Do you have any family sayings that are an inside joke for your family, whether it be with your kids or your siblings, your parents? Like a secret language that only your family speaks?
"Bombs away" is one of the sayings in our family - this is to warn people below that a load of washing is heading their way over the bannister. A heads up so to speak, but not literally as you wouldn't want to get faceful of dirty undies and socks. I think I know where this saying came from - me! I have a disability of not being able to carry stuff down the stairs and not falling over - a la Eddie Murphy's aunt in "Delirious"
Another current favourite comes from a find on a cocktail fueled romp on Youtube (seriously, if you haven't done this with a few under the belt to lubricate the laughter then you really haven't lived!) My daughter, Keeley is mad about Harry Potter - in an almost OCD way. Anyway there is a great parody using hand puppets called "The Mysterious Ticking Noise"...after watching this several thousand times, my kids will now randomly rock it out to the amusement of everyone in our family. I don't think anyone else gets why it's so amusing..but we do.
The mysterious ticking noise
Our cat, KT is known by various in house names that only we would know - village idiot cat, BatCat (dinna dinna dinna) Mama cat, while our elderly cat Azra has always been known as Fluffy Bum Phipps.
Maybe this secret language, which is always evolving, is one of the strings that draws each family closer together creating a mini country known only to the citizens. How bewildering it must be for outsiders to start with, like living in a country where you don't know the predominate language but slowly you pick up the phrases and meanings and as you get more confident with the language, adding your own elements into it!
What a great activity to do - sit with your siblings and see what you can remember from your childhood family language. I might do this with my sister tomorrow night over our family dinner.
(Disclaimer: the children were not part of the cocktails - either as ingredients or par-takers!)
No comments:
Post a Comment