Bruntrager-isms

Every family has their own unique sayings. Most of them originate when a child uses a word or expression not quite right. Sometimes, those funny little mistakes just stick. Here are some of my favorites from our house:

Verse
To play against, in a sport. This was coined by Jack, who uses it like this: "Who are the Bruins versing today?"

Crash Road
This is something the kids like to yell in the car when they think we're driving too fast, or we're on a curvy road. I'm not really sure who said this first, but Jack, Mattie and Elliot all love it. I first heard it whilst the passenger in the car on Newton Street in Weston, which is a windy country road.

Ternimal
This comes from Jack. It is one of those words that he just can't seem to remember, no matter how many times we remind him or correct him. Now all the kids just call them ternimals.

Thirty
This is how Mattie says "Thursday", but he uses it to refer to any day that has already happened, as in "Do you remember when I had ice cream at my birthday on Thirty?" Mattie coined this term last summer, when he first started to understand the concept of day and time.

Old MacDonald's
This is what my kids call McDonald's restaurant. Somehow confused between his favorite song, Old MacDonald, and the fast food joint, Jack combined both concepts into one name. Although Jack invented this misnomer, it seemed to make sense to all the kids. Mattie was left with no room for doubt last summer when we actually ate at McDonald's and they gave him a toy barn in his Happy Meal. Hard to argue with that kind of proof.

Muffina
The stroller foot muff. Jack, always the muffin lover, came up with this funny name as a 3 year old after hearing me talk about the stroller foot muff one cold day. The next time we went out in the stroller, he asked me to cover him with the muffina. We still call it that today.

Salami Chops
Another Jack original, for sloppy Joe's. When Jack first had sloppy Joe's he was probably 3. He didn't like them at all. The next time he saw them, he started to cry, "I don't like Salami Chops!" What can I say, it stuck.

The Chameleon Store
Elliot came up with this name for a convenience store when he was 3. We were walking down the street one day and he asked if we could go to the chameleon store. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I asked where it was, when we had gone there, and what we bought in an attempt to figure out what he meant. He told me we went there lots of times, and that they sold fish. Based on that description, I thought he meant either the regular grocery store, or the pet store. It took me several weeks, but we finally returned to the convenience store, where Elliot happily pointed out some purple gummy fish candy that Grammy had bought for him the summer before. Mystery solved. Ted and I liked the chameleon store nickname so much, I think we encouraged the use of that one.

Quítama
This is one of the oldest Bruntrager-isms. Jack created this word when he was one. It took us along time to figure out what it meant. He would look at something, and say "quítama". For a long time, we thought he was referring to a triangle shape, but we figured out, much later, that he was using the word to describe the shape that is made by three points or objects coming together. He had a shape sorter with a lid. If you put the lid flat on the ground, then put one of each shape into the hole, and lifted up the lid, you were left with the three shapes in a triangle. We think that is the origin of the word, as he used to love to play that game with the shapes. It's a strange one, and not one we use often, but we'll always remember this as one of Jack's first words, and own invention.

Chopstick
This is how Jack refers to chapstick. Again, no matter how many time we explain the difference, he still asks me to buy him chopstick when his lips are dry.

Ding Dong
This is what anyone in our house yells when they are being teased, or when they're trying to check if someone is kidding. Coined by Elliot, you can read more about it in this post.