stuck in the thicklebits

The other day Keaton came running to Sharaun, seemingly in distress.

Mommy!!  Can you help me find Kia?!

You can’t find Kia?

No, she’s stuck in the thicklebits.

She’s stuck where?

In the thicklebits.

Now, if it were me on the receiving end of this conversation, I would just assume the “thicklebits” was a made-up three-year-old word (albeit a nicely-phrased one, with the assonance and whatnot).  But Sharaun, she’s more in-tune with the Keaton-mind than am I.

Immediately, she recognized the “thicklebits” as a Keaton-esque mis-pronunciation of a Backyardigans tune.  Apparently, in a certain episode where the intrepid Tasha, Uniqua, Tyrone, Pablo, and Austin are about to trek off into the deepest regions of a dark jungle, they sing a song that goes something like this…

Into the thick of it. Into the thick of it.
Into the thick of it. Ugh!
We’re tramping through the bush.
On and on we push. Into the thick of it,
But we can’t see where we’re going.
We’ve made a stellar start.
To find the jungle’s heart.
But all we’ll find is nothing,
If we can’t see where we’re going!
Into the thick of it.
Into the thick of it. Into the thick of it.
But we can’t see where we’re going!
Into the thick of it.
Into the thick of it. Into the thick of it.
But we can’t see where we’re going! Ugh!
The jungle’s kind of tricky,
The path is never straight,
And sometimes there’s no path at all
Which makes it hard to navigate.
Although the jungle’s thick,
We’re moving through it quick.
But that won’t do us any good
If we’re going around in circles.
Into the thick of it.
Into the thick of it. Into the thick of it.
We’re going round in circles! Ugh!
These trees look so familiar,
We’ve been here once before.
You’re right, except it wasn’t once
It was three times, or four.
Stuck in the thick of it!
Stuck in the thick of it!
Stuck in the thick of it!
We’ve gone around in circles

And so was solved the mystery of the “thicklebits.”

Like I said, I think it’s a great word; and I’ve taken to saying it all the time now when I want to refer somewhere way-far-off-lost.  Like, “I can’t find the matching left sock for my black pair, it’s like it’s lost in the thicklebits,” or, “Did you hear that weirdo talking about the stimulus, was his brain off in the thicklebits or what?”

Goodnight internet.

Also written on this day...

• chill and bright - 2010
• sweating out the bennies - 2007
• play-by-play - 2006
• teetering on the edge of collapse - 2004