Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Funny Names, Words and Phrases of My Family.

I was on Facebook today, and I noticed that someone mentioned a challenge to post some of the funny names, words, and phrases that are used in your family. Since my family practically has their own language, it seems fitting that I do the challenge.

My family uses a million different words, nickname, and funny phrases. Since there are so many, I am mainly just going to list a few of them with a little explanation.

  • When I was little, I called my uncle (Who was about 20 years older than my mom) "Unca Oowee". I picked it up when I heard my cousin Vicky say it...no one knows why Vicky chose the name.
  • The nicknames for the kids of my generation are: Booters (Myself), Poopsala, Peeps, and Mermaid.
  • In the Seattle area of Washington State, there are a lot of cities named after Indian words. If you aren't from the area, it can definitely become a challenge to pronounce the words. When my uncles were kids and they first read the signs that showed the names of the towns, here is what they came up with: "Fif-ee" (Fife), "Sattle" (Seattle), "Snow-qua-mie" (Snoqualamie - I even think I am spelling that wrong).
  • My grandparents on my mom's side raised their children as Catholic. Well, as a kid my mom used to play "First Holy Communion". Someone would pretend to be the priest and they would place Nilla Wafers into everyone's mouth. So whenever we eat Nilla Wafers, we call them Communion Wafers.
  • And of course, there are the funny words that are said around Christmas time when everyone is getting ready to eat breakfast: "Toes-a-rellie" (Toast is ready!), "Es-a-peas" (Eggs Please), "Ca-fee" (Coffee), "Sannie-uz-ear" (Santa was here), "Tank You" (Thank you)

So there you go. (We're a little bizarre aren't we?) I tried to spell the words out phonetically as best as I could - hopefully you got the main idea.

This is a really fun prompt idea if you are going to be compiling interesting little stories to go along with your family tree. (I really suggest doing something like this. It'll make all those dates and places come alive!)

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