The language of family…
BY NATALIE ANDERSONApparently sometimes twins develop their own secret language. So far, for our twin girls, this hasn't been the case. Maybe it's because they're not identical (although debate still rages among some within the family as to whether they're identical or not. As their Mum, I say not).
Anyway, I've read that in reality this "secret language" is often simply words that they mispronounce together but they both understand the mispronunciation - and no one else has a clue. Cute? Maybe. Proof of a deeper sixth sense kind of relationship? No.
But I do reckon that language can be key in developing a sense of relationship or kinship. It's like that family in that movie The Castle when the Dad and the son would "discuss" the asking price listed for things in the Trade and Exchange - and the dad would say the seller was "dreamin". And when the father would ask his wife what she called the dinner, she'd say its macaroni cheese or something fairly simple and he'd reckon it was "beautiful" - same question, same response every night. A wonderful small ritual.
We've slowly been building our own family lexicon. Little words and phrases that are daft to others but fun for us. Like many, it started with pet names given to the kids when they were babies, but now the children are developing them themselves.
When our eldest daughter got her first certificate - for some toddler swim class or something - she called it a Terrificate - combining the "terrific" praise with the document itself. So much more fun than just a "certificate", don't you think? We only get Terrificates now. And we have a slew of sayings for round the dinner table:
"Less chat, more chew" - commonly heard at the dinner table, along with "Eat your Meat" (a phrase which if required can be turned into a song and dance routine).
We also have a mini-English lesson incorporated - rice is nice (rhyme) versus rice rocks (alliteration). And from there we've moved on to rhyming slang. This was started by the son - when he said he didn't like his "Where's Wally" - i.e. the cauli. Now we also have Rosebud = spud and Colonel Mustard = custard. We'll slowly add to them, I guess. Given that both my husband and I are writers, wordplay is something we find fun. But I reckon most kids find funny words fun - hence the eternal popularity of the Knock Knock jokes. And if we're all mad together, so much the better. So, does your family have its own pet phrases and/or lingo?
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my youngest son calls spaghetti- gilli gilli. Macaroni is- mac-e-oni. Instead of bugger we say - wallace. This is care of my then 4 yr old who heard his grandpa say "bugger" and said with big eyes "you dont say bugger you say wallace"! If something is on speacial at the shops it is "on cheap", we have a plethora of words the kids have made up that are now part of our family traditions and words.
we had american hen fruit (eggs), and yumyum pud (instant pudding), and sick girls drink (flat lemonade). now people think i'm bonkers when i refer to foods by there family name
Our girls all have long hair... which means we have endless supplies of "pretties" for school, ballet lessons, keeping hair out of food (for the littlest!). It basically means 'hair tie', but covers everything from the plainest to the really jazzed up ones.
My favourite is from my (now) 5 year old, he calls electricity - electrickery. Which suits me as I'm blowed if I can explain how flicking a switch makes the lights go (let alone how the pictures get on the telly)!!!
My mother often gets the names of things slightly wrong - dishwasher & washing machine round the wrong way, calling me the dog's name etc. I have memories of many perplexed moments wondering why I was being told to put the dishes in the washing machine, or being told off for not coming when mum called my name, when she actually called out the dog's name/cat's name/her sister's name. Now I'm just used to it & I understand what she's trying to say, so I'll answer to "Checkers" or "Daisy".
My son got confused between a peanut and an acorn so called it pacorn...so this is now applied to both acorns and peanuts. When I would remind him of something he used to try and say "I almost forgot" but said it too fast so it was "Oh I misgot!". That stuck around too.
Play on words and puns are great fun, and now the child is 7 he 'gets' it and any small thing has him in hysterics. Yay, keep it up Natalie and now I feel inspired to play with words more as well :-)
Hell, I'm glad to see there are other wordplay crazies like me out there. There are some great ones there - I esp love electrickery - that's very funny! And perfect for another person who has no clue how it all works...
I recall an old scotsman (relative or not - i cant remember) calling minced beef "wee beefies"! We also used pardies (pardon) for burps etc and it still makes the whole family laugh when my younger sister (29 yrs old) yells out "Pardies Mummy!"
My husband and I coined a couple of phrases just for us to understand one is 'rolrols' which is lollies, and the other is frinkles - someone who has freckles and wrinkles (nto sure where this one came from!) Now we have a son whos starting to talk, it will be very interesting to see what else we will soon be saying!!!!
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When I was growing up, our family had 'flappy meat'. This was what my youngest brother called luncheon-it flapped when he moved his hand you see..