Mister and I spent Thanksgiving with “Sweet Talk Radio” and half of their parental units. It was a lovely holiday, with delicious food, a rousing “Bananagrams” competition and lively conversation. At some point in the evening, a parental unit began an anecdote by saying, “For those who are interesting…” We all had a good laugh and each of us said we’d be using that one.
Mister and I mis-speak all the danged time, usually on purpose. A lot of what we say is attributable to our own backfiring brains. Sometimes, however, we’ve heard someone else say something that struck a chord, and have adopted the “mis-speak” as our own.
We sometimes say “supposably” – even though we both know better. Well, we supposably know better.
How about “pacifically”? As in, “Let’s talk about our language problems. Pacifically, let’s talk about our mis-speaks.” Yeah, we use that one, too.
Even grocery stores fall prey: Ralph’s gets the British treatment and is pronounced “Rafe’s.” Pavilions is in a league of its own. For some reason, I use a deep, scratchy, French accent to say “Pah-vee-yone’s.” Every. Single. Time. Why? I have no idea.
I say “li-berry” like it’s the real word. (And I’m not giving it up!)
Apparently, when I was a wee lass I loved to eat “hot-ghotti.” Still call it that and still love it.
When one of us says, “I’m going to take a ‘shiggity’ now,” the other knows that means shower.
Napkins? “Nap-keenos”
Forks? “Susie Farkuses”
There are other mis-speaks, of course. And there are about a jillion things we call each other. Seriously – we rarely use one another’s actual names.
I suppose – over time – this is what people do. We come up with our own little language nuances. Existing words come to have new meanings. New words are formed. Language is a living creation, friends. Just like relationships. When you think about it, that’s a beautiful thing. Downright purty, in fact.
If you have any “mis-speaks” you’d like to share, I’d love to hear back from you. But no pressure or anything. It’s only for those who are interesting.
A Congressman in Athens, about ten years ago, making an announcement about the dangers of all fireworks repeatedly referred to ‘sparkulars,’ which is the only correct pronunciation, anymore. Bless the reporter that framed multiple questions giving our Representative ample opportunity to correctly enunciate (each of which he deftly avoided).
Father-in-law used to call tea ‘taye” and fishing “fayshin'” and those, too, are usually amended to any mention of the properly spoken versions (which appears to be disconcerting to new acquaintances when we both simultaneously holler “THAI!” after being offered a cuppa). [Note: F-I-L was suspected to be descended from Stooge stock, Curly strain via Oklahoma and was an endless source of amusement.]
I don’t believe I’ll ever think of sparklers in the same old way again. Very funny, dude!