family friend, Giorgio, who opened the church for us. Giorgio made it easier to communicate because he spoke French (he has cousins on the “other side of the mountains”, meaning France).

Paolo, Giorgio, Gaspare, PJ, and Stefano

The church, the Chiesa Sant’ Andrea a Ramats, is mostly 15th century with a Romanesque apse. Unprepossessing on the exterior, it possesses vibrantly colored frescoes.

It astonished us to find frescoes like this in a tiny village perched on the side of a mountain in the Alps. This ensemble was created by an anonymous artist dubbed by art historians as the “Master of Cognet and Ramats”, referring to the frescoes at the nearby Cappella di Notre Dame del Coignet. The frescoes feature a fine annunciation on the apsidal arch and the life of Saint'hurt', 'ouch', 'ow', 'pain', and 'sore'. Study 2 surveyed 111 parents of children aged 3 to 6 years old concerning words the children commonly used for pain. Parents rated their children's frequency and age of first use of the seven pain word-stems. Both studies indicated that the most frequently used word-stems were 'hurt', 'ouch', and 'ow'. These words first emerged in children's vocabularies as early as 18 months of age. The word-stem 'pain' was used relatively infrequently and gradually emerged in children's vocabularies. The findings indicate that young children rely on a select number of words to describe pain, with these words appearing in children's vocabularies at an early age. These results have implications for developmentally appropriate pain assessment in young children.