Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Say What?

That's not cute or funny!
A few years back, at a family party for my nephew's third birthday, he, being the center of attention, was acting up. On one occasion someone said "That's cute". A few minutes later he did something that made everyone laugh. Of course, since he had everyone's attention he kept it up. A short time later something happened and he started crying. In an effort to get him to stop crying we began to tease him repeatedly by saying "That's cute" or "That's funny." Then he got mad and blurted out "That's not cute or funny!" That became our family catch-phrase for a few years, signifying that you had "gone too far" when teasing someone. Oh, and that little three year old boy. He is now a 27 year old young man.

Do you have lights?
One cold winter night, several years ago when Mom and I lived on what we called "the farm" the power went out. Even though we lived out in the middle of nowhere, the electricity didn't fail us often. So I called our neighbor, a mile away, to see if their power was out too. In response to my question "Do you have lights?" our neighbor, a farmer, responded "Yep, we've had 'em for quite a long time." Since then, when someone in the family asks a ridiculous question, our response is "Do you have lights?" They know it means you better think about what you're asking!

Note: This was written for the 54th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy whose topic is "The Family Language."

1 comment:

wendy said...

Love the story! Thanks!