Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Keep The Change, You Filthy Animal

"Keep the change you filthy animal!" Natalie told me seriously as she handed over a wad of Barbie money.

I'm glad the movie Home Alone could teach her colorful phrase to use. (It comes from that black and white film that Kevin watches throughout the movie in case you haven't seen Home Alone in a long time. Or ever. If you've never seen Home Alone, I'm stunned.)

So long as Natalie doesn't use it at school. Then I'll get a phone call from the teacher saying, "Natalie is going around calling people filthy animals."

Anyway.

Natalie watched Home Alone for the first time over the weekend....


....and immediately gasped when Kevin's Uncle Frank shouted, "Look what you did, you little jerk!"


"That's not a nice thing to say," Natalie said primly. "I'd cry."

I forgot about some of the language in the movie. Not that it bothers me. They know not to repeat certain things in public. But I imagine some parents might be all, "This is not an appropriate movie!"


But the movie uses the following words at least once:


--ass

--hell

--shit


Tommy, who is obsessed with movie ratings went, "What is this rated?" He checked and saw it was PG.

"Ratings were lax back then," I explained. "There weren't uppity parents running around whining that their precious Sally might be corrupted if she heard the word hell in a children's film."

Natalie also seemed surprised when Kevin told his mother, "I am upstairs, dummy."

She was like, "If I said that, all my ponies would be taken away from me."

Natalie enjoyed the movie. Tommy had already seen it before but joined us. Naturally their favorite part is when the robbers are outwitted by Kevin.



(Oh no. The dreaded h-word.)


I loved the movie as a kid and was happy to see my own children enjoying it. Next week we'll watch Home Alone 2.

"Will they say, 'Keep the change you filthy animal?'" Natalie asked hopefully.

At least she didn't become attached to a line with hell in it, right?


18 comments:

  1. Ooof. Like you, we are having a tough, tough time with inappropriate words. Our kids have long "known" of them, and it seems their middle school peers make florid use of them.

    Heck, I don't even like 'idiot" or "shut up!"

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  2. We're invited to an 'inappropriate/funny Christmas shirt' party this year (which was previously an ugly Christmas sweater party but we live in the Florida and sweaters are hard to find, even in December) and I ALMOST ordered the 'Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal' shirt from Amazon. Then I opted for the much classier 'Merry Christmas! Shitter's Full!' shirt instead. I do love Home Alone but nothing compares to Christmas Vacation in my book.

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  3. Home Alone - a classic! Good to see you introducing the movie to the kids! My nephew once quoted a line from the first Chipmunk movie when he was in school and he got in trouble!

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  4. What a classic movie, and so sorrowful that even to entice children to watch they must curse. I loved the movie as well. That "Filthy animal" scene was a good one. Have a blessed day.

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  5. It's funny you should mention this movie right now. I just told my husband last weekend that it was one I can't believe we've never added to our Christmas collection and that we need to get it. So, naturally we went to Wal-Mart and found it in the $5 bin - SCORE!! I was super excited and we plan to watch it on our drive for Thanksgiving this year! Sweet! :) So happy your kids are enjoying the movie as well. I told him we should add 2 and 3 to our collection as well, but we both agreed the first one is just a classic and left it at that. :)

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  6. When you're a kid and have already been taught not to say certain words in public... and then seeing it being said in movies... it is awestrickening (is that a word?) Its something the kid will hold onto. And think is funny. And think its like a massive secret that has been revealed.

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  7. Ohh! Natalie will love Home Alone 2 with its Tim Curry character spying on the inflatable man in the shower!

    "Merry Christmas, you filthy animal...and a Happy New Year."

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  8. I immediately started chuckling when I read the title...that line in that movie is a riot!

    Little Natalie has it going on! She knows whats right and what's not...I don't think you're gonna have anything to worry about with her. What a little doll!

    This was great! Makes me look forward to Home Alone on TV this holiday season.

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  9. HaHa - I love this!!!
    When Hunter was 4 he said, "Your ass is grass." I about died laughing then I remembered that I was the mom and asked where he learned that. It was in the Sandlot 2 that he was watching. The boys heard the words they shouldn't say everywhere - I preferred it to happen when I was there so that we could discuss what was and what wasn't appropriate to be repeated.

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  10. Oh man, that movie was a favorite around here. My kids were surprised at the "swearing" too, lol. "Shut-up" is the s word at our house. As long as the kids know what you expect from them, you're all good. :) When Brooke was almost 4, she asked me to shut my half-wit pie hole, which she heard on Spongebob. I just about fell off my chair... then seriously re-evaluated nick jr.

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  11. I agree. I watched the movie the first time before we had kids and thought it was funny. Years later, after we had our son, my husband and I commented on how mean they were to Kevin and how rude the whole family was to each other, especially the uncle. I guess it's perspective.

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  12. I hated that movie until one year my sister and I were up real late drinking a bottle of wine (early 90's) and noticed pantyhose in our stockings and we laughed and laughed and ate jam and watched 'Home Alone'. So weird.

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  13. This is one of my favourite movies EVER! Seriously I love it. And my kids love it but my friend is all "Oh no I don't let me daughter watch that, the language is awful" lol. Still, I let my kids watch it though!

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  14. that's one of those movies that we have to stop what we are doing and watch it if we happen to see it come on tv

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  15. Love that movie... we watch it every year.
    and it's so cute when my 3 year old (last year) yells that filthy animal line at her 8 year old brother. and then they all wrestle and laugh and plan traps about the house.....*sigh*.....sorry, the holidays are just so warm and special, ya know? I get all choked up seeing them so.
    ;)

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  16. I haven't seen that one in years. - probably since it first came out? Maybe it would be PG13 if it were rated today.

    Glad your kids are enjoying it. :)

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  17. We have a required Christmas Movie Watch List that we do every year and Home Alone is one of the top ones! We love that movie, hell, shit, and all!

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  18. I'm glad the movie Home Alone could teach her colorful phrase to use. ... homesweater.blogspot.com

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