Every parent, it seems, has a story of how their kid used a word or expression (usually a swearword) they weren’t supposed to know, which then begs the question: “Where did s/he hear that?”

When the word or expression in question happens to be in the minority language (ml), the field of possible candidates is much restricted, and the first in line is of course the ml parent, followed by ml grandparents and, if applicable, media such as audio or video your child might have watched or listened to.

In the last few weeks, my daughter has been telling me quite frequently, generally when I question a claim she makes, the following expression:

“Das weiß doch jedes Kind!”

Literal translation “Every child knows that!”, meaning it’s an obvious fact.

Now I’m quite confident that neither me nor my parents would say such a thing to her, nor any of the fictional characters from her DVDs or CDs, namely Pippi Longtocking, Dora the Explorer, The Little Princess, or Conni.

So now I’m asking myself, “where did she hear that?”