What the VERY heck?

It’s interesting to see my five year old, Summer, learn new words. Although I have no idea where she picks up some of the phrases she repeats. For the last couple of weeks she has been infatuated with “What the heck.” It started out as “What the...?” and continued in that format for some time. Fortunately she added “heck.” Otherwise I worry a casual listener would assume she heard the more obvious conclusion to that phrase from yours truly – which let me assure you was definitely not the case. As my wife will certainly attest - I never swear.

Mom: “Time to get ready for school.”

Summer: “What the...?”

Me: “Do you want me to read you a story?”

Summer: “What the...?”

Sister: “Want me to help you pick out your clothes?”

Summer: “What the heck?”

Summer looking at her food: “What the heck?”

Me: “I love you Summer.”

Summer: “What the heck?”

Well, we all know that language usage evolves. Today Summer apparently wanted to add yet additional emphasis to the phrase:

Summer standing in front of the DVD player trying to figure out how to play a movie: “What the VERY heck.”