Do You Find That Words You Grew Up With Others Cannot Understand?

"Dogs"... that's brilliant! We had some made-up words when I was small but I don't use many of them now. "Slobadok" was one, for someone who's a bit of a slob. "Sack" for a baggy jumper, especially with extra-long sleeves. "Charlie" for a bit of hair that sticks up and won't lie down no matter how often you flatten it. My lady and I have a lot of them as well. We almost never use our real names, favouring instead things like (translated from the French) "Noodle", "Tweety", "Chicken" and "Potato" (that one from being a couch potato - I'm not even going to try explaining the others!). We have some invented words we use, too, which are usually a mix of French and English where our brains got confused which language we were speaking and joined things together... and they stuck. One of my favourites is "Stanley" for the remote control. How did that happen? My lady (French) misread the label by the button "Standby" and we both laughed so hard that it stuck!

It is surely unique what your dad did. I don't think I grew up with invented words that way. Neither did my kids. My parents and grandparents found it very important we would learn to speak the language of the country we live in perfectly. So own invented words were not allowed. So we do speak our language the way many people don't speak it anymore which does make it hard for others to understand what we exactly mean. Also because we use a lot of "sayings" and "expressions" which many people don't even understand the meaning of anymore.

We had words which were specific to our family (as far as I knew) ... at any rate, they were not ones which any of my friends used, so (in the case of names for intimate 'bathroom' functions) it embarrassed me greatly when I used them and was laughed at for being different! The front room or parlour (what would today be called the 'lounge' or 'living room') was always called the Monday-room. That was because of a private thing between my mother and father dating from when they were courting. Monday was, apparently, a very special day for them ... I still have no idea why! My father was also noted for his made-up words, though they were usually spur-of the moment inventions and never lasted. Some of them I have come across much later and realise now that they were either Kentish dialect words or obscure English words to be found in Shakespeare's plays. Actually, Shakespeare himself appears to have made up quite a few words, either to fit his metre or to express a particular idea succinctly. Your father's 'Ganzee' most likely derives from the 'Guernsey' sweater (though your father's use of it seems to be his own adaptation): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernsey_%28clothing%29 The word 'jersey', meaning specifically a knitted garment but also more generally applied to any knitted material, was derived in the same way, as is 'cardigan' - from the type of garment made in Cardigan in Wales.

I think all families develop their own short hand and phrases that carry memories. We often wish people a Hippo Birdie in our family---based on a MyLar balloon I got for my mom's birthday years and years ago. It had the pictures and the phrase "Hippo, Birdie, 2Ewes" hippo birdie to ewe or Happy Birthday to you. In my first husband's family "If it had been a puppy dog it would have licked me" translate, when you find something right in plain sight that you were looking for "If it had been a snake it would have bit me." but Grandma Vi said, "you know, I really don't care for snakes." so then it was "if it had been a puppy dog it would have bit me." then she thought some more, and said, "I do not want to get bit" and so it became "If it had been a puppy dog, it would have licked me." I do find it strange that each of my husbands, tall thin men, have been called "Ichabod" from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow character. In fact Grandma Vi again would say that her boys were getting "Ichabod" when their arms and legs got too long for their sleeves and pants.

LOL that reminds me while I was growing up that many used the word "Dogs" to mean feet. I could not understand why they always said My Dogs are killing me. This actually was said in Spanish - Perros - which means Dogs. Outside of thinking to myself that I found it funny when anyone would use this word this way, as an adult although I don't use it I can relate that there are times my "Dogs" are killing me too.

What fun!It seems that your Dad is such a type of person who"likes to make a long story short".Those words are your family language .In fact ,language is just what was accepted through common practice.If most people get used to the expression of "underdogs"and "Ganzee" ,they may be naturally into the dictionary .

Yea our dad is like that too but mostly everyone in our family is like that. They say it in Spanish language but they also said words we didn't even understand what they meant until we grew up. We understood what they meant by making up words and then finding out what they were.

I find this happening alot, especially these days.

"skippies" for cheap shoes..i've noticed people out of my state usually don't know what i mean.that's more of a regionalism than a familyism tho..

I think it's a neat form of communication, between one and their family, friends, and acquaintances, it gives a more personal touch with others! my family and I also, have our own 'special words' we use that only we know what we are talking about, and I think that is pretty neat! My grandchildren call me 'popsicle', because their mother calls me 'pops'!

My Grandad sounds a lot like your Dad he called vinegar "Grig Grig" and had me saying it as a child, I want Grig Grig on my chips lol . I can only think that he got the idea from the sound the bottle makes when you shake it. I did have one word that I did make up but you know I have never tried to spell it until now, "Hidgaspinged" lol that looks about right

Haha..LOL!! We got that kind of words too- my mother tounge and yeah others will not going to understand them except the families. Most of the time they will give strange look when we use those words.It looks like they are thinking we are form the other planet~