Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Say What?!

I get this question a lot: “OH! You have twins (to which I have to bite my tongue from saying, “NO WAY! I DO???”) So do your twins have a twin language? I don’t know. I don’t think such thing exists. Sure there are times that they just look at each other and seem to be having a conversation without words, but there was a time when I could do this with Amy, Kasey, and Shari, too, and not only am I not a twin, I am an only child.

There may be a sibling language, but I don’t think that’s limited to twins, or multiples. Every family has their things that are called something else…I am willing to bet that no one else besides the Johnson/Volkenants call a butt a “Henry.” Usually, it’s a name that the child couldn’t pronounce that becomes the malapropism for the whole family: Baka for Grandpa, Seza for Sarah, YiYi (pronounced with a long I as in eye) for Johnny. Now, it’s no secret that the Monkey and the Bear are very verbal, but even the best of the best have their Achilles heel, so to speak, and no pun intended. So without further ado, I give you the Clan Gacek dictionary, circa 8/2010.

• Killy liller: kitty litter and/or cat food
• Bada badas: our antique kitchen chairs to which the highchairs used to be
attached, but only those. Any other chair is a chair
• Puckywok: mushroom, specifically those from the Mario games
• Googogs: headbands with something on them, ie bunny ears, shamrocks, devil horns, etc
• Frissa: Marissa, the babysitter’s daughter (specific to Ellie)
• Cindydot, Cindy Bindy, Cindy Windy: Cindy, the babysitter
• Stinky Dot: the Goodwill store
• Milkilla: milk
• Daddy Milk: soy milk
• Mommy Milk: cow milk (which is weird because I don’t drink milk)
• Vamplayer: Vampire (specific to Ellie)
• Larry Berkaderk: Laurie Berkner, one of their favorite musicians (specific to Abbie)
• Larry Berknerker: Laurie Berkner, one of their favorite musicians (specific to Ellie)
• Clam bake: mostaccioli bake (specific to Chris and Sarah, weird because it doesn’t contain any clams)
• ________ Store: fill in a food in the blank, such as Pizza Store (Davanni’s), Burrito Store (Chipotle), Juice Store (Jamba Juice), etc. As with any rule, there are the exceptions such as the Q Store (Q’Doba, another burrito place) and Noodles. Noodles is not the Noodle Store, just Noodles.
• Wiggly cheese: Kraft singles
• Eff Effs: French fries
• Old McDonald’s: McDonald’s
• Colorado soup: Chicken Noodle Soup (specific to Abbie)
• Sunnypatch: jumping on the bed, preferably in just a diaper
• Caps: Catch (specific to Abbie and only when we are putting on socks and she wants us to “caps” her foot to put the sock on)
• Hangaber: hamburger (specific to Abbie)
• Purples: the girls’ bodywash. Over a year ago, we had a really big bottle of Baby Magic lavender wash, whose bottle is purple. I didn’t really like it, so I would let the girls use it to wash themselves, after I had used the good stuff to clean them. The pump on it broke, so I put the remaining into another squirt bottle, which is clear. We have since filled and refilled that bottle with other washes for them, but it’s still called purple.
• Poop juice: a cup of juice with Miralax in it (specific to Ellie)
• Leggings: legumes (specific to Abbie)
• Mackin: Napkin (specific to Abbie)
• Taco Bill: Taco Bell
• Chocolate Don's: Taco John's
• Gramma cheese: co-jack cheese sticks
• Gramma juice: Naked Juice (much preferred than the actual name since they often scream, “I want Naked!!!” in the store.

So yeah, next time you are having a hangaber and need a mackin, think of the Monkey and Bear. Until next time, leggings.

2 comments:

Kasey Ross said...

Two things: First, I'm ashamed to say I had just been wondering whether the girls had their own special "twins" language.

Second, I think "hangaber" is specific to Amy Marr, who is the first person I ever heard say that, way before there was an Abbie and an Ellie. ;)

betseyp said...

We said "quaffquaff" for washcloth. We called cheese singles "square cheese" and still do. We also still say "boopsie", for hair binders. Can't think of any others.