That Rhymes!

As we were walking to pick Julia up from school today, Madeleine suddenly back-tracked to chase after some butterflies.  She stopped inches away from a monarch that was perched on a flower, and started to move closer until I noticed there was a handful of bees swarming the same flower.

ME: Okay, come on, honey, because there are bees there, and you don't want to bother them.
MADELEINE: But Mama!  I've even been right up close to a BIRD before and it was nothing!
ME: Uh...
MADELEINE: Hey!  Mama!  That rhymes with "Oh, come ON, you standed  RIGHT up to a manticore like it was NOTHING!"

I love Madeleine's loose interpretation of the word "rhymes."  What she said about being close to a bird reminded her of a line from "My Little Pony," in which Fluttershy is scolded for being scared to go near a snake after having been brave enough to go near a manticore.  Therefore, the two sentences rhyme.  In Madeleine's mind, the word "rhyme" is apparently interchangeable with the word "reminiscent."

Let's think of all the new ways we can use this definition of "rhyme."  Next time someone says something similar to what I'm thinking, I'll tell them: "Hey!  That rhymes with what I was thinking!"  Or if a scene from a movie is a rip-off of a scene from some other thing, I'll exclaim, "Wait a minute.  This rhymes with the scene from Such-and-Such."  Or when Madeleine copies Julia's drawing, instead of indignantly screeching, "Madeleine!  STOP COPYING ME!"  Julia can instead tell Madeleine to stop rhyming with her.


Or, one can use it as Madeleine just did a moment ago:

MADELEINE: Mama?  Can I have a Halloween Peep for dessert?
ME: Sure.  But go pee-pees first.
MADELEINE: Hey!  Mama!  That RHYMES with peep!

Hey, it turns out rhyming words can also just be the SAME word.  Used in two different contexts.  There's no end to the adventure that can be had with the liberal application of the word "rhyme!"