No Habla Espanol Mr. TV

We’re watching ABC. What show we’re watching doesn’t really matter, but if you must know, it’s SuperNanny. Admit it, you watch it too, just to feel a little bit better about your parenting and your kids’ behavior. I watch it and wonder what is wrong with some of those people. I do, occasionally, get some tips on dealing with an issue my kids are confronting me with but those are usually the smallest issue that Jo is helping the families on her show overcome. Obviously these people are desperate if they are willing to show this stuff to all of the U.S.A. (that watches SuperNanny) but wow. I like a little veil over what real life is like at my house. Guess what? We’re totally in control of our kids at all times and we always know just the right things to say and do. Or not. But I’m not going to invite cameras into my home to prove just how crappy a mother I am.

But my point here isn’t SuperNanny and the parents who use her. My point isn’t even how crappy a mother I am. My point to this?

Our ABC channel, and only our ABC channel, during primetime only, will display closed captioning. It not only displays closed captioning (only on this channel, mind you) but it displays the closed captioning in Spanish. Si Senor.

I’m not positive, but I think our TV is trying to teach me Spanish so that I can go to Mexico, or maybe even Spain. Apparently I am easily distracted during these television shows I watch because I spend much of the time watching the Spanish translation on the screen.

My mind starts to think “Oh yeah, that totally says what Jo just said” and I think I’m a Spanish reading prodigy. Except I’m not because I didn’t take Spanish as my language in school. I took French and I haven’t had much opportunity to use the knowledge other than the occasional shampoo bottle that I can read the French and be all “ooo mode d’emploi, I know what that means! Woot!”

So now I read my kids books like Dora the Explorer and “Eight Animals On the Town” and stumble over the Spanish words but pretend I know exactly how they are pronounced. I had no idea the importance of the language choice in junior high.