“Karate”

I have some picture books here that I often let the village kids read when they come over. They love them, and I figure it’s a way to start to get them interested in literacy.

Anyway, it’s kind of funny the different things they see in the pictures. For example, when they look at the picture of a kangaroo, which they’ve never seen before, what do they call it? Some call it a cat or dog, others use a word I don’t know yet, and others just skip giving it a name and go on to the next page.

Today some of the kids were looking at the page of fruits. They knew tomato, watermelon, and banana. But then one of the kids saw the pineapple and said right away, “karate.” It’s a word I didn’t know, but I doubt it really means pineapple since I doubt they’ve ever seen one. Then they looked at the strawberry and said “little karate.” Again, I doubt they’ve ever seen a strawberry.

I still don’t know what a “karate” is. What would be your guess?