Hono(u)rable Mentions/Horrors (#38)

There are many words and phrases that mom says often, but that we have a dim recollection (#205) of other people saying too.

• At the drop of a hat: Without delay or good reason.
• Bouncing off the walls: Hyperactive. The behavior of young children at a high-sugar birthday party.
• Cheese thingy: Homemade quesadilla.
• Coming down with something: Contracting an illness.
• Coot: Someone confused, often because of age, as in 'The ability to understand the smart phone is evading this old coot.' Other people do say this, but we'd never heard it before mom did.
• Crud: Muck. One of us has never heard anyone else say this, but the others apparently have.
• Disaster waiting to happen: A risky plan or situation.
• For the life of me: Mom couldn't remember a lot of things 'for the life of her,' or no matter how hard she tried.
• Give grey hair: Accuses someone of causing undue stress leading to premature aging.
• Give it the old college try: Trying something when one has doubts about success.
• Gripe: Mother does say this a lot but we suppose that doesn't automatically a momism make.
• Hang on for dear life: To desperately hold on to something. We hear mom's voice in this phrase, but other people have said it.
• Hare-brained: Dimwitted.
• Harrumph!: (Exclamation).
• Have no sense: To make poor or foolish decisions.
• Herculean: With great effort or strength: 'With Herculean effort I put the hash browns in the freezer.'
• Indeed: Mother does begin and end many a-(vaguely grumpy-)sentence using this word, indeed. But this is an hono(u)rable mention/horror more than it is a momism.
• Is that goat cheese? Ewe!: This eye-rolling pun may be typical of our mother, but it's not a momism.
• Knickers in a knot: Mom does say this a lot, indicating that someone is unjustly angry, but other people do say this occasionnally.
• Lawyer: We still think it's funny that mom, who otherwise doesn't have an accent, pronounces this like law-yer. 'You would make a great, law-yer, sonnnn.'
• Let's get this show on the road: To get going. We still think that's a momism (February 25, 2009!) but that other list is getting ridiculous.
• Linguine listserv: Mother's linguistics nerd listserv, as in 'I'm going to post that interesting link on Second Language Acquisition to the linguine listserv.'
• Lost cause: Mom does say this a lot, but other people do occasionnally.
• Mind your Ps and Qs: Ditto.
• No spring chicken: Mother does say this a lot but we suppose that doesn't automatically a momism make.
• Off I went: Ditto. Mom says it a lot but others do occasionally.
• Oh brother: Ditto.
• Other people don't say that?: Mom says this so often in response to our momist documentation that it's an honourable mention.
• Pushing it: Pushing your luck, you're an inch from being in serious trouble.
• Reasonably well: How mom claims she is doing 99% of the time. But I suppose we have heard other people say it.
• Somewhere along the line: Definition: At some point. Do other people say this? We don't even know anymore, but figured we'd add it here while opinions roll in.
• Three eggs in a basket is finer 'an fourteen in the chicken coop: Apocryphal momism, used to tease mother’s strange sayings.
• Up the wazoo: Seems to fit mother's melodrama well but other people do say this.
• Went the way of the dodo: Even restaurants can go the way of the dodo, apparently.
• What am I forgetting: What mom says whenever leaving the house.
• Whistler's mother: Mom's eye-rolling pun whenever one of her kids, particularly killer baby, is whistling.

Kidisms

Mom is one of the few people we know who keeps saying kidisms from when we were 2, nearly 40 years later.

• Airdishconer: Blue-eyes for air conditioner.
• Fewidgewator: Blue-eyes for refridgerator.
• Ka-broken: Admittedly awesome kidism from blue-eyes, means broken.
• Meemer: Blue-eyes for vacuum cleaner.
• Perpers/Lippers: Similarly, Blue-eyes for slippers. Perpers was 'crossly' (#59) corrected to 'lippers.'
• Splinker: Admittedly awesome kidism from blue-eyes, means a splinter.
• Woo-wee-sa: Kidism for Louisa. Mom started imitating the Killer Baby, saying 'eww-wee-sa' but was 'crossly' (#59) corrected to 'woo-wee-sa.' This same daughter also used to spell Emily’s name 'MOE,' one of mother's preferred tales.
• Wooze: To lose.