Monday, January 14, 2008

Shorthand and Other Secrets of Our House

At our house, Elise has taken to shortening the names of various things. For example, underpants are "unders", new shoes are "news" and so on.

Some things, however, are already too zippy and fun to be shortened. It's not "Hullabaloo," it's "Cranium Hullabaloo!"

We've also got some favorite phrases around here that we've been practicing.

When we play Candy Land and someone lands on the square just behind someone else, they get to say, "I'm breathin' down the back o' yer neck!" (They also get to say, "wa wa wa waaaaaaa" if they pick a "special" card that sends them backward.)

When someone is clearly up to no good, they are accused of making "nefarious" plans. Or of being nefarious.

Often, Elise will decide that she doesn't want to do some non-negotiable thing. Like take a bath. Or brush her hair. Or put on shoes. Before the protests get too loud and long, Andy just says, "Duly noted. I will add it to the record." And then the bathing or brushing or shoeing commences. And woe betide the mommy who tries to inflict the dread bath without making note and adding complaints to the record.

And of course, the longtime favorites at mealtimes are, "soup's on" and "come and get it!"

Do you, gentle reader, have any favorite shorthand references or oft used phrases at your house? And will you share them? I love the way families develop their own lingo! And the miles just melt away when you can use a phrase used by someone you love.

4 comments:

Peter said...

Yeah, we totally have some in-house expressions that are, I'm sure, unique to us. Some of them are so horrible that they don't bear repeating to anyone who could theoretically be compelled to testify against us in a court of law. ;-)

Some favorites:
"Bye hon, have a good day" becomes "Don't die"
(My friend Ben uses "Earn lot's of money!" in the same context)
"Ceylon tea" becomes "Cylon tea"
"I love you." "Yeah, I know. Stay cool baby."

There are loads more, I'm sure, but some things have to be kept for us.

Anonymous said...

Before the protests get too loud and long, Andy just says, "Duly noted. I will add it to the record." And then the bathing or brushing or shoeing commences.

Really?? So she still does the thing she doesn't want to do, she just insists on having her displeasure duly noted?

I hope that'll work on mine!

SWE said...

Thanks, Peter!

And yes, nerdiah, she actually does. This is a fairly new innovation, so it may stop working once the novelty wears off.

My other favorite thing to do is to head off asking for things at the store by asking ~her~ if we need one of absolutely everything I see on the shelf. That way, I get the fun of winding her up (and being very silly), she gets to tell me "no" and we've played the gimmie game on my terms instead of hers. Mwahahahaa

cacophonyx said...

Oh that is SUCH a great blog post.. you can expect one from me (as well as the random question answering one.. I've not forgotten!)

jX