Sunday, August 31, 2008

Language Investigation #1

My family does not use many personal colloquialisms; however, we do use certain phrases in specific contexts which hold meaning different than that of the phrase in everyday situations. For example, my older brother began responding to the question, "Where's Dad?" with the remark "probably changing a light bulb" when we were younger, especially when the question was asked at the dinner table. My brother came up with this clever response because of my dad’s occupation (he worked for an electric company which used a light bulb as its logo) and his habit of sidetracking with small, unimportant tasks just as we begin to eat dinner (one example of these tedious tasks was literally replacing light bulbs, typically ones that were located in unimportant areas such as closets or attics that were not often used). My brother and mom began using this expression every time my dad was missing during dinner. Although this particular phrase is not incredibly hilarious, it instigated many humorous situations. For example, the last time I was visiting my family I asked my brother, “Where’s Dad?” and he responded “probably changing a light bulb” as a joke because we had not used the phrase in such a long time; however, I then searched the house for my dad only to find him changing a light bulb in his bedroom closet.
My mom recently informed me that my brother and I used to mistakenly say “a wallet ago” instead of “a while ago,” which may have been more accurate on a few occasions.
Some of my other family members have their own little terms and pronunciations for certain words. For example, my three-year old niece loves to refer to Santa Clause as “ho-ho,” so if she and I return from the mall during Christmas-time and she says “Me and Davey saw ho-ho at the mall,” it’s not because my ex-girlfriend was there.
You may also hear my grandmother remark on her trips down “Yose-might (Yosemite) Road,” where she occasionally catches glimpses of some beautiful “High-biscuit” flowers.
While none of these expressions are incredibly unique, they carry some humorous and intimate meaning in my family. I believe we sometimes use or allude to these phrases simply to remind ourselves that we are still family, without placing any real concern on what meaning the phrases once held.