During my D.C. trip, Elizabeth and I practically could not stop laughing ... she is a wonderful teaser, maybe my favorite person to be teased by (since I love teasing too), and we can be as sarcastic & lovingly cutting as we want. It's a wonderful way to converse with someone, but cannot be forced. In fact, I cannot think of anyone with whom I have quite the same conversational style. You have to be Elizabeth to pull it off, I think. I feel like I am my true rat-a-tat-joker self when I am with her.
It didn't take long for us to create several new catchphrases or *key* words, loaded with connotation: "gurney" and "energetic" come to mind, and yes, ya had to be there. Or maybe not. Some of you wouldn't have laughed even if you'd been in the same room with us. Some in the same room did not laugh. Oliver wasn't laughing. Of course, he's one.
My favorite new catchphrase from the trip comes from a blog Elizabeth enjoys reading. Not sure yet what I think of it ... I'm always wary when someone refers to him/herself as a 'recovering Mormon' (Argh ... we are strange, peculiar, healthy-lunged, devout, longsuffering, hard-working, eternally progressing, occasionally/often self-righteous, but we're not a disease), as the said blogstress calls herself, but she had some funny posts too, and apparently she regularly recycles phrases from hate mail to be used in her blog. This month's heading title came from a hate letter (second comment - who sends hate mail to a blog? Just stop checking it, dunces!). Apparently, this angry reader wanted to convey his/her distaste succinctly, concisely, pithily to the blogstress in question, and wrote, "Two words: lame."
Note: Yes, it's Adverb Tuesday - haven't you heard?
So, of course, Elizabeth, Jason and I enjoyed bandying about the same phrase. It's quite useful & can be said in a variety of settings. Dinner on the table but it doesn't look appetizing? Here's what you say to the hands that prepared it: "Two words: lame." Child unhappily whining about bedtime? Here's how you shut down that deadend conversation: "Two words: lame."
2nd Note: I don't want to give the impression that Elizabeth only follows the blogs of angry former Mormons. She reads other blogs too, some of them yours.
I haven't tried "Two words: lame" yet with my kiddos, actually. I'll let you know how that goes!
But I am interested in favorite catchphrases. My family just loves silly sayings, and I may be the chief lover of those silly sayings. We are the clan with Sniglets written into our DNA. "Fatty choco-yum yums" is a phrase Marni used in one long-ago game, and we still say it when describing something delicious.
"Talk to the hand" is a catchphrase I NEVER used, however.
5 comments:
I was JUST telling my colleague about the hilarity/awfulness of "energetic" and the images it unfortunately brought to mind. Oh Erin, I miss you already -- no one else in the world makes me laugh like you!! MOVE TO DC!!
We definitely cycle through catchphrases in my family. Most of them have come from Bonnie, though I did start "don't be jealous" which is now a standard Coonsters phrase. Also, I adopted from you (who adopted from Marni, I think) "I judge you" and my sisters all use that one, too.
Lately, as you well know, my favorite thing to say is "Back off, Oprah! He's mine!" I know the feeling of not caring if others find it funny, because it makes ME laugh every time . . . even if I am laughing alone.
But "I second that emotion" will always remind me of you, Erin.
This totally made me laugh. We use nerdy as a term of endearment in my family, but when I used it on Jason, he was quite offended (what did I expect from a jock with a master's in kinesiology...but it only made me laugh harder). I am also of the opinion that it doesn't matter who else finds it amusing - it's so much healthier to have a good belly laugh. I think I might amuse myself way too much sometimes, but hey, at least I'm a happy person! :)
We have so many words/phrases in my family. Some of my personal favorites: "How's that grab your cookies, baby?", "are they 16 yet?", "well, you don't always get what you want, now do you?!?", "tongues in the middle!", "for rude!", and "cardiac". Even just typing them here makes me grin. :)
As I recall one of your junior high catch phrases was "Gag me with a Spoon."
And somehow I thought that was soooo cool!
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