The first time I asked my husband where the "mote-con" was, he looked at me like I'd lost my mind. I can't blame him - it's a word my family has used since my then two-year-old (now twenty-something) brother couldn't pronounce "remote control."
Citing an old AA Milne (author of Winnie the Pooh) quote, the New York Times devoted a column to the made up words and misplaced phrases families have coined . . . and use consistently.
Said Milne, "Your family, like every other family, has a language of its own, consisting of unintelligible catch phrases, favorite but not generally known quotations, obscure allusions, and well-tried but not intrinsically humorous family jokes."
The first thing to come to mind, of course, was "mote-con," which I have largely abandoned thanks to the stink-eye from my husband when I slip up. We have our own husband-and-wife developed catchphrases - largely culled from movies and common situations (an offer of ranch dressing by a waiter will prompt tittering to a point that will leave the poor server to wonder how they always end up with the loons and hoping we're at least good tippers).
But I've noticed the number of oddities has climbed exponentially since our daughter came along. Kids are a font of malapropisms, and as parents we can't help repeating them to our own amusement (and often to the chagrin of our friends, who wonder when Kathie Lee arrived). There are the made-up words (mote-con), the mispronounced sayings ("no, I amn't!") and the inappropriate usages (I blame my daughter for liberal usage of the words "get it?" when, really, everyone does and insistences that "I can't tell you" when people ask rhetorical questions).
There are also the new movie and book references - the sandwiches of "roast beast" made after repetitive readings of Dr. Seuss, the "teamwork" song after repeated viewings of The Wonder Pets!
So what are the kooky thngs your family has adopted post-child?
Image:Squidoo
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