Ohh, Kermit When young children overextend common nouns and proper nouns to apply to objects beyond the appropriate category, they may not always be making mistakes. A child who sees an alpine marmot for the first time and says, “Ohh, Kermit,” may really be saying, “Ohh, there is an animal that looks like Kermit the Frog from Sesame Street.” The drive to speak and communicate is so strong that, lacking the appropriate word, children will come up with the closest approximation they know.