Funny words

I will try to remember to use the following names for people to try to keep from confusing whoever might be reading this.

I think I always refer to Grandma Stobie as that or Grandma S.

Granddad is always Granddad Stobie; can't think of anyone else I ever called that & my mother always refered to him as Granddad.

I will try to remember to use Grandma French or Grandma F when refering to my mother's mother and her dad was always Pop.

My dad's mother is Grandma Kelly or Grandma K. and his dad is Grandpa Kelly or K.

My dad is almost always Daddy--don't think I ever called him anything else, although we did call my mother "Jeanne" until I was in the 5th grade & asked if she would care if I started calling her "Mother."

I'll try to remember to call my mother Grandma Jeanne or Grandma J. She hated being called Grandma Kelly since she never got along with her mother-in-law.

Okay, there is my cast of characters who need to be identified. If I mention anyone else that I think you may not know, I'll try to remember to give a clue. 

For the past couple of days I've been thinking about some of the words that my kids and grandkids used when they were little. I know I've forgotten some and if I don't mention a favorite, I apologize.

But first, I'll mention a story I remember hearing my mother tell many times. Her brother, Jim, went to the store one time and wanted a balloon, but had a hard time letting the clerk know his wishes. She tried to sell him a broom, but he didn't want a "boom" he wanted a "boom." Each time he would try to make himself clear, his "boom" became louder and it took several "booms" before she understood that he wanted a "boom" not a "boom."

I don't know who started it, but when the boys were young, Vic was 9 or 10, they used "ayp" for the past tense of any verb with the "eep" sound. They "slayp" in bed, "swayp" the floor and "kayp" their "treasures" in safe places. 

Kelli never liked peanut butter & jam sandwiches when she was little--don't know if she does now or not--but she would occasionally have just a peanut butter sandwich, and I'm not sure how to spell this, but she called it something like "pinnip'ala." She pronounced the short "a" as one would pronounce a short "e." So flags became "flegs," bags were "begs" and rags were "regs." One time I was trying to get her to pronounce all of her "eg" words, but couldn't get her to say, "rags." Finally I asked her what you call towels when they're worn out and she said "washcloths." We still eat "hangerbers" because of Kelli.

My cousin Bud, who was my dad's oldest brother Beryl's son, is the reason I have eaten "bisgetti" all my life.

Timothy had a hard time with the letter "l." I still like "yemmon" drops and when I went to Winco earlier this evening, I told the man putting out bananas that I was glad to see that he had "yots and yots" of them!

When Brendin was just learning to talk he called Stan & me, as well as his other grandparents, something that sounded as if he was clearing his throat, "bracha." And then, of course, that too went away & we became "Grandma & Grandpa."

Blake was about 3 when he always had a joke for everyone, but when he said it, it always sounded as if the word was "djoke." I never was able to make it sound like he did, but now he says "joke" just like the rest of us.

I don't remember this, but when I was about 2, I loved to look at the Montgomery Wards catalog  with my uncle Jim. Well, I didn't exactly look at the entire catalog. As soon as he walked in the door, I would get it (even find it if he'd hidden it), climb up on his lap, open the catalog to lawnmowers and ask "whassizzit, Jim?" 

This is not about words, but I understand I loved to go behind the couch and eat cigarette butts. I don't remember that either, but I do remember eating dirt and coal. I was so disappointed when we moved out to the farm and Grandma Jeanne told me I couldn't eat those two things  any more because the chickens ran loose and I wouldn't want to eat chicken poop. I missed eating coal longer than I missed eating dirt and I'm quite sure I ate some from the bottom of the coal pile--after all a chicken couldn't have pooped there.

This is about words, but not one that any child I ever knew made up. Kelli hadn't been talking long when, like many children do, she picked up a pretty common cuss word. Whenever I heard her use it, I would always say, "did you say darnit, Kelli?" and she would always repeat "darnit." One day when she was home with her dad, she said that little word and he asked, "did you say darnit, Kelli?"

She put her hands on her hips and said, "NO, I say 'shit,' Daddy." fortunately that habit was broken before too long.

That's it for "word stories" for now, maybe I'll think of more later

From 1969 until 1984 I was a displayer for Home Interiors and Gifts. We had a meeting every Monday morning and for the first few years that Stan & I were married, he had Mondays off so he was home with Kelli. By this time all of the boys were in school. One afternoon when she was about 14 months old, I asked where Kelli was I came home. Stan was still not completely over his frustration when he told me he'd given her a spanking & put her to bed! First she had taken a box of Cheerios and spilled them all over the kitchen floor. As he was cleaning them up, she went in the bathroom and put most of her diapers in the toilet--fortunately she didn't know how to flush it. While he was cleaning that mess up, she was back out in the kitchen where she had taken out a jar of jam and proceeded to mop the floor with it! I guess that was the proverbial last straw.

She was also a horrible climber--guess it's how you look at it, she probably thought she was a good climber. The refrigerator was between the counter and the hot water tank closet. There was a cupboard above that where we "kayp" "goodies" for school lunches and had to lock because of her climbing prowess. She would get a chair, get up on the counter, from there to the top of the refrigerator and reach around the corner so that she could help herself and any of her companions to potato chips,cookies, etc. Scared me half to death more than one time to see her there, but she never fell. 

    Sorry the characters aren't shown in the order they appear, but my Uncle Jim is the top pic, then Timothy, our family-we were all so young--then Audrey & me (really young), Kelli pretending to be Tarzan, Blake and Brendin.

Also sorry about those huge spaces, but to change them I would have to take the pix all out & start over w/them--too late