Friday 15 April 2011

It’s a Mistake

My dad and I used to play this game when I was a child. It was called mistake. Basically the game involved me trying to make him say the word “mistake” and him using silly and clever wordplay to avoid saying it. The game went something like this:

Me: what do you call a woman who has never been married?
Dad: Ugly
Me: No!
Dad: taking her career seriously
Me: No!
Dad: lesbian
Me: No dad! It’s a Miss.
Dad: Oh I see.
Me: (sighing) What is your favourite kind of meat
Dad: I’m converting to vegetarian
Me: No you’re not!
Dad: hamburger
Me: No!
Dad: chicken
Me: No it’s not!
Dad: (patting me on the head)  duck, duck goose
Me: (exasperated) No, it’s steak!
Dad: What did you say?
Me: (collapsing into fit of giggles while he ticked me) Miss-steak!

I somehow lost every time. He always had enough words to keep me guessing (and laughing) and inevitably I would grow frustrated and would blurt out the answer and be tickled until I shrieked. It was great fun every time we played.

In the 1980s when the song It’s a Mistake by Men at Work would come on the radio we would laugh until we cried remembering the game.

My life with you was never a mistake. I miss you, but I carry on. I've never stopped laughing.

2 comments:

  1. What a wonderful memory of your father and you. Very special.

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  2. oh wow...........of course he never ran out of words. He was, after all, the great GLT. :-)

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