Maybe = No???

Here's a little bit of language science for you.  The dictionary.com definition of the word 'maybe' is as follows:

"a possibility or uncertainty."

This seems pretty straightforward, but the word 'maybe' takes on a completely different meaning when using it on young children.  I can't tell you the number of times my daughters have asked for something and my response is 'maybe'.  MY definition of 'maybe' when given to my kids, is rarely equal to that of the dictionary definition.  Usual when I say 'maybe' to my daughters I'm responding to them to stop them from bugging me about something.  :-)  Thus in this case, 'maybe' usually means:

"My answer is no, but I don't want to tell you no because that will set you off on a big tantrum that will annoy me even more.  Therefore I'm telling you maybe in the hopes that an hour from now you'll have completely forgotten what you asked for"

I know I'm not the only parent out there that does this.  We parents have our own secret language!  Muhahahahahaha!