Skip to main content

Word for Word

I grew up in home with a mother who loved words. Knowing the answer, I asked her the other day if she still does daily crossword puzzles. At 93, she replied: “Yes, every day!” I picked up interesting idioms in my youth. I have fond memories of Mom talking on the kitchen phone exclaiming: “And how!” or describe something by saying: ‘it’s six of one or half a dozen of the other.” She called her coffee a “cup of joe.” Referring to her car, she said: “we bought a lemon.”

My daughter who is a writer for a living also loves words. Once on a visit home from college, she remarked that she heard someone use the phrase “Johnny on the spot”. “Mom, I thought I was in your kitchen,” she said.

My husband said his Dad always referred to his money as a fin, a sawbuck and a double sawbuck.

I was watching Fox News a few months ago and did a double take. The smart, lovely blonde captivated me with her interview, especially when she exclaimed: “And how!”

Do you use idiomatic phrases? I’d love to hear them; but keep it clean!

Comments

  1. CarrieJanuary 16, 2009 at 1:58 PM

    My favorite that Grannie uses is: Different strokes for different folks! I use that one a lot these days.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MelanieJanuary 16, 2009 at 9:32 PM

    I always think it's fun to hear the different phrases that we all get so used to saying and hearing. This was a fun post to read.

    ReplyDelete
  3. KayJanuary 18, 2009 at 4:16 PM

    Ditto to Melanie's comment - this was a FUN post! I can still hear my dad say on the way out the door to church "We're goin' down to Judah!" And if you didn't follow up with someone/something responsibly, he would say "You're gonna get a bad name." Who wants THAT? Now my mom, on the other hand, to this day, walks into ANYONE's house and proclaims "Honey, I'm home!"

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Mom Fought the U.S. Post Office and Won

My mom embarrassed me years ago when she called our small town post office and complained about slow package delivery.   I gave the eulogy at mom ’ s memorial service, and I told the mortifying story at the chapel. Respectful laughter filled the room.  However, embarrassment doesn ’ t bother you when you ’ re dead in the grave and maybe that ’ s the lesson here today. Mom loved to send packages to me in Arizona.  She often mailed pencils, recipe clippings, bars of soap, cereal, odds and ends that were meaningful to her.  Mom never understood that her mailings to a hick town in the west take a heck of a lot longer than it does in Chicago.  I got umpteen phone calls from her before any shipment arrived and she would ask impatiently:  “ Did you get my package yet? ” It was about six years ago when retrieving my mail, Toni, my favorite clerk shouted to me across the room from the front desk, “Your mother called me yesterday.   She...
25 comments
Read more

A Memorial Day Reflection

  Memorial Day is always noteworthy for me and my girls.  Next Thursday marks the third year of missing their father, my husband. So many thoughts  run through my mind.  The journey of loss takes on various emotions.  The strongest feeling, at first, was emptiness.  In a split second, I would forget he departed forever.  I imagined things I needed to talk to him about when he got back home.  My mind is realistic now.  He's not coming back.  There will be no more times of sitting on the porch swing together on the front deck staring at the moon and the stars.  He would tell me all he knew about the majestic night sky. I have so much I wish I could tell him, like the excitement of seeing our oldest grandchild make a decision to follow Jesus and get baptized on Mother's Day!  And our little Amy, 11 years old, I wish he could have seen her on stage receiving her induction to the National Honor Society. Our daughters have their own ...
22 comments
Read more

A Veteran's Story

  I noticed Bill sitting in our local park where I walk.   He glanced my way just as I finished the last exercise walk song on my playlist.   He shouted and pointed to my car:   “Hey, is that your car with the Nam front license plate?   I stepped closer into the veranda where Bill sat on a picnic bench.   I noticed his Vietnam Vet cap and instantly I knew why I walked there that day.   The Marine Vet served during the 1960’s, the same time span as my husband.   Bill talked a lot about the war evoking my emotions from laughter to tears.   My South Vietnam front plate often prompts a conversation with a stranger and I’ve learned a deep respect for it over the years.   It is my way of listening to a veteran.   I enjoyed listening to Bill.   He made me laugh in spots but he made me cry as well.   Like when he talked about the sandwich lady.   “Do you ever eat at the sandwich shop in the gas station down the street...
26 comments
Read more