One of the best parts of having kids is having a full-time, front row seat to the way they interpret and use language as they grow. There’s the classic mispronunciations of “spaghetti,” of course, but there are also one-of-a-kind terms they coin based on their limited vocabulary and the unique way they look at the world.
Kids say the darnedest things, and as Dillon White shared on Instagram, one of those darned things could be a young child requesting “people chicken” for dinner. Not just requesting, but demanding: “I WANT PEOPLE CHICKEN!!”
People chicken. There are only so many ways to interpret that, all of which could land you on the FBI’s radar.
Of course, it was a small child saying this, so there had to be an explanation.
White explained that he and his wife tried everything to get their kiddo to clarify what he meant by “people chicken,” including having him draw a picture of what he was wanting. Unfortunately, the stick figure person he drew did not help relieve any concerns that their child might be a cannibal.
Finally, White’s 7-year-old daughter came up with a solution that revealed what her younger brother wanted. It was not, in fact, chicken made out of people. Phew.
Watch:
It’s true. Once you see Colonel Sanders’ bow tie as a stick figure, you can’t unsee it.
Even KFC’s official account responded to the video, writing, “You see it once, and you can’t unsee it.” HA.
White was not alone in his kid seeing the stick figure Col. Sanders.
“The SAME thing (conversation) happened to us 22 years ago!! My toddler was practically throwing himself trying to make us understand that he wanted ‘Old Man Chicken’!!!!!! And yup, it was KFC he was asking for. We have referred to it as ‘Old Man Chicken’ all these years now 😂!!” shared on commenter.
“About halfway through we figured out what he was talking about but that’s only because my kids have been saying for years that the KFC man is a stick figure with a really big head. Tell Mason he’s not the only kid who thought that.Lol 😂😂😂” shared another.
“I think I’ve been working with children too long because the instant you said people chicken my brain said ‘that’s kfc,’ 😂 wrote another.
Other people chimed in to share their kids’ hilarious naming conventions for chicken places:
“My son was in tears for ‘Pinky Toe.’ Turns out he thought the Chick-fil-A emblem was a foot 😂,” wrote one parent.
“Lol. My daughter refers to Chick-fil-A as ‘foot’ because their logo actually reserved a footprint. So interesting thinking of the different ways that children see things that we adults don’t. It’s amazing!” shared another.
“My kids call Buffalo Wild Wings ‘stinky skunks’ because from a distance, the logo looks like a skunk to them. We went through a similar very confusing moment to figure that one out as you can imagine, 🤦♀️🤣” shared another.
White is right. We should let kids name everything. They’re so much better at it than adults are.
You can follow Dillon White on Instagram here and TikTok here.
This article originally appeared on 2.7.24