Posts with the label epparksford
Showing posts with label epparksford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label epparksford. Show all posts

Saturday, September 27, 2014

An "Allergy" Word from our Family

made up language
Welcome to fall allergy season! I'm not sure what is in the air but my sinus holes feel like they've had a wedge driven into them. How are you feeling?. My granddaughter had her first unwell baby doctor visit Monday. Ten months without an ear infection or runny nose. That's impressive. I'm hoping that means her immune system is a good one. Her mom, my husband and my daughter are sick with it too. I worry most about my husband with his already compromised respiratory problems. Please say a pray for him.

Allergies even affect poor ole Herm dog. Steve gave him a steroid shot this week. Seems like every spring and fall he scratches off the hair from his eyebrows after a few hour-long romps in the hay field. See the white patches on his eyes and nose where his hair is coming out. Such a sweet puppy!
dog scratching out hair
My dad's side of our family has respiratory issues. We call it the Parker Curse. My grandfather and two uncles passed with respiratory failure and my aunt passed with lung cancer, all on my dad's side. I've always had severe allergies myself along with many other cousins that suffer like me.
allergy season
I came across our word of the week when visiting with my dad's brother Leonard or Lent as we called him. It's pronounced the way it is written "As-Me". I stopped by his house and ask him how he's feeling and he always replied "My asme's killing me!" Asthma is no laughing matter for folks who have it. Lent was right. His asme took him to the pearly gates almost five years ago. So now, I affectionately refer to asthma as asme in honor of my Uncle Lent. May you rest in peace sweet soul.

If you or your family members suffer from asthma, here are 14 tips to prevent asthma attacks that may help prevent a life-threatening event. Leave me a comment and let me and others know what helps your allergies or things to do to prevent serious effects of asthma.

Breathe freely,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap

An "Allergy" Word from our Family

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Saturday, September 6, 2014

"Extra" Words in Our Crazy Made-up Family Language Epparksford


The word of the day = "x-tree"

Before you get all concerned, no, we are not against trees or trying to eradicate trees. Our family loves trees! We live in the middle of several 100+ year old hardwoods. We should probably cut them down so they don't fall on our house but we just can't part with them. We are definitely "for" trees.

But, we do take a little xtree cream in our coffee and wish we had a little xtree spring in our steps! Xtree is our slang for extra. I'm not sure how this happened in our family. Every time someone says a word incorrectly, backward or just plain southern, the new word form becomes the norm around our gang. So.much.fun. Like my Dad calling my mom One-nater instead of her proper name Juanita.

My favorite "xtree" phrase is "Do you have any xtree change?" Talking about money of course. Who carries a specific amount of money with them so they might have extra to change larger bills or even coins (if the need arises)? Not me, for sure. I never have any xtree money, do you? I wish money did grow on trees then we would have xtree for sure!

Does your family use this word? Leave me comment and tell me your family slang for a common word.

Xtree crazy,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap

"Extra" Words in Our Crazy Made-up Family Language Epparksford

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Word of the Day - Kinkered

"Word of the Day" is...

Does your family make-up or change words? And then use them in every day conversations? We do! Kinkered is my Dad's substitute word for "canker" or "cankered". Yeah, you know... the necrotic fungal disease that grows on the barks of trees or an ulcerous condition such as ear cankers! The word is multi-talented. Kinkered can be used as a noun or a verb.

I thought of this particular word of the day from our crazy made-up language our family uses. The other day when my Dad was eating a Cadbury egg. Yes, from Easter 2014, way back in April. He was carefully peeling the foil paper from the edges of the egg and experiencing great difficulty as the foil refused to let go of the old chocolate. I said "You know that egg is from Easter. It's only 4 or 5 months old." My mom coaxed him on "Candy don't ruin!" I continued with a worried look saying "It's got a spot on the side of it." My Dad wielded his handy dandy pocket knife to investigate the spot. He said "That thang goes all the way through!" I said laughing "Don't eat that thang. It's KINKERED!" 

He ate it. Every bite. He also licked the chocolate off his fingers. He said "I've eaten older things than this and I'm still here." It's been five days since he ate the egg and all is well. I guess kinker won't kill ye. 

Put the word to work in your vocabulary. It's fun and functional! Have you ever heard of it or used it? Leave me a comment. :)

Crazy talk 365,
Tammy



Word of the Day - Kinkered

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Saturday, August 9, 2014

CAUTION: May have fishy smell!

Turns out, our family are not the only people that make up languages. What about acronyms? The English Language is full of them. The popularity of social media created a whole new meaning for the word acronym. Everybody that uses facebook or the twitter uses and understands them, lol. We use them in our everyday speech more than we realize. Here's a few for examples:
  • We eat them - BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato), PBJ (Peanut Butter & Jelly)
  • We tell time with them - PM (post meridian), BC (Before Christ) EST (Eastern Standard Time)
  • We swing by them and need an acronym to use - ATM (Automated Teller) PIN (Personal Identification Number)
  • We drink them - OJ (Orange Juice), BYOB (Bring you own bottle)
  • We even talk dirty with them - SOB, SOL
Acronyms are a standard in our language usually consisting of three letters. They are easy to use. They are simple to understand.  I expect folks know the meaning of acronyms of their era. I ask my kids the meaning of some social media acronyms. They know the younger ones while I know the older ones. Sometimes, acronyms become more familiar to us than the actual name of something. Heard anyone say something like this lately? "Yeah. I'll be there around 5 post meridian. I've got to run by the Automated Teller. I can't remember my Personal Identification Number." I didn't think so! Humans tend to embrace lazy and our languages are no exception.

I love to learn. You might enjoy reading The Top 10 Things I learned in London or 5 Things the New Grandmom Learned. I heard a word during a sightseeing tour in London. I had always thought it was a word but our guide says it's an acronym. See if you can guess the word/acronym before we embark on a bit of a vocabulary lesson:
  • definition of mystery acronym - a level quayside area to which a ship may be moored to load and unload. noun
  • every waterfront city has one
  • a lot of restaurants are named this acronym
  • these are commonly converted to housing or apartments
  • picture clue 
san francisco wharf
photo credit: Pedro Szekely
The guide told us the word WHARF is an acronym for Warehouse at River Front. According to Merriam-Webster, "wharf" is a middle English word used before the 12th century. I have to admit I was amazed at my lack of knowledge surrounding the word. The acronym was so believable, not only was his story convincing but the acronym made so much sense. Internet sources say the acronym for wharf is untrue. I say "It's an English word. Been around for a long time. If a Londoner wants to spice up his tour by making up acronyms for his country's language, I'll eat it up all day long and repeat his story to entertain others!" Warning: proceed with caution to your nearest warehouse at riverfront....may have fishy smell for a couple of reasons.

Ever heard this big fish story too? Leave me a comment with your thoughts.

Happily gullible,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap

CAUTION: May have fishy smell!

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Epparksford: Our Madeup Language - For Mature Audiences Only



We've been using this 'word of the day' for 25 years. Sydnee turned 26 years old this month. She was a beautiful baby. She has not grown out of it. She's grown into more beauty as she's aged. And don't get me started on how much she's blossomed since becoming a mom herself.
As a baby, she did everything a little late. Cut her first tooth at 12 months, walked at 13 months and was always slightly under percentile on the growth chart.
baby
Her first word was tractor at the age of 12 months. So unexpected! We were in the barn looking at her Pa's tractors. Her Dad said the word and she repeated it. From that moment, she tried to say every word her Dad and I said. She pronounced tractor perfectly. One word she couldn't pronounce was "hotdog". I'm almost ashamed I fed her hotdogs. They were healthier in 1989, right?  The way she said hotdog was so cute and so funny we still use it today. Are you ready? Please don't take this the wrong way. She was 12 months old when she made up this word innocently. She named a hotdog....

COCKDOG!

Cockdogs are still one of her favorite foods today. You may never look at a hotdog the same way again. Every time me and her Dad says cockdog, we see a darling baby girl with kinky curly locks wobbling around in a diaper and small t-shirt. She pulls up on the refrigerator door, turns to us on her knees, points and says cockdog? asking if she can have one. We understood her precious language. Still do! 

Love is a language,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap 

Epparksford: Our Madeup Language - For Mature Audiences Only

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Our Crazy Made-up Language - Epparksford!


I love my family! We have so much fun together. One of the things we do is make up words. They may come from a mispronunciation, a twisted tongue and sometimes, we think the word just sounds better said another way. Does you family do this? Truthfully, these words stick! We replace the English version with our funny family language word. My Dad probably says the funniest ones. Can you name the fruits and veggies in this picture?

watermelon
My Dad calls that round beige thing a mushmelon (English: muskmelon). The funniest one we've adopted lately is for the long green thing lying in the front. My Mom went out of town recently. She assigned Dad the task of gathering the garden. He called me announcing proudly that he had everything gathered. He said "I picked all those lucchinis!" Remove the "z" insert the "l". These squash are no longer zucchinis in our language, they are forevermore known as lucchinis. We know, with a new granddaughter in the house, we need to be careful. She'll fit right in and play along. I'm sure of it!

Here's another one. My driving drives my husband crazy. His misophonia drives me crazy. On our 12 hour ride to Florida, I begged him to go to sleep, take a nerve pill or something. Luckily, he chose the little bitty pill. He was fast asleep in no time. Finally, peace for Sydnee and me. Sydnee was driving. Steve, fast asleep, raised up and said "Syd, if you'll stop, I'll pump the gas." We looked puzzled at each other in the rearview mirror. We had a full tank from the gas he just pumped. He woke a little later and asked for a water. He got strangled. After he got his throat cleared, he said "Wow, for a minute there I thought I might need the Heimlich remover!  We laughed and laughed. No more maneuvers in our life-saving bag. We do the Heimlich REMOVER because it works, not just as a CPR tool but as a word that makes sense!

What words have your family made up? Leave me a comment and share it with us!

Defining life,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap

Our Crazy Made-up Language - Epparksford!

Saturday, July 12, 2014