“Making groceries” is a term we used to hear years ago from people who lived down the bayou and just this past Sunday a friend of mine said “I went to town to make groceries and ran into an old friend of mine from school.” 😂
As always, Julie, this is a beautiful prompt.I hope to join the writing hour one day soon, though I can't this Saturday. I hope your part in the Trust conference goes wonderfully.
I'm about a week behind in my substack stack 🙃 but sometimes that shows me all the more that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be...allowing the word on my sign today to be a grateful "now"
and to lean into my life meanderings not as missteps, but as steps of knowing myself.
This post is wonderful! The part about the ink helping us tell who we are. Brilliant! Thanks for all you do for those of us who some days don't know who we are, or what we feel until it comes out in ink on a page. 💓 MTP
I remember my mom shouting this out when she was surprised by something. I find myself saying this as well and my children just laugh. Thank you for this fun prompt.
Several decades ago, one of my relatives wrote a college term paper on the made-up words my grand and great grandparents used in the Upper Midwest — a mishmash (ha!) of English and Norwegian words that took on their own meaning that only those growing up in that specific context understood. I would love to revisit that.
Definitely adding gallimaufry to the rotation. What a delight — eyes, ears and mouth all tangled up in one glance. 💯
Evagene turns 18 months old in a few weeks and she’s just starting to eke out the sounds of two- and three-word phrases. I can hardly wait until she names the world around her. It’d also be lovely if she didn’t offer full-throttle shrieks in the French cafe first thing in the morning too.
But to answer your question, when I was young, I was really fascinated by the sound and feeling of trying to say words in German. I wanted to know how to say them quickly and emphatically. Naturally, my little brother and I concocted word in our language kitchen. It was something like “oy-ven shzlagen fine” if spelled phonetically. We used it a lot in our plays. Thanks for this exploration. It was really nice to think back, think now and think ahead.
Reading your post made me think of the word, "drat." Which I don't remember being part of my family's language-history, but I personally use it quite often. I think I usually use it as an exclamation of disdain or frustration, sort of like "damn!" But when I looked it up, it's listed as a verb and its etymology is "a euphemistic alteration of the phrase God rot." Wow, what a surprise! God rot = drat! This whole exploration has been delightfully funny, and just the 5pm pick-me-up I didn't know I needed! Thanks, Julie!
Some of my favorite words are the words my kids created when young. Basagna for lasagna. Short pants for shorts. Snoogle for family snuggle. I think
I might have created snoogle. When Anna was little she sang along to lyrics, ooh it feels good to be free which she/we changed to ooh it feels good to be three. Amy Krause Rosenthal uses the word flahoolick in her memoir. I love that word- just something a little extra. Taking a Lyft home after cycling 11 miles is flahoolick. Dipping dark chocolate in tea is flahoolick. Dressing up and inviting creativity in is flahoolick. Taking a daily plunge in the Spokane River is flahoolick. I love words that somehow describe the tremendous joy we can find in ordinary moments of our lives.
“Making groceries” is a term we used to hear years ago from people who lived down the bayou and just this past Sunday a friend of mine said “I went to town to make groceries and ran into an old friend of mine from school.” 😂
Ah, this is a delightful prompt on a sunny, 😎 14-degree morning. Thank you for the curiosity this one invites. And a happy, blessed birthday, Julie!
As always, Julie, this is a beautiful prompt.I hope to join the writing hour one day soon, though I can't this Saturday. I hope your part in the Trust conference goes wonderfully.
I don’t think you know how much i needed to receive this message in this moment ~ thank you Julie ♥️ and to all may the year ahead be one of wonder ✨✨
I'm about a week behind in my substack stack 🙃 but sometimes that shows me all the more that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be...allowing the word on my sign today to be a grateful "now"
and to lean into my life meanderings not as missteps, but as steps of knowing myself.
This post is wonderful! The part about the ink helping us tell who we are. Brilliant! Thanks for all you do for those of us who some days don't know who we are, or what we feel until it comes out in ink on a page. 💓 MTP
Holy Mackerel!
I remember my mom shouting this out when she was surprised by something. I find myself saying this as well and my children just laugh. Thank you for this fun prompt.
Several decades ago, one of my relatives wrote a college term paper on the made-up words my grand and great grandparents used in the Upper Midwest — a mishmash (ha!) of English and Norwegian words that took on their own meaning that only those growing up in that specific context understood. I would love to revisit that.
Definitely adding gallimaufry to the rotation. What a delight — eyes, ears and mouth all tangled up in one glance. 💯
Evagene turns 18 months old in a few weeks and she’s just starting to eke out the sounds of two- and three-word phrases. I can hardly wait until she names the world around her. It’d also be lovely if she didn’t offer full-throttle shrieks in the French cafe first thing in the morning too.
But to answer your question, when I was young, I was really fascinated by the sound and feeling of trying to say words in German. I wanted to know how to say them quickly and emphatically. Naturally, my little brother and I concocted word in our language kitchen. It was something like “oy-ven shzlagen fine” if spelled phonetically. We used it a lot in our plays. Thanks for this exploration. It was really nice to think back, think now and think ahead.
Lallygag (to procrastinate), and my Mother reminded me daily that I was merely lallygagging and to get my ass out the door to school.
Reading your post made me think of the word, "drat." Which I don't remember being part of my family's language-history, but I personally use it quite often. I think I usually use it as an exclamation of disdain or frustration, sort of like "damn!" But when I looked it up, it's listed as a verb and its etymology is "a euphemistic alteration of the phrase God rot." Wow, what a surprise! God rot = drat! This whole exploration has been delightfully funny, and just the 5pm pick-me-up I didn't know I needed! Thanks, Julie!
Some of my favorite words are the words my kids created when young. Basagna for lasagna. Short pants for shorts. Snoogle for family snuggle. I think
I might have created snoogle. When Anna was little she sang along to lyrics, ooh it feels good to be free which she/we changed to ooh it feels good to be three. Amy Krause Rosenthal uses the word flahoolick in her memoir. I love that word- just something a little extra. Taking a Lyft home after cycling 11 miles is flahoolick. Dipping dark chocolate in tea is flahoolick. Dressing up and inviting creativity in is flahoolick. Taking a daily plunge in the Spokane River is flahoolick. I love words that somehow describe the tremendous joy we can find in ordinary moments of our lives.
Julie, what is “digitizing the Christmas lights?”…..sounds like a great idea!!
Beautiful. Thank you for this.