Do your kids ever get so excited that they let out a scream of pure, unrestrained happiness? There’s a word for that…
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Do your kids’ “squee”? Yes, yes, I know it sounds like a remarkably filthy term, but, trust me, we’ve all had occasion to “squee” in our lives. For those unfamiliar, “Squee” is a word that’s used to describe an over-the-top expression of excitement, an uncontrollable outburst of fan-ish glee that springs forth whenever a person sees something really, really awesome. TVTropes.org defines Squee as “the sound made by excited fangirls (or fanboys). The exact nature of what makes someone squee depends on the type of fan.”
Some baseball fans might squee after watching Alex Rodriguez hit a grand slam (while others might squee after seeing him cross-examined in court). Breaking Bad fans probably squee-ed a hundred times during the series finale. Countless squees have been released all over the world by Games of Throne fans, Tom Clancy fans, Dance Dance Revolution fans, dollhouse furniture fans—any kind of medium or discipline than can inspire truly obsessive fan-ish behavior could be deemed worthy of a squee. Because a squee is more than just excitement. When a fan squees, it means that they’ve just witnessed something spectacularly specific, something that delights their own very particular sensibilities. (I Can Has Cheez Burger even has a section called their “Daily Squee,” which they describe as “So cute your brain might explode.”)
My daughter’s first squee occurred in 2011 during the Disney Channel premiere of Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the Second Dimension. If you’ve never seen it before, Phineas and Ferb is an amazing kids’ show—so smart, so funny. It’s Muppet Show-esque in its ability to appeal to parents and kids alike. The show follows two brothers who spend their summer building fantastic, mind-boggling inventions and, by the end of each episode, their inventions mysteriously disappear, right before their older sister Candace can bust them for breaking the rules in front of their parents.
My five-year-old was obsessed with Phineas and Ferb, she adored it, and had seen every episode leading up to the special Across the Second Dimension TV movie event. And she was loving the movie… until the third act, when her love exploded into something even more powerful. SPOILERS AHEAD—At the climax of the movie, Phineas and Ferb are tasked with stopping an evil robot invasion from another dimension. They have no idea how they’re going to persevere until… they receive a very special present. Not to delve too deeply into the plot—it involves a secret agent platypus (no, really)—but, to fight against the rampaging robots, Phineas and Ferb are given replicas of EVERY SINGLE INVENTION they’ve created since the show first began. Every invention that ever disappeared is brought back and presented to them as part of an awesome arsenal to help them save the world.
At that moment, my daughter squee-ed. She squee-ed hard. She practically swooned. She jumped off the couch, “Dad, LOOK! It’s the treehouse robots! And the platy-posterior! And the paper-mache airplane! And the Beak suit!” This one scene called back to 90 or so episodes she adored. It was a scene that only a true fan of the show could really appreciate and my daughter literally couldn’t believe she was watching it occur. Her brain exploded. And, in the following scenes, when Phineas and Ferb kicked off an epic action sequence using all of their inventions to defend the Earth… it was like watching a Red Sox fan watch the team finally break “The Curse of the Bambino” on that fateful night in 2004.
My daughter let out her first pure fangirl squee that night and, as her dad, it was a magnificent thing to behold. (It still sounds dirty, doesn’t it? Dammit.)
So, parents, have your kids ever squee-ed? Have they ever been so completely bowled over by something that they let out an autonomic exclamation of pure fan-ish glee?
If they have, please let me know in the comments section below. I’d love to hear what other things (sports, movies, video games) are making kids squee across the globe.
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Credit: Photo—Tim Parkinson/Flickr
My son LOVES Taylor Swift. I took him to see her for his first concert. The moment she hit the stage, he squee’d. And I caught it on video. Awesomeness.
My 5 year old “squees” all the time. He’s an old soul who wears his heart on his sleeve. There is a squee for so many things: arriving @ granny’s house. Seeing chocolate yogurt (a treat!) in the fridge. Maccas for dinner. Me telling him that I’m about to jump in the pool with him. His favourite movie. And my personal favourite: when I walk into his daycare to pick him up at the end of each day!
It’s one of my favourite sounds in our world and makes me smile everytime.
I don’t have kids, but I think my last big squee was when I first played Mass Effect 2 last year and I realised who Archangel really was.
😀 😀 😀