Your family's made-up words/phrases

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

Let’s see - from me, “yandy” = “lady.” I don’t remember how old I was, but we were in the grocery store parking lot, and a woman in a Mustang was taking her sweet time about backing out. My mom muttered, “Move your Mussy, lady,” and I picked it up and went about saying, “Move your Mussy, yandy.”

Also from me, Necco Wafers are “sortas,” because I was a notoriously picky eater, and wasn’t sure I’d like them. Mom kept trying to describe them, and then my dad said, “Aren’t they sort of like Sweet Tarts?” Mom dubiously replied, “Well, sorta, I guess…” and since then, they’ve been “sortas.”

I also called slushies “dumas” (pronounced DOO-muh) but for the life of me I can’t remember why. I just remember being mightily embarrassed when once as a teenager I asked for a duma at the counter and then couldn’t figure out the :confused: look I got in return!

My brother called Life Savers “bendas,” but the reasoning behind that has also been lost to the ages.

OK, I just noticed that 3 out of the 4 are associated with junk food - I wonder what that says about us!

62

Two from my dad -

Whenever we kids did something wrong or stupid and were questioned by Dad about why, any response we gave that began with, “I thought…” was interrupted with “You know what happened to Thought, don’t you?” Anybody stupid enough to say “no” was given the rest of the story, “Thought thought he farted, but he shit himself”.

I have no idea.

He refers to toilet paper as ReachBack Paper.

We call pacifiers Binkys.

63

Ah-DAH! – Short for “adorable.” Often used as a noun. “Look at that kitten! He’s a big ah-dah!”

64

after attending the university, and supposedly being an adult (or a dolt, as we called it) my room mate and I would make grocery lists, but they became somewhat bizzare. Examples:

eggs = chicken fuck
meat (generic) = dead cow
meat (luncheon meat) = cow shit scrambled
milk = lactic intolerance issues
ice cream = cold soup (probably because we tended to stop at bars on the way home and had problems with meltage)

There are others but I hadn’t thought of this in years. That was many moons ago (my 30th college reunion is coming up). Of course being adult (a dolts) we thought this was even funnier. Now it just seems pathetic, good thing this is in the past and most of you don’t know me! :smiley:

65

Let’s see…

Tiddly Room – The room in the house that contains the washer & dryer, and usually the water heater, etc. I was in HIGH SCHOOL before I learned that this was not the real name for such rooms (they’re really “utilities rooms”).

Blanna – Banana

Vave – Baby (from my cousin, who was 2 when his brother was born)

Moose – Affectionate term for any large dog, but especially for pets. Mom will pretty much always pet any large dog and say, “Aw… hi, little moose.”

Oshcoff – Washcloth

Coofie – Excuse me

Awfuls and spoiled eggs – Waffles and soft-boiled eggs. From when my aunt was toddler. She’d been terribly sick for a very long time, and threw up everything my grandparents tried feeding her. They, and the doctor, were quite concerned that she might die. And then, one morning, she turned the corner. She walked into my grandparents’ bedroom, crawled onto the bed and announced she was hungry (which was huge all by itself). When they asked what she would like to eat, she grinned and said, “Awfuls and spoiled eggs!” It’s now a standard breakfast request throughout the extended family.

66

troller (noun): Remote control(ler.) Originated with my sister’s friend’s brother.

troll (verb): To change channels, usually aimlessly.

faffalash (noun): Flashlight. Originated with the grandson of a guy who ran an astronomy club I used to go to.

shodie (noun): soda. Originated with my high school boyfriend’s neice. I’m pleased to report that I’ve spread this one to my entire gaming group.

artoo (verb): to adjust the climate controls and or radio when you are the passenger in a car. This came from the old X-wing game where your astromech droid could automatically handle some functions for you. “Honey, the windshield is fogging up. Would you artoo for me? And find another radio station while you’re at it.”

pooter (noun): 1. cat poop. 2. the cat.

pooter (verb): to make a pooter (def. 1).

spawkawy puwse (noun): Any purse. One of my cousins got a little toy purse with sequins on it, which she showed off to everyone, telling them it was her “spawkawy puwse.” Since then, everybody says, “Hey, where’s my spawkawy puwse?” or “Sure, I’ll donate to your volleyball club. Just hand me my spawkawy puwse.” “If you’re feeling gassy, you can get a Rolaid out of my spawkawy puwse.” If it actually is sparkly, it’s funnier, but this is certainly not necessary.

roadkill (noun): my husband’s slippers. He had some suede, fleece-lined ones that honestly did look like something that had been scraped off of asphalt. His new ones don’t look like that, but they’re still referred to as “the roadkill.”

And we always called macaroni and cheese, uh, “macaroni and cheese.”

67

Mark it on the ice - a debt that does not have to be repaid. Anything marked on ice is gone when the ice melts, therefore it no longer exists.

Garotchkee - Key. To the garage.

68

This thread is so fun. I’ve got to participate.

Lake Titticaca - our all-purpose trivia answer. The evolution of it is that every time my dad doesn’t know a geography question on Jeopardy, that’s his answer. He’s right about once every year or two.

Derbies - Dad again, while looking at all the dead leaves on his lawn, says “Look at all the derbies on my lawn!”, which is actually supposed to be “debris”, but that’s dad.

Survultive - A word my little brother made up when he was 8 or 9. It’s an adjective that can mean whatever you want, but most often means “something especially wonderful”.

Clicker-Dicker - Dad, once again. It’s the remote control.

Guts - What my dad called “Goulets” when he made them with a spaghetti dinner.

"Hold your slow" - When making fun of my husband using the phrase, “Slow your roll”, I got flustered and said “Hold your slow”. Every time I think of it now or when one of us says it, we burst out laughing.

Glee-Glee - What my little brother called pantyhose when he was a child

La-La - What my brother and my mother called each other when he was little, although she still calls him that - he’s 30 years old.

Blankie - Not a unique word for blanket, but I still call it that and I’m 34. I also have my husband calling it that now.

I have several names for my cat, Mr. Bean: Beaner, Beanerhead, Beanerbutt, Bud, Butterbutt, Fatty McChubberson, Butterball (because he looks like a turkey when he sits with his paws under him).

And when I talk to him, I usually say, “Oo-schzee-boo-boo!”, which means “You’re so cute!”. I have a special tongue-clicking “song” that I sing to him when I leave every morning.

Oh, and we called mac and cheese, Kraft (because that’s the brand we used). It wasn’t until I was 21 or so that I stopped calling it that.

Okay, that’s enough.

69

This one wasn’t my family, but at a CPA firm I worked at. Every time we were confused about something, we would either say we’re "confuzzled" or "confoosed".

70

I have to point out that eggs are actually chicken menses (yes, you earn your chicken “red wings” three times over every time you have an omlette), not the result of chicken fuck.

There was a Something Positive strip on the subject, but I can’t find it.

71

All the following were initiated by my daughter’s baby talk: The remote control at our house is the kamote, yogurt is yacko, anything you can get wet is waterable, bananas are leelas, “buckalick” is a cup of milk. My niece provided “wowees” for flowers and “daydoes” for doggies. My best friend’s kids came up with “Moken Floyd” for remote control (we have no idea) and “Bockia” for popsicle.

My nephew had to be reminded constantly about manners when he was little, and he got very annoyed about it, so he started to interrupt himself: “Can I have - PEEEEESE AUNTIE - candy?” My husband still says things like, “Will you make me peese auntie coffee?” and “Can you reach the peese auntie kamote under the coffee table?” Another nephew mis-heard his mother’s pronunciation of “Chicken Marsala” and blurted out, “We’re having chickenhorse salad!” So that’s its name now.

My family’s a bunch of home-cookers, so convenience food was a special treat. When we had macaroni and cheese, we got it in our special Bozo the Clown bowls. Hence, macaroni and cheese is called “Bozogettis.”

And our standard Trivial Pursuit “hail Mary” answer is always “Ray Walston.”

72

Brosh-in-squasher - Because my sister couldn’t pronounce the correct name for the liverwurst (I think it’s Brawnswieger or something like that). I once said it in front of my fiance. I think he thinks my whole family is insane.

shiver-bubbles (or goosebumps, goosepimples etc. to most normal people.)

73

Used in this context, ickypants would be an adjetive.

74

Rhino – anyone who’s doing something stupid or ignorant, not paying attention, a careless person.

It comes from the book Everyone Poops, where it’s noted that while some animals are attentive to their pooping, others aren’t. Our three year-old picked up on this and started calling drivers who drift in and out of their lane, or stay stopped at a green light, or cut people off, rhinos. It has subsequently spread beyond the automotive world and now applies to any kind of non-thinking.

75

Hmm. Reading through these has reminded me of a couple more.

Woosterhooster: Worcestershire sauce. Started by my stepfather, who still couldn’t say “Worcestershire” if his life depended on it.

Paris: The default answer my dad and I use for geographical questions in Trivial Pursuit when we have no idea. You would be amazed – nay, floored – at how often this is correct.

Oniamutnami: pronounced “oh-knee-uh-mutt-nuh-mee”. Basically our family’s term for “fnord”. Started by me, at the age of Really Freakin’ Young, when I apparently decided I wanted to request something from my parents. Me: “Oniamutnami.” Them: “Um…you want a cookie?” Me: (rejecting cookie) “Oniamutnami.” Them: (picking me up) “Do you need to be changed? No…” Me: “Oniamutnami.” Them: “Ok, how about some milk?” Me: (getting pissed) “ONIAMUTNAMI!” Them: “…” Me: “ONIAMUTNAMI! ONIAMUTNAMI!!!”

They never did figure out what the hell I wanted. My mom sure does love that story, though.

76

My grandma had dozens of these words, which weren’t so much made-up words as mispronounciations of real words, or real words used to mean something other than their real meaning.

For example, her word for a thingumajig or whatchumacallit was doings. Hence “Pass me the… the doings”. The tea towel might be “the white doings with the red stripes”, while an egg whisk could be “the metal stirry doings”.

She always pronounced “picturesque” as “picture-skwee”, which always cracked me up.

She used the word ullage to mean “that nasty water that’s left in the bowl when you’ve almost finished washing up, containing soggy bits of egg and other unpleasantness, and at least two teaspoons”. I always assumed she had made this word up, but I looked it up and found it meant something completely different: “the volume by which a liquid container falls shgort of being full; or, the quantity of liquid lost from a container through leakage or evaporation.” *Sort of * related, I suppose…

77

My dad had a ton of these. The rest of the family has a tendency to make up words, but my dad was the King.

“Someone did a Smith.” (shit—bad smell.) Smith was the name of a coworker that he really, really hated. When I was a kid I really thought “Smith” meant something shitty-smelling.

“He threw a HerbandEffie.” (hysterical fit.) Herb and Effie were a couple he knew. After Herb died, Effie threw a gratuitous hysterical fit in an inappropriate setting (according to my dad). For some reason my dad focused on that. (We didn’t know Effie anymore, never socialized with Effie anymore, so the use of the term wasn’t going to get back to her in any way.) It took me a while to figure out that “herbandeffie” was really “Herb and Effie” and that there was a story behind it.

“Look at those Daphnes.” (pigs.) He knew a woman named Daphne that was very pig-like in some way (I don’t think it was just her weight. My dad’s sisters, I, and others in his family were overweight and he wasn’t mean about it.) To this day I associate the name Daphne with pigs.

“Going to go get some Colonel Billy Goat chicken.” (Col. Sanders, Kentuky Fried Chicken.) I don’t know why he started that. It was funny. We still refer to Col. Sanders and Col. Billy Goat.

Man, he was weird.

The rest of the family has weird made up names too. It would take too long to list them all here.

78

Every family must have one of these catch-all answers for certain questions. My dad’s is “A Tale Of Two Cities”. Mine is “Ivan Lendl”.

79

That reminds me – ours is goose nibbles.

80

In Trivial Pursuit, a friend of mine always uses Billy “Whiteshoes” Johnson after I got, what he thought was an impossible question, correct with that answer. Also when playing Yahtze, a full house is always “fuffuah!!” because my brother yelled that one time after getting one. Did I mention that he was probably 25 or 26 years old at the time? :smiley: