Every family has them. Special little words that, to the average Joe, have no meaning, but inside the family mean other things.
For example, my family calls blueberries ‘boobies,’ due to a toddler’s inability to pronounce all of the letters in the word blueberries.
Other words:
Pagaya = Penguin
Breakdist = Breakfast
Buppy = Butt
Bokato; Broken Toe = Remote Control
Friginow or frigilater; frigilater = Refridgerator
I know a few families who use the words ‘poot’ and ‘fluffer’ and ‘fluffernutter’ in place of ‘fart.’ (I would never use the word ‘fluffernutter’ to describe something like that; to me, a fluffernutter is a sandwich with PB and marshmallow cream.)
Anyway, what are your family-isms?
[sub]I need some more reassurance that mine isn’t the only family that does this![/sub]
This started waaaaay back when my Dad bought a very early model of a TV with a remote control. It had a dial to change channels, and when you used the Remote, it would make this “conk conk conk” noise when the dial physically moved. Thus the name Conker.
It’s infectious, too. I’ve managed to get every roommate who’s ever lived with me to call remote controls conkers.
The best, though, was when Mr. Athena started calling the garage door opener the “garage conker.” heheheee… I’d never thought of that!
My family refers to the remote control as the “clicker”. My current flatmate refers to it as the “penis”. Apparently because it is an object of tremendous power. Is it ethical for me to try to date her boyfriend if she dumps him?
They will also refer to milk as moo-juice and hotdogs as cow-lips.
Enchiladas are referred to as “enchildas” due to a typo on a hospital menu board.
[li] kivvers: covers, as in bedclothes[/li][li] retch: reach, as in reach that for me[/li][li] Tony Nelson: Half Nelson. My dad used to practice wrestling moves on us when we were kids.[/li][li] tenchiper: temperature[/li][li] Izzitsoo?: Is that so?[/li][li] lemon syringe pie: lemon meringue pie[/li][li] lellah: yellow[/li]And then there were the nicknames, unique to the mind of my father…
We owe both of these familyisms to my father, who was often unappreciative of our efforts in the kitchen.
shitcakes: salmon patties. Dad was more of a meat and potatoes type of guy. Mom was frying up salmon patties one night and Dad, looking on in consternation, says “Oh great, we’re having shitcakes for dinner.”
slop: an experimental stir-fry my brother whipped up that relied heavily on chinese cabbage. Although Dad ate it after his dire pronouncement, we all found it hilarious, and pretty much any stir-fry we make is still referred to as “slop” to this day.
Yes, my family has a few of those…and I thought we were the only ones!
high pream = ice cream
busketti = spaghetti
bookpond = coupon book (had no idea what this was for almost a month)
Mifdaniel = Nathaniel (took us forever to figure out this kid’s name)
Farz = Troy (my youngest son called his older brother this for ages)
bychoo = Halloween jack-o-lantern (my oldest screamed this in terror when he was two; we finally realized he was saying “BITE YOU!” The name has stuck for 18 years now)
bokickle = motorcycle
Bayko = my sister, Leslie. My kids call her that, E. E. and Faker. Bayko is because my youngest two couldn’t say Faker. (Long story behind the nickname Faker)
Tay-Tay = my nephews’ pet name for me
I’m sure I will remember more later. We say stuff like this all the time. I haven’t called ice cream ice cream in more than 9 years.
My sister and I would say things backwards when we were kids so “Put out the doof-tac and the klim for the nettiks” became the norm. I guess technically “snettik” would be correct, but whatever.
One year my cousin came camping with us, and got the concept, but utterly failed in the execution and so the phrase “We want food” accompanied by pounding of silverware on the picnic table to piss off mom became something resembling “Eeeeeweee teneeeweee doof.” We still use it 20 years later.
It’s very hard to explain to a 2 year old why the house has a bathroom, a bedroom, a living room, a dining room and a kitchen. Hence was born, kitchroom. We can still be heard calling it that to this day.
Pork chops = Cho pops
hamburgers = hambeburgers
ribs = rimbs
popcicles = popisicles
toe nails = toe claws
KFC’s beans = chicken beans
My sister and I always asked my dad to say “fuu-fuu” at his magazine…we wanted him to whistle. (I think we were about 2 and 3 at the time with no idea how to whistle)
