The Odd Legacy of Grandma Michell

[rj_anderson]

Pollywog just asked me to put his favorite video game on the computer for him (due to his aforementioned love of bulls, that would be Extreme Pamplona, naturally). But he wanted to make sure the screen was maximized first: "Full-scream it, Mommy

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[shoebox2]

*grin* When she was small and we were moving house, my sister unthinkingly suggested we place her bed 'crockward' - ie., on the diagonal. We still use that one to this day, along with 'amblyance' and 'in fit' [ie, physically fit].

Most of my other odd sayings were picked up the course of my reading - a useful resource when your faith frowns on swearing. An exasperated 'Oh, good lord on a bicycle!' can be wonderfully satisfying.

[shoebox2]

I should also mention my aunt, source of wonderful, totally random poetry: "Spring is here/The grass is riz/I wonder where the birdies is?"

Not to mention the classic "Oh, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?" "Down here. The damn ladder broke."

[rj_anderson]

I've heard that "Spring is here" one, though I can't remember who used to say it... a friend of mine in high school, I think.

My grandmother did like to quote another delightful poem:

Love is such a funny thing,
It's something like a lizard;
It wraps itself around your heart
And nibbles at your gizzard.

[tree_and_leaf]

I've come across "Spring has sprung, the grass is riz" (etc) in various anthologies of comic verse, but I can't remeber who it's by.

[mary_j_59]

In our family, from my Mom's mother (a Galway woman):
That's galley west (to refer to something higgledy-piggeldy or disordered.)

From my Dad's side:
"Harold! George! Ernest!" These are the names you call when you cannot remember the name of the particular child you want to come, and I think it comes from a neighbor in the small factory town where he grew up.

"Bilabil", pronounced "beel ah beel". From my Dad's youngest brother when he was a toddler; "automobile". A combo of shortening the longer word and lengthening the Swedish word, which is "Bil". There were a lot of Scandinavian immigrants in this little town. When Dad saw "My Life as a Dog", he said it reminded him strongly of his hometown when he was growing up.

Also from Dad, a couple of wonderful WWI era songs we sing in the car.

[scionofgrace]

"Demon blackguard wretch" - LOVE IT!

These are wonderful. I like the poem too, for the weirdness.

[rj_anderson]

And it must be pronounced "blaggard", naturally. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh, we have a whole lot of weird family catchphrases. For some reason, it is an established truths that rabbits say "mop-mop" (like pigs say "oink"). My mother is given to the phrase "Ye Gods and little blistering jellyfish!" in moments of stress (she also has a tendency to describe blatant untruths as "Black protestant lies", which I think is an Irish republican phrase - and rather bizarre coming from a Scots protestant, which she is. It is quite a satsfying phrase to say, though).

The family phrase for having your period is 'to be shalloted', because of the line in "The Lady of Shallot" - "The curse has come upon me, cried the Lady of Shallot.

[shoebox2]

Oh, that last one is wonderful.

[tree_and_leaf]

I suspect that euphemisms for taboo subjects are probably a very rich source of odd private phraseology (I know someone who refers to her period as 'having her visitor', which frankly creeps me out a bit, but...)

[bookaholicgirl]

I tend to call it "the bloody nuisance."

[kerravonsen]

Not so much passed down, but certainly familial phrases; there was a point at which one of my brothers was making up expletives to use instead of "swear words" and certain of them spread to the rest of us:
- "peanuts and raisins!" (an exclamation of surprise)
- "prunes!" (mild annoyance)
- "prunes to them all!" (annoyance)
- "prunus maximus!" (not so mild annoyance)