked.

“What?” Again, I showed the mess.

“Mum... I’ll clean it after I’ve finished my homework, and by the way, its draemol not Strawp”.

“Grimble!!... I’m missing my show” I murmured.

“Mum… you are supposed to help, not confuse. And for your information, its florple”, he said in an irritated voice.

“I’m not!! See, florple – cheater, grimble- multitasking, draemol- selfish, and …Ah!yes, Strawp –litterring”.

Josh screamed, “Mum….

Florple – Selfish

Grimble- Multitasking

Draemol – Litter

Strawp – Manipulating your opponents mind!”

There!!! My work was done. My son had invented five new words and also remembered their meaning!! Else it would be T.A. Edison inventing the light bulb, but not knowing where to plug it in.

“Plarft”, I said proudly. “Plarft - We have a winner”. Feeling proud, he noted down the last word.

Well, we did have a winner. I invented the last word…