Thursday, December 18, 2008

TT #53 - Family language

In our family, we've misused or developed our own words that we use as everyday language. Some have come from the kids, and some just from total silliness. Here's a sampling:
  1. Hanatizer - Hand sanitizer. This indispensable tool has become a contraction in our family.
  2. Gril - girl. Adam said girl wrong once, and it stuck.
  3. Jas - yes. In some languages, ja does mean yes, but it is prounounced "ya" and not bastardized the way we say it.
  4. Burpies - Burp cloths which were my old cloth diapers. Both kids used them as lovies, and Dova, who is nearly five, still needs one when she is upset or when she goes to sleep. I realize that this is a pretty universal term, but not everyone understands when I say it.
  5. Cheese Nachos - This means, "do you understand me?" There was a quote in Newsweek about 15 years ago where someone was searching for the name, Henry Cisneros, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The quote was something like, "I can't remember his name, it sounds like Cheese Nachos." How this managed to morph into "do you understand me?" I have no idea. Sometimes it is shortened to just "nachos".
  6. Sna Sno Snuts - Pistachio nuts. When Adam was 2, he asked for some pistachio nuts, but we just couldn't understand him. Sna Sno Snuts? What the heck are those? When we finally figured out what he meant, the name stuck.
  7. Guacamole Cheese - Block of moldy cheese. Doug once asked me what the ingredients of my famous chili were and one of them was "block of moldy cheese." He heard that as "guacamole cheese" and it has stuck ever since. I cut the mold off first of course!
  8. Hot and Sweaty Chicken - Rotisserie chicken. Every time Dova sees rotisserie chicken at the grocery store, she calls it hot and sweaty chicken and that name fits it perfectly.
  9. Fresca - Refreshing. That's where the name Fresca comes from right?
  10. Winkle - Somehow wee wee and tinkle got mixed together as winkle. It started from a rhyme Doug made up, "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat." Wait, that doesn't explain where we got winkle from. Oh well!
  11. Kitty Gak - Cat hair balls. Hopefully outside but inevitably on our rugs. I know that gak is a real term for gooey stuff for kids and I won't go near it because I think it's a front for hair balls.
  12. Lavash - Normally a flat bread, but in our case, we use lavash to refer to the drool stains on pillows. Gross, I know!
  13. Googly-goo - Baby drool. We even have a song for this one. It goes to the tune of some song or advertising jingle we can't remember. The song transforms and ends with, "Ask any mermaid you happen to see, What's the best tuna? Chicken of the Sea". I tried on Melodyhound and Tunespotting with this entry to no avail.

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