Family Verbiage

I'm sure that every family has a language or words or phrases that are uniquely their own. Our family is no exception. While I was laying in bed this morning, putting off getting up into the cold, I thought of words and definitions that you will not find in good old Websters. I, however, have decided to reveal these "undiscovered" definitions to you in this post!!

"Clue Cookies" - (n): These are those sugar-wafer cookies. Evidently my mom and her siblings used to eat them while playing the game, "Clue."

"Hosenfeffer" - (proper n): This was my mom's favorite name for my cousin, Stephen. Rumors also have been wildly spread that this is also a character in a long-lost comic book of Matthew & Stephen's. (The root of this word is German and years later, we found out it is the German word for rabbit...go figure!!)

"What In The Sam Hill" - OK, I know this is not a word but a phrase. This is how we would know my dad was aggrivated. He never got out-right mad but we would irritate him from time-to-time (can you imagine that 3 kids could irritate a person?) His favorite times to use this phrase was when he couldn't find something or when we had to tell him he had a phone call and he was in the bathroom.

"Nutty Fagan" - (n): This is a fudgey, peanut buttery confection eaten over ice-cream, invented by my Grandpa. I'm not sure if anyone knows the "official" recipe but I've been told it involves Hershey's cocoa and peanut butter (chunky). A quick version can be made by warming together Hershey's chocolate syrup & peanut butter but remember, it won't be authentic!!

"Mr. Bopeenie" - (proper n): OK, my mom just liked to make up names for people. I'm not sure who was originally called this but it ended up being a powder blue, male-figure puppet that was used in Sunday School. It's a good thing kids like crazy stuff because now that I think about it, that puppet was a little scarey!!

"Goulash" - (n): Our family's version of goulash involved elbow macaroni, hamburger and spaghetti sauce. It wasn't until years later when I watched Martha Stewart make authentic goulash that I realized it had nothing to do with Ragu!!

"Booney-Boney-Bah" - (proper n): A well-beloved antagonistic character in several home-made comic books from the 1970's. (He may have battled "Hosenfeffer!)

"Sheister" - (n): Derived from a German word, it basically refers to someone who is sneaky or could also refer to anyone who just generally iritates you!!

"Thrash" (n): Because of a "tick" German accent, my grandparents would refer to "trash" as "thrash." Believe it or not, there was a certain comfort in hearing them call trash, thrash! (As a side note, before Cliff was adopted, this was also his last name...I'm not saying a word!)

"Green Sloppy Joes" (n): This is a sort of "creamed" version of sloppy joes thickened with saltine crackers. We had this alot when we were kids. It's actually quite good. My kids love it. It's seasoned with mustard which gives it a rather greenish tint. Much to my mother's dismay, the name "green sloppy joes" has stuck.

Now I know that there are a few family members who lurk about here from time to time. If you have any words or definitions to add, please feel free to leave a comment. This will be an on-going project.