The idea of this blog is that it will be a community project looking at language. The specific type of language I am interested in is a type I have yet to find an appropriate name for, the best I can do is "Family Slang" or "Familese" - meaning those words, phrases and expressions which are only used within your family.
I have noticed several times over the last few years that I might be talking to a friend and suddenly they'll have this blank look on their face, and I'll realise I've used some of my own "Familese" which they have not understood. Some examples would be:
'Stepmother's blessing' - a phrase used to describe those annoying, painful bits of peely skin you get right at the side of your fingernail, I believe these are called 'hangnails' by Americans, I'm not sure of the correct British term. I first heard this phrase used by my grandmother.
'Cronky' - something broken or not working properly
What I want to do, is collect these little, eccentric, language gems and publish them here so that they are not forgotten. And I want you to comment, or email me with your personal examples of "Familese", including as much detail as possible, where did the word come from? Is it for example taken from a word you miss-pronounced as a child? Something a much older relative uses? Something that comes from a fusion of two or more languages, for example if you live in a bilingual household and have developed your own fusion English...
Things I do not want are common slang - i.e things used by all your friends at school / university or things which are regional dialect which are not heard outside your particular town. These are undoubtedly interesting, but have been the focus of many linguistic studies and projects so are fairly well documented and unlikely to be forgotten. What I want is those little gems which are only used within your family, and of course I want any stories, history and facts which go with them.
Here are a few situations where families are likely to have their own expressions, just to get you thinking:
Expressions of frustration / anger especially if used as an alternative to swearing
Terms of endearment
Names for household objects and names for food stuffs
Descriptions of say, a person you don't like, a difficult situation, a particularly nice thing, the weather
Happy hunting! Please comment with your suggestions, or email me at u0674502@hud.ac.uk
When I have enough, I'll publish a new entry listing your words and the stories that go with them.
Just to add, this project is at the moment just for my own personal interest, though there is potential for me to develop this into some kind of published paper/essay/book etc. I'd be very grateful if you would include with your comments whether or not you would give your permission to have your words/stories used in my university work or published. Thank you.
About Me
- Liz
- I am a 22-year-old MA student studying Modern English Language at the University of Huddersfield.
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"Pepper potting" The action of moving one object past another in a progressive manner not dissimilar to "leap frogging". The difference is in that the objects pass next to each other and never over eachother. First heard - no idea in all honesty, I can't even remember who said it first.
ReplyDeleteokay i think i have one of these, before long car journeys we had to go for a "spaceman's wee" on the grounds that before you go into space you have to have a wee because it is the last one you can have before you get back to earth (that made sense at the time) and so a long car journey is a similar principle
ReplyDeletei dunno if this is common or not but i never heard anyone else say it
"Dooffer" Another name given by my Mum for the TV remote.... ( tho this one might be more common)
ReplyDeleteAnd my favourite,
Saying "Frosties" after someone sneezes... Mum says it was my Nana's reply on my Dads side.. and Dad says he has no idea where it came from... (No one understands this frase in Uni and thanks to it my friends will shout diiffernt cerealbrands when I sneeze....)
I think there are a lot more, but I can't remeber! D: happy hunting!
These are all brilliant :) These stories did exactly what I had hoped, they made me smile. I have to say I have personally never heard any of these before, but maybe someone else has. Please encourage your friends to post their language stories, I can't wait to hear more!
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to think of things all day and all I've come up with is that we call the tv remote the 'Fat Controller' (from Thomas the Tank Engine) not sure exactly how it came about.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone's label on their jumper etc is sticking out we say they are 'doing a Grandad', cos his jumper label is always sticking out.
The remote is just a remote to us. But my dad uses 'miluk'. If you need it in phonetics just ask. There's also Carphilly for Philidelphia cheese. Kim H.
ReplyDeleteKim, do you mean 'miluk' as a name for the remote? or as an alternative pronunciation for 'milk'? lol cos my Dad says 'miluk' when he means 'milk'!
ReplyDelete