How fun! I love this!! The only one I use regularly that seems to be a just me thing is “outie five hundred” which translates to goodbye, or I’m leaving. A take from the indie five hundred meaning to go fast and out into outie meaning out (obvi). Outie five hundred bye bye bye!
Your Knottish seems an interesting language. I hope I can invent a language only those close to me can understand, despite the fact that English is my second language (For this concocted language, I need to mix Persian, English and German😅😂).
I love this so much and actually JUST had a conversation with a friend asking what her phrases are that no one would understand out of context. It was prompted by me reflecting on when I first moved into an apartment with a roommate after living with my parents and realizing that some of my phrases would no longer make sense to her because she was not present when they were born. Mine aren’t nearly as creative, but here are a few family classics:
Wuhhabba (I’ve actually never tried to spell this before): translation = what happened?
An extended family member had gotten out of jail and was telling the story of his cellmate who tried to take a sleeping pill, but took too many. He slept for 2-3 days and when he woke up, was so out of it that all he could say was “wuhhabba”
Sthuped: translation = stupid, but like you can’t say your T’s
This one came from a roadtrip to a wedding with my parents and aunt and uncle when I was a teenager. It was in the middle of nowhere and Apple Maps apparently had not developed the ability to direct to rural America yet. My dad proudly announced “we’re here” and all that was around were empty fields. In true brotherly fashion, my uncle looked at him and in a cutesy taunting voice, said “you so sthuped” and that phrase was on repeat for the rest of eternity in my family
He hang!: this is a new addition. My cousin got married recently and he and his wife had an after-party for the bridal party and close friends/family after the reception. It was meant to be limited to the younger people, but my we have a very fun family including the aunts and uncles. So my dad shows up, challenges the groomsmen to a shotgun contest, and showed them all up.
At brunch the next morning, my mom said “yeah your dad tried to hang with the young guys last night and now he’s paying for it” and I immediately said “tried to hang?? He hang!” And we all cackled realizing that is not how I meant for that to come out. But henceforth, if someone is bringing the party, he hang!
Oh my goodness, this one made me chuckle! What a corker you are! Thank you for the laugh. I started saying Chicky Chicky bang bang after watching Parks and rec. lollers!
Those are some weird words. The phrases made a bit more sense. Yes, “smear” is gross for apples. I think every family must have phrases they use that relate to shared experiences they’ve had. My sister and I once thought about writing down all the mom-isms she’d used over the years. Young people use their own slang that makes no sense to me (how is it that if something is “bussing” that means it is good??) My husband’s mother’s parents were Slovak and while his Canadian-born mother couldn’t speak it, she used a few words that her children assumed were real Slovak words… you know where this is going… It was only when a niece did a school project on Slovakia that everyone discovered that none of these words they had used throughout the years were real. Being Catholic, before saying Grace Before Meals, she would make the sign of the cross and say the appropriate words supposedly in Slovak- and taught each of her grandchildren to memorize them. Years later, my son ran the blessing through Google Translate and realized she had learned a phonetically similar version but none of the actual words were correct!
Smear is so gross and I feel bad but I just can't shake it haha. Please write down your mom-isms, I want to know them! Sarah's grandfather did something similar, his family came from somewhere in Hungary I think, and he had this phrase he'd always say and said it was Hungarian, but it wasn't haha. I love that.
“I’m going to kick your bum up around your ears,” was a mom-ism that evoked hilarity years later when we imagined it literally. She wasn’t abusive, btw- just said this for some reason when she’d had it.
This was a fun one! The words we used growing up in the 1960’s were also very regional, as one would discover traveling about the states. Such words as “cola, pop, soda, and soft drink” were all the same, but only one would be used more commonly in a region. If you used the wrong one in a region, you would instantly stand out as a “foreigner” to those whose families up there. My family was a transplant from the Midwest to the mid south where we confused the use of “soda” for the colloquial “pop”. It led to some interesting conversations about “what the right word was”. Also, I read many of the great classic novels from age ten to fourteen, so I learned a lot of antiquated words. What I learned (when many modern media words were being created) was that most people my age not only did not know what words like “abstruse” or “involuted” ( they both mean complicated), they would ridicule me for using them. So, from high school to college, I stopped speaking with my free mind and used a filter to speak so that what I said was not immediately discounted and ignored. I actually would watch the show “Laugh-in” on tv with Rowan and Martin to learn the new street words being used. There was no Google to reference back then! They still seemed to be so unreal that it was difficult for me to use, even knowing what they meant. At least I could translate them for my parents… lol.
I grew up where ALL soda was "Cokecola" all one word. You had to specify beyond that hahaha. The soda vs. pop one is such a perfect example of dialect and language and I Love that it so swiftly identifies people from where they come from. Furthermore, I wish I knew high school you so much haha.
This is fab! I love the secret languages that people create together. I, too, love creating words and phrases, and it tickles me whenever my husband or step kids start spouting my nonsense.
First off, Beyoncé and 'Jolene' ... what an awesome take on a great piece of song. Really.
I can't really think of specific words. I have a phrase,'save it out', that is, 'put some aside'. My family said it so it must have been passed down by the Pennsylvania crew.
My daughter says,'that's a YOU thing' when she will not take responsibility for a passive-aggressive remark made to 'hurt' her or make her feel guilty. I say it a lot now, too. To my customers who are persnickety ... >in my head!<
Other than that I do speak Ubby Dubby which comes from a show out of Boston in the 70's on Public TV, Zoom. You put 'ubb' before every vowel in every syllable. So, Tyler would be 'TubbYlubber. Sarah, 'Subbarubba', and so forth.
I often read labels in the supermarket like this. It makes the mundane more fun. :-)
My mom would speak to us in PIg Latin ... igpay atinlay ... But she later picked up ubby dubby with us, and it left my dad out of the loop. Once I said something to him and his reply was," what about a hippopotamus?" which stuck in the family as 'I don't understand'. OH! And, "it's windy!" which came when driving up to Vermont with a friend in the back seat of our Suzuki Samurai soft top, and she couldn't hear what we were saying to her, meaning "what!?!?"
How fun! I love this!! The only one I use regularly that seems to be a just me thing is “outie five hundred” which translates to goodbye, or I’m leaving. A take from the indie five hundred meaning to go fast and out into outie meaning out (obvi). Outie five hundred bye bye bye!
We used to say that too! But for us, it was Outie 5000, because it was named after the Audi 5000 car!
That’s beyond awesome!!! 😎 🚗
Your Knottish seems an interesting language. I hope I can invent a language only those close to me can understand, despite the fact that English is my second language (For this concocted language, I need to mix Persian, English and German😅😂).
A language mixing all three of those languages would be AMAZING!! Please do this, and then send us the dictionary :)
I love this so much and actually JUST had a conversation with a friend asking what her phrases are that no one would understand out of context. It was prompted by me reflecting on when I first moved into an apartment with a roommate after living with my parents and realizing that some of my phrases would no longer make sense to her because she was not present when they were born. Mine aren’t nearly as creative, but here are a few family classics:
Wuhhabba (I’ve actually never tried to spell this before): translation = what happened?
An extended family member had gotten out of jail and was telling the story of his cellmate who tried to take a sleeping pill, but took too many. He slept for 2-3 days and when he woke up, was so out of it that all he could say was “wuhhabba”
Sthuped: translation = stupid, but like you can’t say your T’s
This one came from a roadtrip to a wedding with my parents and aunt and uncle when I was a teenager. It was in the middle of nowhere and Apple Maps apparently had not developed the ability to direct to rural America yet. My dad proudly announced “we’re here” and all that was around were empty fields. In true brotherly fashion, my uncle looked at him and in a cutesy taunting voice, said “you so sthuped” and that phrase was on repeat for the rest of eternity in my family
He hang!: this is a new addition. My cousin got married recently and he and his wife had an after-party for the bridal party and close friends/family after the reception. It was meant to be limited to the younger people, but my we have a very fun family including the aunts and uncles. So my dad shows up, challenges the groomsmen to a shotgun contest, and showed them all up.
At brunch the next morning, my mom said “yeah your dad tried to hang with the young guys last night and now he’s paying for it” and I immediately said “tried to hang?? He hang!” And we all cackled realizing that is not how I meant for that to come out. But henceforth, if someone is bringing the party, he hang!
Oooh, Wuhhabba is good!!! Hearing the stories behind the phrases, to me, is the very best part haha. These are brilliant!
Oh my goodness, this one made me chuckle! What a corker you are! Thank you for the laugh. I started saying Chicky Chicky bang bang after watching Parks and rec. lollers!
Everytime I hear "what a corker" I think of "Far and Away" with Tom Cruise! :) I love this!
That is exactly where I learned it from and you are literally the first person to know the reference!
Those are some weird words. The phrases made a bit more sense. Yes, “smear” is gross for apples. I think every family must have phrases they use that relate to shared experiences they’ve had. My sister and I once thought about writing down all the mom-isms she’d used over the years. Young people use their own slang that makes no sense to me (how is it that if something is “bussing” that means it is good??) My husband’s mother’s parents were Slovak and while his Canadian-born mother couldn’t speak it, she used a few words that her children assumed were real Slovak words… you know where this is going… It was only when a niece did a school project on Slovakia that everyone discovered that none of these words they had used throughout the years were real. Being Catholic, before saying Grace Before Meals, she would make the sign of the cross and say the appropriate words supposedly in Slovak- and taught each of her grandchildren to memorize them. Years later, my son ran the blessing through Google Translate and realized she had learned a phonetically similar version but none of the actual words were correct!
Smear is so gross and I feel bad but I just can't shake it haha. Please write down your mom-isms, I want to know them! Sarah's grandfather did something similar, his family came from somewhere in Hungary I think, and he had this phrase he'd always say and said it was Hungarian, but it wasn't haha. I love that.
“I’m going to kick your bum up around your ears,” was a mom-ism that evoked hilarity years later when we imagined it literally. She wasn’t abusive, btw- just said this for some reason when she’d had it.
This was a fun one! The words we used growing up in the 1960’s were also very regional, as one would discover traveling about the states. Such words as “cola, pop, soda, and soft drink” were all the same, but only one would be used more commonly in a region. If you used the wrong one in a region, you would instantly stand out as a “foreigner” to those whose families up there. My family was a transplant from the Midwest to the mid south where we confused the use of “soda” for the colloquial “pop”. It led to some interesting conversations about “what the right word was”. Also, I read many of the great classic novels from age ten to fourteen, so I learned a lot of antiquated words. What I learned (when many modern media words were being created) was that most people my age not only did not know what words like “abstruse” or “involuted” ( they both mean complicated), they would ridicule me for using them. So, from high school to college, I stopped speaking with my free mind and used a filter to speak so that what I said was not immediately discounted and ignored. I actually would watch the show “Laugh-in” on tv with Rowan and Martin to learn the new street words being used. There was no Google to reference back then! They still seemed to be so unreal that it was difficult for me to use, even knowing what they meant. At least I could translate them for my parents… lol.
I grew up where ALL soda was "Cokecola" all one word. You had to specify beyond that hahaha. The soda vs. pop one is such a perfect example of dialect and language and I Love that it so swiftly identifies people from where they come from. Furthermore, I wish I knew high school you so much haha.
Ah, to be down with the kids
Thanks. I'll start working on this after my German exam.
Please do!
I will😉
This did make me smile! I might be importing some of these to Southern CA! :)
I cannot WAIT to hear how these go over hahaha
I'll keep you posted! :)
So fun! I love how you play and make words and phrases your toys.
:) I've done it so long, they literally are my favorite playthings haha.
I love this so much. Why Knott, indeed!?!? Thank you for sharing Knottish with us. Made me smile and of course I want to learn now.
Feel free to add to the dictionary too! I will happily adopt others!
This is fab! I love the secret languages that people create together. I, too, love creating words and phrases, and it tickles me whenever my husband or step kids start spouting my nonsense.
Why not make life fun every single chance we get?
I literally couldn't agree more. Here's to childlike whimsy!
First off, Beyoncé and 'Jolene' ... what an awesome take on a great piece of song. Really.
I can't really think of specific words. I have a phrase,'save it out', that is, 'put some aside'. My family said it so it must have been passed down by the Pennsylvania crew.
My daughter says,'that's a YOU thing' when she will not take responsibility for a passive-aggressive remark made to 'hurt' her or make her feel guilty. I say it a lot now, too. To my customers who are persnickety ... >in my head!<
Other than that I do speak Ubby Dubby which comes from a show out of Boston in the 70's on Public TV, Zoom. You put 'ubb' before every vowel in every syllable. So, Tyler would be 'TubbYlubber. Sarah, 'Subbarubba', and so forth.
I often read labels in the supermarket like this. It makes the mundane more fun. :-)
My mom would speak to us in PIg Latin ... igpay atinlay ... But she later picked up ubby dubby with us, and it left my dad out of the loop. Once I said something to him and his reply was," what about a hippopotamus?" which stuck in the family as 'I don't understand'. OH! And, "it's windy!" which came when driving up to Vermont with a friend in the back seat of our Suzuki Samurai soft top, and she couldn't hear what we were saying to her, meaning "what!?!?"
Subbo. ubbI wubbill lubbeve ubbit ubbat thubbat. >kiss<
I just love this. No notes. Aren't these the kind of silly fun quirks that make life worth living? 😁