Similar to plnnr - I used to call something I wasn’t sure of the name of, the “cere”. Gramma used to use it all the time - “Get me the book off the cere” (pointing at the table), “Take the towels off the “cere” in the bedroom and put them in the bathroom” (towels were on the bed). Ergo, “cere” was a word for “object you cannot remember the name of at the moment”. I was a clever kid, figuring out a new word on my own. <self-pride>
Didn’t dawn on me til a long time later that “cere” was a verbal corruption of “this here”. <smack>
I frequently say “not especially” for “not really”, but I got it from a movie so it can’t be just me who uses it. I’m just the only one I know who does.
All right! Keep 'em coming; I can use some of these. I’m going to see if I can get “You got it, Pontiac!” to catch on locally. I will probably point and make one of those winking-with-ancillary-tongue-clicking noises when I say it, because, well, how could you not.
I also sometimes use “It ain’t no Christmas ham, Pepe!” But that one was made up by The Onion, so it doesn’t really count.
I also say, ‘quel es der placer’ for ‘what’ if I don’t understand what someone has said. It’s basically made up to sound like a foreign phrase I heard on an old coffee commercial… it’s meaningless as far as I know.
Stan Freberg did a parody of Johnnie Ray’s “Cry” that was called “Try”. There’s a lyric in it that I’ve heard nowhere else. He uses the word “George” as a synonym for “cool” : “'Cause it’s real George to cry” (you have to hear the way he enunciates this line, it’d put you on the floor!)
So I have occasionally proclaimed something to be real George, but people have no idea what I’m talking about, and look at me like I’m from another planet.
I use that one all the time, generally referring to animals.
Random stranger: “I have three cats.”
Dogzilla: “What flavor?”
Only we spell it differently… You must be British or Canadian. You can say it with your spelling and I’ll say it with mine and we can both say nobody uses the expression but us…
A betterthinker is a person who thinks they’re better than everybody else.
Malkovich means “okay” or “fine”, as in “Is everything Malkovich with you?” or “Malkovich, thank you. And how are you?”
And I’m trying to get people to start referring to the airport currently known as Newark Liberty as “Ikea International Airport”. If you’ve looked out the window while flying in or out of Terminal C, you know why.
I use the word “cabbage” to mean junk. Like when I clean out the garage, that old pile crap in the corner = cabbage. It derived from the word garbage in a really drawn out accent like gaaahhhbaahhge. Heh.
I also use dang to mean “have sex with”. Like “I danged this hot chick the other day” or “Man, I’d like to dang that”.
Geez, I have a million different expressions and stuff. Most that talk to me (and my brother, we both speak the same) end up picking it up.
I’ll say “froggy” for “foggy,” as in “It’s a little froggy outside this morning.” It’s a morph from a goofy tape recording my friend’s brothers made when they were kids that involved the word “froggy.” I just started using it in a different context – don’t know why.
