Does Your Family Have It's Own language ?

[MissMina]

Words or phrases that have evolved over time or quotes that have taken on a new meaning?
For example:
"Aslan is on the move". When I see a friend come online
"It's nicer than Betty Monroe had" When evaluating a purchase.
"Gun it April" Could be used in the car or anyplace where more speed is needed.
"Ward I'm worried about the Beaver" When wanting to discuss a problem.
There are also a lot of made up words and phrases.
Please tell me we are not the only ones who do this.

 

[OUpearlgirl]

Absolutely..

"Sharp stick." Means I'd rather have a sharp stick in my eye than do what we're doing.

"I felt like Grandma today." Means you realized you're becoming a packrat and made yourself throw stuff out.

There are a lot more, but they'd be hard to explain.

 

[Haven]

YES! I love this topic. When I teach etymology we do a big project where each student examines his own idiolect and his family's sociolect. It's so much fun! We always learn the most about each other during this project. Once students identify the features of their particular languages, they then examine them and determine what the languages expose about them as individuals and about their families. We create a bunch of great artifacts along the way. So cool.

We say:
bubba = dog
kiki = cat
don't tell Helga = Used when we do something improper or unsavory
blame it on Anisa = Used when nobody wants to take the blame for whatever just happened
bernickin' it = Used when someone is walking around with his shirt riding up his back due to friction from rubbing against a backpack
scare the eggs = Shock the eggs (after hard boiling) This started when the phrase was lost in translation from German to English, and now two generations later we still say it.

There are so many more. We also speak in movie lines, so if you haven't seen the same movies we have (over and over again) then you're just going to be lost around us.

 

[lulu]

Yes we do, pink ski daddy.

"It's turtles all the way down" means you can try but you won't change the situation.
"cockroaches with galoshes"-someone is overreacting to a situation.
"put two pennies on a railroad track"-it is what it is.
"just like Paul to the Vizigoths"-when someone is giving an irritating and pompous speech about what you should do.

And many many more.

 

[Haven]

lulu--Your family has the cutest language ever!

I'd love to hear the back story on anyone's phrases, if you don't mind sharing. It's so interesting how things evolve and become a part of our regular speech.

 

[zoebartlett]

There are a few words that my sister made up when she was little that we still use to this day.

 

[elrohwen]

I can't think of many right now. Hmm ... I'll have to pay attention.

At the beginning of a road trip, DH always says "We're off like a terd of hurtles!" since his dad said that growing up.

 

[Haven]

I can't think of many right now. Hmm ... I'll have to pay attention.

At the beginning of a road trip, DH always says "We're off like a terd of hurtles!" since his dad said that growing up.

Hahaha--That reminds me of another thing my family says. We call sayings like this one "SDJs" = Stupid Dad Jokes
I think it's cute that your husband says something his dad always said.

 

[MissMina]

In our family hamburgers will always be "havenganders" and "witchy" if we want a cheeseburger.

When something sustains only cosmetic damage we say "It don't hurt the running of it any".

When passing a particularly unappealing male on our Sunday drives, my Dad RIP always said
"There's your last chance to go steady".

 

[Amber St. Clare]

I will frequenly say to my son: "I can always adopt a Rumanian baby". This is from the Absolutely Fabulous episode "Iso" wherein Edina {truly my alter-ego!} threatens her daughter because she's jealous her daughter is moving on with her life. I say it when he has been out socializing/working and I don't see him too often.

 

[sctsbride09]

Elrohwen-My grandpa used to say that too,except reversed, anytime we would get in the car, haha. "were off like a herd of turtles.."

My Dh and I have some, but they arent sayings really, just words to describe other things. For example dogs are moomoos to us. The explanation of that one is so stupid, but it must be given..One of our dogs is a dobe, and when we first got her she was tiny with these huge paws and she would eat these massive amounts of food, leading us to call her moose. Well, she kept growing bigger and bigger (of course) and the nickname moose just stuck. Eventually we started calling all large dogs mooses, and then it dropped to moomoo, and now we call all dogs moomoos. See? I said it was stupid.

We have loads more words that describe other things, but most would require another explanation as stupid as that one.

ETA- I would never use the above word in front of anyone but my DH, same with other words, people would think Im stupid/crazy.

 

[Nashville]

Yep! If someone is skeptical of something another family member is saying, they say "Come on, Eileen."

If someone is doing something/driving too slow someone will always say "Molasses going uphill."

Brothers greet each other with "Broseph"

Clicker= remote control
Puff= blanket
The Muddy= the front hall

 

[MissMina]

If neither of us wants to take the blame for something around the house we say "Well there are four people living here"
(Two of them are cats)

When we were growing up there was a song called "Ruby". We played with our dog by pretending to hold something in our
cupped hands and pass it from person to person. Somewhere along the line the "something" became "Ruby" and developed
a life of its own for many years.

Which reminds me that we also use a lot of what I call "Iowa Expressions" from my youth

"It's colder than a well diggers destination"

"Come and get your supper before I throw it to the hogs".

When talking about making an expensive purchase
"Let's get two .One to spit on and one to bury"

"If I had a diamond ring and you had a feather up you nose we'd both be tickled".

 

[monarch64]

My dad and I use a lot of southernisms.

Each of my immediate family members has a particular euphemism for "I love you" when saying goodbye to me:

Mom=You be a good egg.
Dad= Don't take any wooden nickels.
Bro=Be careful!

 

[zoebartlett]

I can't think of many right now. Hmm ... I'll have to pay attention.

At the beginning of a road trip, DH always says "We're off like a terd of hurtles!" since his dad said that growing up.

When I was in middle school, a neighbor drove her son and me to school. She ALWAYS said that..."we're off like a herd of turtles!" as we pulled out of the driveway.

 

[joflier]

"That'll fly like a pregnant pole vaulter." That's one of my favorites that my dad uses - meaning: no chance in he**.

He also can't say a lot of words, so you just have understand his lingo.

Frunal = Funeral

Salon Dalon = Really means Celine Dion

That weird blond lady that dresses funny = Madonna

Silla Manilli = Salmonella

We have a distant relative named Tuesday. My dad can't remember that, and always refers to her as Friday.....

 

[elrohwen]

I just remembered that DH use a lot of phrases from Seinfeld and Anchorman.

A favorite is, "These pretzels are makin' me thirsty" whenever we need something to drink.
Or "Serenity now!" when we're stressed out.
Or "I love scotch. Scotchy scotch scotch." whenever we're drinking something tasty (usually beer, because we don't actually drink scotch).
And DH's favorite insult, "You are a smelly pirate hooker!" (to which I usually respond, "Your hair looks stupid!")
And "Ribs. I had ribs for lunch, that's why I'm doing this" as we pick at our teeth after a meal.

 

[MissMina]

joflier
Your Dad sounds like "more fun than a barrel of monkeys".
Reminds me of a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band in Japan who call themselves
"Leotard Skynyrd" because the lead singer's Dad couldn't say Lynyrd.
I tend to give everybody names that are easier for me to remember or pronounce than their real ones.

Elrohwen
"Not that there's anything wrong with that"

 

[elrohwen]

MissMina, that's another good one!

 

[joflier]

joflier
Your Dad sounds like "more fun than a barrel of monkeys".
Reminds me of a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band in Japan who call themselves
"Leotard Skynyrd" because the lead singer's Dad couldn't say Lynyrd.
I tend to give everybody names that are easier for me to remember or pronounce than their real ones.

Elrohwen
"Not that there's anything wrong with that"

Yup - my dad is basically the most hilarious person I know. And he absolutely could not care less that he doesn't pronounce anything right. Or remember people's names.

Oh, some other funny quotes of his.....He's a homebuilder - and we've been doing some projects on my house, so these relate to on-the-job comments.....

"It's good enough for the women I date." (he and my mom have been married for almost 40 years which makes this comment all the more funny)

"If you can't see it from 41 (the local highway) - it's good enough!

"You want me to bring a garbage can?" (meaning: you need to clean your house)

 

[redfaerythinker]

oh yeah, some of them even have hand motions.

we call my grandfather the ant and my grandmother the grasshopper from the fable. So whenever we're being super productive we say we're being ant like and use our fingers as antennae.

Sometimes my mother is also ADD while she's being ant-like, so then we only use one antennae.

My mom is super forgetful so we call her the giraffe, because every day is a new day for a giraffe. So whenever she forgets something we put both hands together and wiggle the first two fingers like the horns on a giraffe.

My fiance is a bit of a delicate flower, a play on the fact that my father was a fragile blossom. A few weeks ago we saw a Dogs 101 episode on afghans and they're super sensitive and delicate. So whenever he is being silly and sensitive we pretend we're stroking the long flowing ears we'd have if we were afghans.

Toe-paws- My parents are huge UGA fans and they hate Clemson, One day my dad wanted to say that UGA would step on their paws or toes, but said both instead. I go to Clemson and it's SO hard to not say it because it's a part of my vocabulary on the subject!

Throw the A's up- this came from a friend of mine, whenever something was awkward she would put her hands over her head to make an A, the hight of the hands is correlated to how awkward the situation. So if something weird has just happened you can look around and see people quietly throwing their A's up.

I'm sure there's more but that's all that came to mind immediately.

 

[CourtLynB]

Yes!!

My mom always says something's "Going to go over like a fart in church"

For some reason at any family dinner where my parents, my brother and I are all there (and now includes my BF as well), at least one person comes up with a line from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. My brother can do the rant that Clark does near the end when he gets the letter from the jelly of the month club perfectly. And of course no dinner is complete without a couple of Cousin Eddie one-liners. Thankfully when I first started dating my BF, he thought it was hilarious and he gets in on it too now.

My brother will call my BF and I Todd and Margo after the yuppie neighbors sometimes. Like "ALL-right MAR-go"

 

[MissMina]

redfaerythinke
Loving the hand gesture stories
But my dear, whatever are you doing at Clemson?
(DS graduated from USC in 2004)


CourtLynnB
Dad says "Going over like a lead balloon"
Brother says "Going over like a t*rd in a punchbowl"

 

[kittybean]

Our secret language is Ukrainian. It's not spoken much around these parts, so we can pretty much get away with saying anything, anywhere .

We also love to quote old SNL skits. Some that immediately come to mind: the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky/Saddam Hussein conference call (Saddam: "MONICA! You never call me anymore! Thanks for the beret--I love it!" Monica: "Bill never wears his!"); John Belushi doing Samurai Delicastessen; Christopher Walken doing "The Continental" and "The Census Taker" with Tim Meadows; Gilda Radner as Lisa Lubner; Chris Farley as Matt Foley, the motivational speaker; Cheri Oteri and Will Ferrell as the Spartan Cheerleaders; and on and on and on.

 

[Haven]

I just remembered that DH use a lot of phrases from Seinfeld and Anchorman.

A favorite is, "These pretzels are makin' me thirsty" whenever we need something to drink.
Or "Serenity now!" when we're stressed out.
Or "I love scotch. Scotchy scotch scotch." whenever we're drinking something tasty (usually beer, because we don't actually drink scotch).
And DH's favorite insult, "You are a smelly pirate hooker!" (to which I usually respond, "Your hair looks stupid!")
And "Ribs. I had ribs for lunch, that's why I'm doing this" as we pick at our teeth after a meal.

Oh man would we get along well in real life. DH speaks Seinfeld, and I speak Anchorman. People who aren't familiar with both just don't last long around here. (<--I thought this smiley was cute, but now I see that it is called "rodent".)

My sister designed one of her sorority's bar crawl shirt's in college, and you can bet it had a picture of Ron Burgundy saying "I love scotch. Scotchy scotch scotch" on the back of it. She gave one to me as a birthday gift that year. She put her own bar crawl shirt on her life-size standup of Buddy the Elf, incidentally. We really like Will Ferrel.

I always thought that when my family said "Robert's your father's brother and Bob's your uncle" it was a family-only thing until I heard Bear Grylls say "and Bob's your uncle!" on his TV show one day. I was all "I didn't know we were related to Bear Grylls! That's awesome!"

We call eggs fried in the center of a piece of toast "eierkuchen" even though they aren't eierkuchen at all. My family is German, and I think my mom figured that eggs in toast are close enough to egg cake, so why not!

 

[portia]

I just remembered that DH use a lot of phrases from Seinfeld and Anchorman.

A favorite is, "These pretzels are makin' me thirsty" whenever we need something to drink.
Or "Serenity now!" when we're stressed out.
Or "I love scotch. Scotchy scotch scotch." whenever we're drinking something tasty (usually beer, because we don't actually drink scotch).
And DH's favorite insult, "You are a smelly pirate hooker!" (to which I usually respond, "Your hair looks stupid!")
And "Ribs. I had ribs for lunch, that's why I'm doing this" as we pick at our teeth after a meal.

Elrohwen, that's so funny! My DH and I use that same line. We also say "I love lamp". And we''ll say to the cats "Zoe (or Haley), you know I don't speak spanish".

 

[portia]

My mom says umfrella for umbrella and squarrel for squirrel when talking to me or my brother. She started it a long time ago and it kind of just stuck.

'All day sucker' is when my dad pours an extra large glass of wine for someone (or himself). He has a bad habit of doing that even though he knows it's not proper.

My brother and dad who are both pilots say...
Tango Sierra = Tough sh*t
Charlie Foxtrot = Cluster ****

 

[portia]

I just remembered that DH use a lot of phrases from Seinfeld and Anchorman.

A favorite is, "These pretzels are makin' me thirsty" whenever we need something to drink.
Or "Serenity now!" when we're stressed out.
Or "I love scotch. Scotchy scotch scotch." whenever we're drinking something tasty (usually beer, because we don't actually drink scotch).
And DH's favorite insult, "You are a smelly pirate hooker!" (to which I usually respond, "Your hair looks stupid!")
And "Ribs. I had ribs for lunch, that's why I'm doing this" as we pick at our teeth after a meal.

Oh man would we get along well in real life. DH speaks Seinfeld, and I speak Anchorman. People who aren't familiar with both just don't last long around here. (<--I thought this smiley was cute, but now I see that it is called "rodent".)

My sister designed one of her sorority's bar crawl shirt's in college, and you can bet it had a picture of Ron Burgundy saying "I love scotch. Scotchy scotch scotch" on the back of it. She gave one to me as a birthday gift that year. She put her own bar crawl shirt on her life-size standup of Buddy the Elf, incidentally. We really like Will Ferrel.

I always thought that when my family said "Robert's your father's brother and Bob's your uncle" it was a family-only thing until I heard Bear Grylls say "and Bob's your uncle!" on his TV show one day. I was all "I didn't know we were related to Bear Grylls! That's awesome!"

We call eggs fried in the center of a piece of toast "eierkuchen" even though they aren't eierkuchen at all. My family is German, and I think my mom figured that eggs in toast are close enough to egg cake, so why not!

Haven, I love that movie Anchorman! I just found a website that had some good quotes and the dialog just cracks me up. The first time I watched it I didn't find it that funny, but all the times I watched it since I'm crying laughing.

 

[soocool]

My mom used to say "Jiggle the jello" - means "get moving" and Huh-what? whenever my dad spoke


My dad: "Vat vaz dat?" "Var da mooshtard?" "anything Kopf" "Ach!!! - "Das spiel ist aus" (the jig is up) (could you guess my dad is German?) He would be extremely upset if anyone said they were giving him a "gift" and we were never allowed to use the word.

DH, DD, and I have borrowed phrases from out favorite movies/tv shows for our secret language. Some examples are:

Hasta la bye-bye (from Back to the future)

Bazinga (Big Bang Theory)

"How You Doin'?" (Joey from Friends)

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Such funny posts!

Dudge: A little bit of something (like 'smidge' or 'smudge') "Move that picture over a dudge"

Mrs. McGillicutty: The word for any married woman "How are you doing, Mrs. McGillicutty?"

Slumgullian: Any sort of basic meat/tomato/pasta dish (especially if made with macaroni!) "We're having slumgullian tonight, nothing fancy."

Puppis: Dog "Did you take the puppis for a walk today?"

We (DH & I) also talk in movie quotes a lot... A favorite is, "Your f-ing uterus is a f-ing secret!" (From 'Away We Go') It's a way of saying, "This is a stupid thing to bicker about."