›

Personal neologisms

la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
in Heaven
I think these particularly arise in families with children. A felicitous word which someone invents and the family uses forevermore. In our case I give you one of Captain Pyjamas', used one day to describe a traffic hump/sleeping policeman/whatever you call that particular traffic calming item. None of these words is as satisfactory as roadybump.

What words do you and yours have that no one else does?
«1

Comments

  • SparrowSparrow Shipmate
    A "huggle" - combination of a hug and a cuddle.

  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Dassywill

    Forevermore for daffodil 🙂
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Nings and deeks for fingers and toes.
  • DafydDafyd Hell Host
    Sparrow wrote: »
    A "huggle" - combination of a hug and a cuddle.
    We have those too.

  • SandemaniacSandemaniac Shipmate
    Owing to my mother's excitement and inability to coherently identify the brightly coloured bird she had just seen for the first time, we have Kingpecker.

    We also have sturnips, which was my sister getting confused between sugar beet and turnips.
  • Stercus TauriStercus Tauri Shipmate
    Both of our daughters, over two years apart, often said 'whobody?' which I suppose went with 'anybody' or 'nobody'. The younger one came out with it long after the older one stopped using it. The only explanation we could think of was that they must have derived it from their parents' speech. They both have degrees in English and education so they don't talk funny no more.
  • Lamb ChoppedLamb Chopped Shipmate
    My little brother gave us “hangabur,” which we still use for hamburgers, lo, these 50 years later.

    My son comes out with “whomst” every so often.
  • cgichardcgichard Shipmate
    A scribbage is one of those curly pads that you use to clean saucepans.
  • Graven ImageGraven Image Shipmate
    A small child has us all saying mop for moth, still fifty-five years later. Glop for any dish made up from leftovers. My first grandchild gave me a unique name because she couldn't say "Grammy," and now all the grandchildren call me that.
  • A Feminine ForceA Feminine Force Shipmate
    A "tiddler" is someone who is driving alternating between slightly above and below the speed limit, whilst exhibiting a kind of aimless or wandering attention.

    A "snexel" is a snuggle that might or might not lead/have led to sex.

    A "spikky" is a house sparrow (thank you to Edward Lear).

    AFF
  • MiliMili Shipmate
    My youngest nieces insist boysenberries are called poisonberries. They insist on poisonberry icecreams and won't believe they are called anything else.

    In Australia we have various names for pink processed slice meat in different states. People like to argue if it is Devon, lunch meat, or some other name. But my family always just called it pink meat so I forget what it is called where I live. I don't eat it now so it's not a problem.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Relatedly, I do actually use some of the words from The Meaning of Liff in real life:

    E.g. Worples - the blobs in tea that tell you the milk wasn't quite fresh

  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Mili wrote: »
    My youngest nieces insist boysenberries are called poisonberries. They insist on poisonberry icecreams and won't believe they are called anything else.

    In Australia we have various names for pink processed slice meat in different states. People like to argue if it is Devon, lunch meat, or some other name. But my family always just called it pink meat so I forget what it is called where I live. I don't eat it now so it's not a problem.

    That's interesting. I'm not keen on pink cold meats - whether processed or ham etc. They taste too pink.
  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate, Heaven Host
    A loose-loud is a woodlouse, courtesy of Little Miss Feet.
  • RockyRogerRockyRoger Shipmate
    'A "snexel" is a snuggle that might or might not lead/have led to sex''.
    Ah, you mean snoogle time?
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Yog-muck

    Thanks to my Grandma who hated yogurt.
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Purgatory Host
    Our son, familiar with bunk beds, gave us bunk-bus for a double decker bus.

    Also from our son the verb "to mantle" meaning to put something together. Because you can't dismantle something until you've mantled it first.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    Captain P's difficulties with the letter S as a small person mean that my family eat a lot of foup in the winter. Similar difficulties with the letter C mean that café (coffee) is always pafé.
  • A Feminine ForceA Feminine Force Shipmate
    RockyRoger wrote: »
    'A "snexel" is a snuggle that might or might not lead/have led to sex''.
    Ah, you mean snoogle time?

    Exactly!

    AFF
  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate, Heaven Host
    Another, courtesy of Little Miss Feet: a Premier Inn is a Moon House.
  • SparrowSparrow Shipmate
    "Doofer" for a TV remote control, but I think a lot of people have that.

  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Not entirely personal but we refer to a leading chicken based chain of fried fast food outlets as Unlucky Fried Kitten
  • MrsBeakyMrsBeaky Shipmate
    With apologies to non-UK Shipmates, happy to interpret if wanted!

    When Husband Beaky was working as a lawyer he took most banks in despite- hence all four Beaky daughters can still interpret the following:
    Fartplays
    Hemorrhoids
    Hate'n'pride
    Hugely Smelly Bunch (of) Crap
    Rat's Nest
    Terribly Slow Bank
  • AravisAravis Shipmate
    Mediest = the most average
  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    Master Heavenly the elder when he was a toddler saw his first firework and said ‘flowerbang’, which has been their name ever since.

    He also called Dartmoor ponies ‘cow horses’.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    My son, aged three, once asked for a 'dangerous pastry'. He also had a habit of starting sentences with 'What wonders me is...'. Less charming was his shouting 'dinner now' when he was hungry, but that is still a phrase used in our family.
  • quetzalcoatlquetzalcoatl Shipmate
    "Dinner now" is wonderful. There's no disguise.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Sarasa wrote: »
    Less charming was his shouting 'dinner now' when he was hungry, but that is still a phrase used in our family.
    Once in the late 50s or early 60s our extended family was gathered at our grandparents’. At one point my grandfather was saying a prayer, and my cousin that it had gone on long enough. Right in mid-sentence he loudly said “Amen already, Gran’daddy!” For 60+ years, “Amen already!” has been the accepted way in our family to express the idea that something has been talked about long enough.

    Meanwhile, my great-aunt (a minister’s daughter, minister’s wife and mother of two ministers) referred to flatware that hadn’t been used at a meal and could be put back in the drawer without washing as the “Thank Gods.”


  • quetzalcoatlquetzalcoatl Shipmate
    We have a lot of these, partly from children, and some from adults. Thus, scampi are scanty panties, can't remember how that came about.
  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    edited August 25
    Heavenlyannie wrote: »

    He also called Dartmoor ponies ‘cow horses’.

    I meant New Forest ones, which often roam in groups and some of which are piebald. It’s been a long weekend at a festival.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    edited August 25
    I think of the lumps one removes from a litter tray as peeliths.

    In our house cats are sometimes known as an inside out fur lined meow.

    There is also sometimes an object known as a wish dosher.
  • HarryCHHarryCH Shipmate
    A peem is a bit of lint or fluff on the carpet.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Sometimes in Winter I go to bed with a bot hotter wattle.
  • Jengie JonJengie Jon Shipmate
    We had "Granny's sheep" (Hertford Cow's) after my Grandmother in an attempt to distract us from an argument, said, "Look at that black and white sheep," pointing at one.

    For my other Grandmother, we had squiggles (squirrels) that ran along the fence of my parents' home.
  • DardaDarda Shipmate
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Meanwhile, my great-aunt (a minister’s daughter, minister’s wife and mother of two ministers) referred to flatware that hadn’t been used at a meal and could be put back in the drawer without washing as the “Thank Gods.”
    My mother always referred to unused cutlery that did not need washing up as "Blessings"
  • Tree BeeTree Bee Shipmate
    cb used to say ‘early ago’ for earlier, smallest grandson says ‘you jumped me’ for you made me jump.
    My niece having misheard heated up, said she’d like her dessert ‘Peter Duck’.
  • RockyRogerRockyRoger Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Sometimes in Winter I go to bed with a bot hotter wattle.

    Not a hottle bottle?
  • quetzalcoatlquetzalcoatl Shipmate
    That reminds me, we say gottle of geer, after the ventriloquists.
  • cgichardcgichard Shipmate
    "Look what you've made me done!"
    "A whole nother . . ."
    My sister: "I'm ravishing!" (for "ravening")
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    cgichard wrote: »
    "A whole nother . . ."
    “A whole nother” is commonly heard in Southern American speech; I’ve been hearing it all my life.

    FWIW, this use of “nother” is attested to as early as the 14th Century.

    My sister: "I'm ravishing!" (for "ravening")
    :lol:


  • MrsBeakyMrsBeaky Shipmate
    I too learned and still use "A whole nother", courtesy of my late mother who came from Baltimore.
  • MiliMili Shipmate
    cgichard wrote: »
    My sister: "I'm ravishing!" (for "ravening")

    That sounds like one from Australian comedy show Kath and Kim 😄

  • cgichardcgichard Shipmate
    Mili wrote: »
    cgichard wrote: »
    My sister: "I'm ravishing!" (for "ravening")

    That sounds like one from Australian comedy show Kath and Kim 😄

    But in this case it dates from the late 1940s, when she also called a camera a "caramer".

  • Anna_BaptistAnna_Baptist Shipmate
    My Mother's comment on Joanna Lumley's intelligence,

    "She's not as blonde as she's painted"
  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    cgichard wrote: »
    My sister: "I'm ravishing!" (for "ravening")

    Reminds me a little of a German penfriend I had many many years ago, who informed us that she was "Fulfilled" when she'd had enough to eat.

  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Sparrow wrote: »
    "Doofer" for a TV remote control, but I think a lot of people have that.
    It may be but that's a 'jigger', taken over from the slang word for a single line token or staff.

  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    Ebab. Ms. C. dislikes being called "babe".
  • HarryCHHarryCH Shipmate
    If it makes her happy to be ravishing, okay.
  • RockyRogerRockyRoger Shipmate
    My middle sister had a tendency to say, 'I'm ravished', when she meant, 'I'm famished'.

    I think that's what she meant.
  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    It is pronounced Ee-bab with a short a and a long e.
Sign In or Register to comment.