Lofton Lexicon


So, in past posts I might have mentioned that my family and I sort of speak our own language. Here are just a few words and phrases pulled from our familial lexicon.

Yiss/Yesh: Cutesy ways to say ‘yes’ pretty self-explanatory; often used in conjunction with other baby-babble-ish/cutesy words.

Toe beans/ murder feets: Usually used when referring to our cat’s (sweet, dainty, and horrifically grody) feet. Murder Feet (s) refers to the foot as a whole, while toe beans refers specifically to her paw pads.



Doggo/Pupper/Shoob/Sheeb/Corgo:From the meme-lish; all referring to dogs. ‘Doggo’ and ’pupper’ refer to the dog’s age group, while ‘Shoob’,’Sheeb’, and ‘Corgo’ all refer to particular breeds (Samoyed, Shiba Inu, and Corgi, respectively.)


Bork: Dog noise. Can either refer to the deep noise produced by a larger dog or be used in a more general sense as a synonym for barking done by any kind of dog.



Chi-Chi: Cheetah, especially a baby, adolescent, or an adult in the company of such.


Noonoo/Neenee/Sashee/Tachi/Tash/Old lady/Hairy baby/Potato Beast/Blorp: All names regularly used to refer to refer to our cat Sasha, instead of her proper name.


Why scream?/Angerby: Both used when the cat vocalizes her discontent: ‘Angerby’ being an adjective describing the sound itself and ‘Why scream?’ being a rhetorical inquiry as to why the cat is making the noise.


Nuh-Night (said in the middle of the day): My mom falls asleep, a lot. So much that anytime she says she says she’s going to sit down or watch tv (both of which knock her right out,) dad or I will jokingly wish her a good night.


Who should we ask, then? The dog?: My maternal Grandma is the one who says this the most often, typically if I respond to a question with “I don’t know.” Apparently, that is an unacceptable answer and I, as a former gifted student ought to know better (usually said jokingly, but still, no pressure, yeah?).



Hillbilly blood: Because of my stint in color guard at a school that didn’t particularly value the band (who in turn did not particularly value the color guard,) several seasons worth of barefoot practices on searing concrete and boiling canvas tarp in the rear parking lot left me with leathery, misshapen soles. This gives me slightly more pain tolerance. Combined with the fact that I walk nearly everywhere I can barefoot lead to this gem from my maternal grandfather (Peepa.) I don’t know why he says it so proudly, as far as I know he and his family are from Ottawa. I myself think my feet are more hobbit-like.



Jelly bean/ Bean/ Potato: All three are part of a general sizing system applicable to any species of small animal. i.e. “my cat is a potato beast” (large-ish) or “look at the bean! “(tiny/baby)


Snek: Snake



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