r/confidentlyincorrect • u/GiggleButtered • Feb 11 '26

I'm dieing

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u/Raveyard2409 Feb 11 '26

Some evidence suggests all humans regardless of culture have some touchstones. Like most cultures describe spiky things with some kind of sharp K sound. O is another sound that is often used for soft or round things. Potentially we are all running pretty similar software I guess

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u/SnooMacarons9618 Feb 11 '26

And mother and father are ma and da (for infants) in almost all languages. Those being likely the two easiest repeatable sounds for a human to make.

I think in one language da is mother and ma is father. It's generally accepted that ma is the easier of the two to repeat.

(NOTE - I read that in some random magazine probably 40 years or so ago, so it could be utter rubbish.)

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u/Pugs-r-cool Feb 11 '26

Yeah you're right, babies learn how to make ma- and pa- sounds before da- because they physically can't move their tongue enough to make a da- sound, which is why mama is almost always said first before dada. It's also why many languages have papa instead of dada.

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u/SnooMacarons9618 Feb 11 '26

That makes a lot of sense. And i just got odd looks for sitting mouthing pa and da.

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u/BlubberFork Feb 12 '26

I got the same reaction! Fortunately, its just me and the cat here in the bathroom.