Monday, March 17, 2008

Fun Monday - The Look

Top o' the Mornin' to ye! Tis St. Paddy's day and Nikki is hosting Fun Monday. This week, she asks us to respond to this:

I don't know about you, but my family is great at creating strange words that only we know the meaning. Some were created when the kids were first learning to talk, others came about when our tongues were twisted and the word came out funny. Either way, the words stuck and we still use them in our daily conversations. What created words does your family use?! Please share the story behind the word if you remember. If you don't have a made up word then tell us about the unspoken way you communicate with someone. Do you and your significant other have a look that means "This party is boring, lets split" or do you have a look that your kids know means their butt is in serious trouble? Please share!! And a picture of the look would be very entertaining!

Hmmm..

Interesting "family" words... Actually, I can only think of one - VILLENA. As in "Miss Villena". That was my brother Matt's imaginary friend when he was little. She played the piano and kept him company when the rest of the family was too busy or too noisy or too... something. We all thought he was saying "vanilla", so still, to this day, I still use the word "villena" for "vanilla" on occasion.

Looks, however, are another subject all together. In my gigantic family, sometimes a look was heard much more readily than any words whispered or shouted. Our favorite was the skeptical with quirked eyebrow look, sure to garner a giggle at least.

I remember one exchange between my brother John and my mom. The cat's bowl was hiding around the corner of the refridgerator and John accidently kicked it, spilling water all over the floor. He went over to the sink and picked up something to wipe it up with.

"Don't use that! Use a sponge!" my mother said.

John looked at the rectangular object in his hand and back at Mom. "Well then, what is THIS?" he asked holding it up.

"THAT is a Magic Eraser," replied Mom.

"Really??? How does it work?"

"Well... you run some water over it, squeeze it out, then use it to wipe up stuff," Mom finished matter-of-factly.

The look on John's face was priceless. He has "skeptical with quirked eyebrow" down to a science. Quite deadpan, he said to Mom, "How... unsponge-like."

At that point, I totally lost it. I laughed so hard tears were flowing down my beet-red face and I slid helplessly to the floor. It wasn't the conversation so much as the look that went with the final sentence.

My brothers were always good at cracking me up like that. It was almost too easy.

Me? I've got the "Mother Glare" down pat. In fact, I had that down before I was even a mother. It's one of the benefits of being big sister to so many boys.

We were all sitting around the kitchen table one day and James was just jabbering along, interrupting and talking, seemingly just to hear the sound of his own voice. Frustrated, I turned the Look on at him and he froze, mid-sentence. No moving, no talking. Just quiet. Andy was impressed. "Wow! You're not even a MOM yet!"

See, I inherited that particular ability from MY mom, who used it plenty on all of us. Andy recognized it right away.

I am happy to report that the Mother Glare still works.

To my knowledge, this phenomenon has NEVER been captured on film.

Part two of Nikki's request had something to do with green beer. I'd tell you a story about some kind of alcohol imbibbing, but I can't remember any...

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Don't forget to wear your green (unless you LIKE getting pinched!)

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

I need to master that mom look. Strangely Aaron does not get it or I'm not doing it right.

Thanks for playing!

SwampAngel65 said...

I guess I need to practice my Mother Glare because every time I try it, I either get laughed at or completely ignored. No respect at all!

The sponge story made me smile, which is hard to do this early in the morning.

Happy St. Pat's Day!

Sayre said...

Nikki & SwampAngel - the Mommy Glare must come from deep inside your brain and shoot out of your eyes like really sharp icicles. You can almost FEEL your eyeballs icing up when you do it right. For some people, it works if you replace the ice with fire.

-Ann said...

My mom has a freaking scary Mommy Glare.

Aoj and The Lurchers said...

Apparently I have quite a good glare too....so my colleagues tell me!

Liane Michel said...

I can totally see you cracking up, turning red and hitting the floor... I couldn't even read that sentence without laughing out loud at the picture of it....remember the twiggy doll??

Anonymous said...

The Mother Glare?
My girls call mine The Teacher Look.
It still works.

Jill said...

i've had the look down pat for a long time as well. it quelled me enough times, often that was all that was needed, that i became an expert. my hubby doesnt quite shut up, but he gets that he's done something wrong.. practice practice practice..

Tiggerlane said...

I had to laugh at the "un-spongelike" comment - hysterical! And "the look?" Yeah - no mom is a REAL mom without it!

j said...

Happy ST. Paddys Day to you! I love the story. Sounds like a fun family.

Jen

Anonymous said...

Oh yes - the Mother's Glare. My grandmother had "the Face" - which I've never been able to quite achieve yet.

the planet of janet said...

the mother glare is part of my arsenal too.

and "unspongelike" sounds like something that could be used for many other occasions with hilarious results! ;-)

Ari_1965 said...

I think you could make a fortune offering seminars: "Mother Glare! Put It to Work For You!"

Junebug said...

I suppose I had a "glare" look. I hate to even think about having a look on my face that others notice. My face is like an open book unfortunately. I find I have to remember not to let people see what I'm thinking when I am looking at them. Oops!

Heather said...

I think if the mom glare were captured on film, whoever was doing the picture taking would be in big trouble, too! When I use the Mom look, I'm in no mood to be photographed!

Love the magic eraser story, so funny!

Faye said...

How great to have a brother with a quirky sense of humor. did your mother think he was as funny as you did? If not, how "unspongelike"!

Anonymous said...

What a funny story. "The Mother Glare" must be something like "The Look." I would give my son The Look and his knees would knock together. Very effective.

Hootin Anni said...

Oh this story is rich!!! I love it. And I like the term "Mother Glare" too.

Thanks for the visit today.

Anonymous said...

You forgot "bo-wangie", "bummy-jhutt", and "fratoom", all kid words your Dad and I still use. Your cousin called my Grandpa "Gumpudda", a name that stuck the rest of his life.

"Miss Vernon" was the imaginary friend, and she lived in a hole. I suspect she was inspired by the Beatrix Potter story about the hedgehog laundress.

None of you could say "broccoli", so "tree" was substituted, and is still used today.

No Mommie glare can match the one MY mother bestowed on me the day I was about to call my brother a bad name, and looked up just in time to see her glaring from the window. I wilted, and quickly replaced the
b-word with a quavering "...dog".

Thanks for the memory jog.
Mom

Peter said...

Oh I well remember the "Look" it was enough to stop you in mid sentence alright.

Alison said...

Oh yes..the look..I have that one mastered also..and I also grew up in a houseful of brothers!!

Anonymous said...

Your Aunt Harriet's crew all said, "Scoomzy" for "excuse me." When I moved in with her, that blew my mind. We all still say it.
DotnFL

Sandy said...

My daughter calls the "look" laser eyes. Evidently I used them on someone else's child last week in class. Oops.

Sauntering Soul said...

I just laughed so hard at the Magic Eraser story that I scared my cat. That is hysterical!

My mom still give me the Mother Glare and I'm 39. I guess I still don't behave to her satisfaction sometimes.

IamwhoIam said...

Great sponge story, I can even imagine one of my brothers using the line. "how un sponge like" Thanks for that smile.

Courtney said...

I don't think my mom has given me the "Mother Glare" in 15 years, but I am still terrified of it.

Kaytabug said...

I must suck at the Mom glare. High 5 for you!! "How ...unsponge like." is freakin' hilarious!!!! Love that story!!!

my4kids said...

The sponge story was cute. The best person in our family for giving people looks is my youngest Madison...she can give a look to kill like no other and has several others. Something to do with being the littlest in my opinion and having to have something other then size to hold people back!

Unknown said...

I had never heard of the being pinched if you are not wearing green until yesterday!

Happy St Patricks Day (for yesterday) from N Ireland!

Jo Beaufoix said...

Hee hee, my mum had that look too. She was a teacher so we called it the teacher look. Miss M noticed it when she was about 4 and said, 'eyebrows granny'. Now my mum just says the word eyebrows if my girls are getting a bit out of hand.

Unknown said...

Oh the mother glare! Yeah, I neeever do that. ;)

Jenny, the Bloggess said...

"How unspongelike."

I'm still giggling.

Jenny, the Bloggess said...

"How unspongelike."

I'm still giggling.