Thursday, January 8, 2009

Whatnot

I had a roommate when I was 22 who had all sorts of verbal quirks. The first day we lived together she offered to make me a bagel. Which isn't odd at all. Except that she said, "Hey sweetcakes, would you like a bagel, I'm making myself one?"

And there was sugarcheeks.
And lovemuffin

And sweetiepie

And some other ones I've forgotten.

This was very odd. Growing up, we got called two things by our parents. Our given name. And our given name through clenched teeth. That was it. Even a natural nickname, like, say, "Nobo" instead of Nobody,for example. If you called my house and asked for Nobo, my mom would say, "There's no one here by that name" because we did not go by nicknames.

Even now, in my marriage---the pet names don't flow. One time, a couple of years ago I said something to J and added, "baby" to the end, just to give it a whirl. My easy-going husband snapped, "Don't call me a baby!" It was really funny to me---not so funny to him. I'm sorry baby, I'm not laughing at you....

Anyway, back to the roommate. She was quirky. I totally loved her though---I had to get used to her, but I really did like her. She also said a lot of other random things that I just didn't think normal people said.

But then, she was from Canada....(that was just for you Beckie)

One of those things was "whatnot". Regularly in conversation. It was funny to me every time. She wasn't the kind who said it to be funny. Some other things she said in normal conversation were: Inasmuch, therefore, nothwithstanding, and my favorite, what-have-you.

If you ever hear (or read) me using any of those words, I am most definitely mocking. But you can't know that if you only know me through this blog. But now you do.

It added to the flame when J had an employee that spoke in a slow drawl and ended everything he said with, "and whhhhuuuuut nooooot"

There are other words/phrases that I will periodically make fun of. I'm just not sure how they made it into or lasted in the English language.

Believe you me

FYI--oh yes, I use that too---it's totally obnoxious. Mostly because when people say it they are about to say something rude or condescending.

We ended up...

And don't even get me started on bertday and supposably.

What? Now I'm just being rude? I know.
I'm done.

38 comments:

Lisa said...

The only time Don calls me Lisa is when he is mad at me.

All your phrases (and whatnot) reminded me of my Algebra teacher in high school who had at one time been a college professor. All of his phrases and "superior" speaking used to drive me nuts. So I talked a lot in that class.

Lisa said...

And my grades showed it.

Super Happy Girl said...

I have never used inasmuch, therefore or even nothwithstanding. I don't think I know how.
I have used therefore in writing but not in regular conversation. Why? Who knows, no one cares either.

Super Happy Girl said...

ITA with Lisa, Daily Hero only calls me by my name when he's mad and so do I.

Once I was super mad at him and I called him by his name. He says "you never call me that" and I say "that is your name".
Yeah, for some reason he thought tha ws funny and he uses it all the time.

BAH!

Super Happy Girl said...

So it would be wrong to call you Noboo.

Bex said...

Oh...I'm still stinging from that sweet burn! You just totally made my day. I am soooo grinning from ear to ear right now....and whatnot.

ucmama said...

Maybe it's from being raised in the south where everyone talks way more slowly and adds all kind of extras to everything we say so everything that's said sounds like a ridiculously long sentence and someone from the northeast might yell at us to just get on with it even though we're going as fast as we can, BUT, I say crap like Babe or Honey all the time :) I think it just adds to my flay-va.

What bugs the crap out of me is
"Know what I mean?" when said after virtually every sentence.

Not that you say that. There's not one thing about you that's obnoxious Nobody, like there's that one thing about most people.

omar said...

I don't even get credit in a footnote or anything? (My 2009 resolution is to be more egotistical.)

There was a kid on my floor who used the word "ergo" in every possible instance. "I am hungry, ergo, I go to the dining hall." I wanted to punch him in the face so many times.

Cindy said...

I used the word hon a lot as in honey....'Hey hon, give me a call sometime..sugarcheeks."

Millie said...

I love "believe you me" because of the movie Independence Day, as in, "They've got bigger fish to fry now, believe you me." That just sounded funny so I started saying it.

Everyone in my family has about 19 nicknames...

And I'd been your roommate, I would have also called you "Butter Wings".

omar said...

And re: nicknames, my daughter is 8 months old, and I've never once called her by her name. My wife, I only call her by her name when I'm trying to get her attention when we're out somewhere. My son, I only use his name when I'm trying to get his attention when he's doing something wrong, so I'd say I use his name an average of 3400 times per day.

Rebecca said...

FYI.. its birfday.. ha ha.. drives me crazy and what not..
our dentist is a sugarbaby, sweet honey pie using type of a gal.. I try it, and sound ignant!!

Klin said...

We use all kinds of nick names. I don't allow or like mean ones. They must be loving endearing terms. Oh, and if the other party objects, it stops.

My BFF calls me sweetie. It's just who she is. No one else could really get away with it. We've been through a lot with our kids and stuff so, yeah, we're tight like that.

You know I'll be paying attention to what I say for a while. It's gonna be funny.

Analiese said...

he he. Now you have got me started. My pet peeves on phrases:

* heretofore mentioned
* with every fibre of my being
* journey

i guess my list isn't so great and i will probably remember 10 more after posting .......

Tori :) said...

"Supposably" made me think of that 'Friends' episode when Chandler was bugged with himself for dumping girls for stupid reasons, like "saying supposably." Joey was all confused and asked himself a question after Chandler left and answered it "Supposably..." like "Duh, what's wrong with that??" It was funny!!
Anyway... Sweetcakes, I remember you telling me about this room mate in Oregon. She sounds interesting, my Little Cookie Cutter.
I very rarely call Sei "Sei" or "Seiuli." It's "Babe" more times than not.

Anonymous said...

What about when people say "you know I love _____ BUT ____"

My husband and I call eachother Baba all the time.. maybe you should have said "baba" instead of "baby" try that on J... or better yet next time he says something your response should include "ok sexy" yeah try that!

Sarah Tilley said...

that's funny, knowhutimsayn. i like to use snooty words when i write; it's kind of like me making fun of myself, being bred in the south-- my mom's from indiana and my dad from west virginia, so words like henceforth, ergo, and whom were never uttered in our house. even if i had a phd in english snootology i would have a hard time adopting the professor smartypants vernacular. vernacular- another word i don't think i've ever said aloud.

Sarah Tilley said...

oh yeah, and ben didn't like it one time when i used the endearment "pig dropping." my twin and i loved the movie annie when we were little and called each other pig dropping all the time, and since it was always a friendly joke between us, it never crossed my mind that ben might not appreciate being addressed as such.

by the way, it took me the first two years of our marriage to get him to top calling me boo boo (the height difference between us resembling yogi bear and boo boo).

Deena said...

lol.

ucmama said...

So I've actually heard you call your kid a toot squeak. Is that a term of endearment? Or a nickname?

Andrew said...

I use "exceedingly." I like it.

Sketchy said...

I think that makes you certifiable if you don't refer to your kid as punkin-head at least once. Or buddy-boo.

I worked for a lady once who gave everyone spurious middle names. I was Sketchy Sue and Sketchy Luanne and I don't know what. Actually that was when I knew she liked me, when she started "improving" my name like the other cool girls.

Sister Pottymouth said...

How about when people say "why" when they mean "while"? Or "krenz" when they mean "crayons"?

I tend to like nicknames, as long as they are nice. Dumbsh&* doesn't count as being nice.

Sara said...

You are so funny! Of course, now I'll have the "whatnot" part stuck in my head and think it and the end of every sentence. Thanks. And don't even get me started on linguistic pet peeves...The current most annoying one (yeah, they change from time to time) is "I could care less." I always have to repress the urge to ask that person what prevents them from doing so. And whatnot.

Leslie said...

how about "prolly"? i like that one.

i never ever call my husband by his real name, unless we're in public. and it feels really weird to say it. we also have a billion nicknames for each of our kids. and pets. maybe we're weird. maybe.

aubreyannie said...

i totally hate it when people say "exspecially" and "a couple three". those are my pet peeve words. but what a nice roommate to call you sweetcheeks. which cheeks was she referring to? hmmm?

aubreyannie said...

growing up, we were not a family for nicknames, either. still aren't. i will get MAYBE aub. but that is it. my first and only nickname was in college and it was extended to aubs. that is it. pretty sad. i've always wanted a nickname, it just doesn't come freely for me i guess.

aubreyannie said...

paul and i, on the other hand, call each other "love". rarely do we say each other's actual names.

Olivia Meikle said...

Cletus once introduced us to a new neighbor thusly: (YES, I said thusly, I say almost all the words you mocked, shut it!)

This is my Daddy, his name is Big M, and this is my Mommy and her name is My Love. And he was dead serious. He was convinced that was my name. And he was 4.

Charlotte said...

FYI- I like to read. A lot. Of Dickens especially. Therefore, I have been accused of sounding slightly "text-bookish" when I speak. Henceforth, I will try to be more careful, as there are some, apparently, for whom this is uncomfortable. Notwithstanding, I am immensely entertained by English's multitude of idioms and slang.

How was that sweetcakes?

rychelle said...

I don't know how we are friends with my language!! (what not) At least The Baxter solidify my ccoolness!!

Code Yellow Mom said...

I never in a million years ever thought I would EVER call my husband by a nickname. Funny because I came from a nickname-happy family. But he did not. His mom is like your mom that way. And he just does not lend himself to nicknames. Until we had kids. And I stopped caring if he was annoyed. And now he LOVES being called shuggabug and whatnot. You know the pattern - abhor, tolerate, embrace. You should try it with J. It really enriches a relationship. ;)

My annoyance? Days of the week pronounced thusly:

Mondee
Tuesdee
Wennnsdee
Thursdee
Fridee
Saturdee
Sundee

I bet that never happens in Iowa, though, huh?

Heffalump said...

My husband rarely calls me by name. He doesn't use it when he is mad at me either though. Sometimes he will whisper my name in my ear because it is special for him to use my first name. At all other times I am sweetheart, when talking about me to the kids I am Mommy, or Mom, and he does use my name when talking about me to other people. But between the two of us, he doesn't usually use my name.
I don't do shortenings of my kids' names because I named our oldest son a name that can be shortened to a name I don't like much, so he has always been the full version of the name, and we kept that rule for everyone else. I do use other nicknames though, like Bubba, The Bug and etc.

Becky said...

Somehow "y'all" has gotten into my vpcabulary. Not sure why!

Lisa said...

I cannot stand the phrase "babygirl". Not referring to your precious baby girl. But when a grown man says that to a grown woman. Like in music. So, Don knows this and likes to say it to make me laugh and gag at the same time.

Physcokity said...

Suposably= souble grr from me and a physical reaction akin to fingernails on the chalk board. I don't think the mispronunciation of any particular word has elicited such detest from me.

A former coworker of mine used to use that in her communications with others, and I wanted to slap her upside the head every.time. I know I misspell words on ocassion, but I at least try to figure out how to spell them properly.

Physcokity said...

BTW when I see that word, I automatically change it up to
Supposable thumbs lol

Physcokity said...

The nicknames abounded in our house growing up...Pretty sure GM could hook up most anyone with a sweet nickname just ask... ;)