how language evolves

It all started with a little mud outside. I washed Charlie's hands in the kitchen sink and I taught him the sign for washing your hands, which is rubbing your hands together. Charlie really liked washing his hands, so he remembered the sign. One thing led to another. First he was running over and asking to wash his hands every time I turned on the faucet. And he was no longer content to just have his hands washed, he wanted to play. Then that turned into ten or more minutes of me holding him over the sink and my back rebelled. So I sat him on the side of the sink and he dumped water all over his clothes. The short of it is that now the "wash my hands" sign really is the "please strip off all my clothes and let me play for a least 20 minutes in the sink with all the sponges and everything else I can reach" sign.