household phrases

[42itous]

Do you have a word or phrase that your family or friends understand but a stranger wouldn't?

I came across this quotation: "I had a friend who used to say 'I’m on the rollerskates' to mean her period, as a reference to those daft Tampax ads where the actress skated around in white jeans."

In my family, we refer to the "as-you," which is the place you put things when they're on their way somewhere but you're not going to bother bringing them there now. I.e. Dad puts newspaper clippings at the bottom of the stairs, and the next time someone goes up, they bring the newspaper clippings up to his desk. Or we put mail in the as-you by the front door.

majordomo and I were given a Santoku knife for our wedding. We got married at the height of the Sudoku puzzle craze. We call it the Sudoku knife.

I use "triffid" in place of "trivet." I actually have trouble saying the proper word. Luckily, it's easy for people not of my immediate family to tell what I mean from context.

Comments

Re: family words & phrases

[42itous.livejournal.com]

That reminds me, when I was a kid we pronounced ice cream "itchy crayum," based on a [possibly apocryphal] immigrant ancestor's mispronunciation.

I love how language eddies within small communities when multiple languages come into contact.