Argot

January 07, 2019

Every family has its own little language. Caroline and I are no exception; she's very clever, and it shows in some of her sayings:

  • Sometimes when Caroline is curious, she assualts and apeppers me with questions.
  • Three great movies playing and you want to see all three? Or maybe too many good dessert options? You're suffering from an embarrassment of riches.
  • The mustache twirlers are the people sitting in smoke-filled rooms, plotting environmental destruction, working-class oppression, gender-based pay discrimination, and most other social ills (they mostly don't exist, a fact we try to remind ourselves of, with this tongue-in-cheek term)
  • A preferred David Albrecht/Caroline Souza/XX activity: whether drinking fizzy water, reading laying on my stomach, or watching dark and depressing television (DDTV), we all have them
  • Scowling at the computer: what most software developers, architects, writers, and other makers do all day.
  • David 的/Caroline 的: This one is a bit more complicated. 的, pronounced "duh" with a soft u, indicates possession in Mandarin. "David 的?", usually when pointing to a sock, fork, or glass of water, is the abbreviated form of, "Is this yours?" in our household.
  • Negocios: this one comes from Spanish. It's like "negotiation" and usually used for intense "business" activities: haggling, comparing prices/rates, trying to get a better deal.

Honorable mention: we needed an estoppel certificate the other day. Caroline wan't sure what that meant, but asked whether you can get one of those at the "Holy Catholic and Estoppelic Church".

I hope our daughter gets her sense of humor.

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