more than words
They say friends start to sound alike.
My vocabulary is pretty chameleon-esque, with words and phrases lovingly stolen from quite a few friends. I gotta admit: I love my mosaic dialect. Mostly because of the memories that lace every word.
My sweet friend Tracee and I have picked up a crapload of each other’s sayings. (Oh yeah! She flew with me to Africa for these few weeks. God is so very good to me. It’s strengthening to my heart just to know she’s sleeping in the room next door as I type this. But I digress…)
It makes me laugh how often we sound like each other. Like the eleventy-two times it happened today alone. There are some things we both say so often, I can’t even remember anymore which one of us started them.
I love it.
It reminds me just how much my life is impacted by those I let close. And if “bad company corrupts good character,” then I know the opposite is also true.
And I hope to pick up more than words from my good company.
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How do you and your friends sound alike? What are some words and phrases from your mosaic dialect?
crapload…totally a word i like to say. it’s surprising though how much crap i get for saying “crap” all the time. cool.
I am the WORST about picking up other people’s language. To the point where I almost start talking with an accent when on the phone with someone from the South. It’s ridiculous!!!!
My best friend Susie always says, “Shoot a bug” when she’s mad, and now I have all my nieces and nephews saying it by accident. I love when they say it and I know it came from her.
i love hearing other people say some of my random -isms, too. even ones i’ve confiscated from friends.
i have quite a few friends now saying “oh my cow”, which i lovingly stole. and brandy even WRITES “shame” all the time because i say it so often. ha. i think she says it more than me now.
i picked up ‘oh my cow’ from you, and now my bloggers are writing it as well. cracks me up.
I’m glad you posted.
I really like your new banner!
I’m glad Tracee is there with you.
People are me — we seem to quote favorite movies and shows a lot (mostly How to Lose a Guy, Rush Hour and any episode of Friends) and it makes us laugh everytime! I know there are other things that I’ve picked up along the way, things I say that definately make me sound like a friend of mine…hella?!
hella?!
“good night” (like c’mon!) is one i picked up from a friend years ago, and i still say it. isn’t that funny!?
Oh I’m terribly chameleon-esque as well. Right there with Gitz. I wait tables (as you know) and I really have to fight to not match my accent to that of the people I’m waiting on. Can’t help it on southern accents. I lived in OK for 3 years. It’s easy for me to slip into that, especially when waiting on southern folks. Almost impossible not to. Surprisingly, I nearly feel fake when I’m waiting on folks from across the pond. I have to try so hard to ignore my instincts to match my accent, and sound ‘myself.’ But ‘myself’ is what sounds fake! That’s what’s so funny!It’s like I’m all stiff because I can’t sound like them. sigh.
But phrases … oh yeah. I turn up using other people’s phrases all the time. Really makes me chagrined when the phrases I pick up are terrible grammatically. grr.
SO glad to hear you’re having a good time with Tracee … and SO glad she was able to come along. I know how much that would mean to me, were I in your shoes.
Still praying for you. :)
ironically, the editor in me doesn’t mind the “wrongness” of some of my mosaic dialect.
and my accent totally changes, too. not quite as “bad” as you (!), but i definitely don’t sound like a new yorker outside NY anymore. and i’ve got a distinct “african voice” that just seems to turn on automatically when i land on the continent.
I’ve totally noticed that my vocab is based more on where I am then who I’m with. I remember when I was in Bots. and the Thrive team would come up…I would laugh at everyone saying ‘Shame” all the time!!! Then I actually caught myself saying it quite often when I was staying down there too. hehehe
Here I have been saying “yellaa” A LOT, which means lets go/come on in Arabic. Even the Jewish community says it and its become a part of the entire culture here. I say it way too much now.
it does seem like the thrive family took that SA-ism to a whole new level.
shame.
I heard “yellaa” a ton over there… I’m really surprised I didn’t pick it up. I’m sure I will. Sometimes it takes me some time.
I use oh my cow alot. Kthnx! and also Gah!
Some sayings from here that they pick from me would be.
Dash = Damn
Duh
awesome
fantastic
Bum
cool.
Definitely “oh my cow” and “holy crow” and you-isms. Also, “PMG” from the E-one (Elise). And so many things from Davidface (oh, and calling people _____-face came from my friend, Aignerface), and…
Oh, a new fave is saying someone is being “presh”. It’s code for someone… well, I think the censor might cut the word out. But let’s suffice it to say that it’s for someone being a jerkweiner (oh, and I got that one from one of the TM TLs way back when he apologized for being a jerkweiner to me… what a jerkweiner).
“Not a fan” from Luke – but I think I remember that it came from one of the Thrive staff.
And so many more. I can’t even begin to remember them all.
I’m not exactly sure what I say or why…but I do know that my beautiful friends influence me in the most profound ways and I am so so so very thankful. Yay for fabulous friends! Seriously!
Yay for Tracee being there to stand beside you.
Being a military brat, I’ve lived so many places and picked up so many different things along the way, but nothing major that I can think of right now. I do know that I can say the same as many others have already about picking up a Southern accent when I get around that again. Must be the Texan roots!
When the guy at the coffee shop would make my coffee wrong, I would always tell him, “I need more cowbell.”
(From a Saturday Night Live skit.)
It would get to the point where I just pull up to the drive-thru and say, “I need more cowbell” and he would say, “Pull up, Nor.”
And if I would walk into the coffee shop he would just say, “Want some cowbell?”
So now I just throw odd movie quotes at him ’cause he always knows it’s me.
The right to be ridiculous is something I hold very dear.
Very glad Tracee is there with you.
Friendship is about more than just words. I love the picture your words create of two friends sharing their lives, and faith, together.
I am totally chameleon-esque in copying the words of people around me. Like a 66 year old guy saying “totally”. I have gone from “See you later alligator” to “Far out man” to “totally cool dude.”
Some of my gestures have also evolved. From the peace sign of the 60’s to the one finger salute when I get cut off on the highway.
Now where did “eleventy-two” come from?
i think i actually first heard eleventy-two from mandy… but i’m not sure!
Yeppers! (from Debs)
Actually, seriously, literally (from Nor)
*bug-eyed guy* and sawwy (from Tam)
Doh! (from Darla, who got it from the Simpsons, I think?)
And lots of the bloggers call me “Sis” now…I think they picked it up from Love. He called me Sis first, because we were both red-headed, freckled faced kids. He’s a couple of years older, but yeah, we could definitely be “brothers (okay, I would be the sister) from a different mother!”
Kinda fun!
Gotta love it!!
I’m such a nerd…
…brothers from another mother…
Everytime I try “modern” vernacular, it just doesn’t fly!
I’ll start saying “oh my cow” when you start using y’all. Deal?
deal!
but damn……
so you. so all. so damn.
i have been saying “well alright” an obscene amount
rilly?!
[big cheese on my face]