Subconscious verbal habits
I call blankets "blankies". This isn't because I, as a child, called them blankies. I had, in fact, never called them that until sometime in college. My sister and I, while living in the same apartment, one day were commenting on friends who use that term without thinking as a result of a lifetime of usage, and were meanly mocking them. We kept using the term and now I use it by default, without a second thought.
I must sound like an idiot when I say that. :D Oh well.
My entire family used to refer to me as "baby" in Korean (sounds like "eh-gi" -- hard "g") for years and years and none of us noticed it. They never addressed me as that, just referred to me in the third person as "baby". We noticed one day when I was in high school because my pastor's family called their youngest -- my friend, who is my age -- the same thing. We thought it was so funny until we caught ourselves doing it. I was so appalled! :)
My coworker always says "moo-moo" when she talks about cows. In every way, she is an intelligent, articulate adult, who gets respect from every team, so it's pretty funny to hear her say "moo-moo". Hee.
What, if any, subconscious verbal habits do you or people you know have? Do you say "umm" a lot? "Like"? Does your mom still call you "woogie bunny" in public without realizing it?
posted by eingy @ 8/21/2006 04:44:00 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
After every phone conversation with a female of any sort, I have to consciously not say, "Love you, bye!"
I actually once made a kissy sound at a coworker who dropped me off at my house. It was ridiculously mortifying.
I have to consciously not refer to Seppo by his childhood nickname of Ooogie boogie farty pants stinky poo snot head. It's hard.
Dude, I have, like, no subconcious verbal habits. Anyways, I think this will be a totally funny thread to read later. I'm gonna tag this on CoComment. Ciao!
I say "like" more than I like ... I mean, prefer. I don't say it too much, I think, but I hate when I use it.
Because of constant lectures on the evils of "umm" and "uhh" and "ahhh" when I was on my high school's debate team (no comment), I hate the sound of them from other people. For example, if I hear somebody on the radio "umm"ing, I'll change the station.
When I use them, I'll go so far to put my hand over my mouth. I don't think I do it too often. I could be wrong.
In my family, my grandparents on my mother's side are "grammy [last name]" and "grampy [last name]." We only use these names when talking about them amongst other family members.
I once said "grammy [last name]" to my wife, and thought, "man, that sounds really fucking weird." I
I find it really annoying (I know it's just me) to hear other people refer to their grandparents by inter-familial terms, like "gran-papa" or whatever.
Somewhat related, my great grandparents are (they died) referred to by the name "grandmother" and "grandfather" in their original language (slightly colloquial forms). Since I don't speak that language, I always thought that was there real names.
"I say "like" more than I like ... I mean, prefer. I don't say it too much, I think, but I hate when I use it." - Yeah, me too.
"Somewhat related, my great grandparents are (they died) referred to by the name "grandmother" and "grandfather" in their original language (slightly colloquial forms). Since I don't speak that language, I always thought that was there real names." - I hadn't been reminded of your Anonymousness for a while. :D
I now know how to say grandmother and grandfather in Finnish because that's what Seppo always calls them. Iso-isa and iso-ite, I believe, not that I know which is which off the top of my head.
My guess is that our future kids will call Seppo's parents grandma and grandpa (or some variant) and call my mom & dad the Korean words for those things. My sis and bros will be imo (for my sister -- hysterically the same word as potato in Japanese) and [firstname] + samchoon until they get married, at which point they will lose the first names and get a position assignment (likst "elder" and "younger").
---
I can no longer hide my dogspeak around people. I used to only talk to Mobi in that awful way no one ever wants to hear any other human being talk to anyone when no one was around, but now I've joined the ranks of those I used to disdain.
For the record, all the errors in my previous post were intentional. I just want you to _think_ I don't know, for example, the difference between "there" and "their." ...
Yeah, that's the ticket.
["annoyed" emoticon goes here]
Just like I used the, erm, Dutch word "likst" instead of "like" to show you how well-rounded my education was.
While taking a presentation class, I was told that use of "uhh" and "umm" is not necessarily bad. While overusage is a problem, it is sometimes worthwhile to use if a pause is necessary but silence would be awkward or send an incorrect queue. If you are stating a rhetorical question, for example. By using "uhh" or "umm," the audience is not allowed to interrupt. Just something to think about.
In filipino culture, we are supposed to prepend older names of siblings and cousins with "Kuya" (male, KOO'-ya) and "Ate" (female, AH'-teh). Yeah, I don't do that anymore. I do still refer to uncles and aunts as "Tito..." and "Tita...", and grandmother and grandfather as "Lola..." and "Lolo..." Since the birth of their first grandchildren, my mom has been fine with being called, "Lola," but my dad insists on being called "Freddie Boy." What a weirdo!
"Somewhat related, my great grandparents are (they died) referred to by the name "grandmother" and "grandfather" in their original language (slightly colloquial forms). Since I don't speak that language, I always thought that was there real names."
Yeah, as Ei-Nyung pointed out, I hadn't realized for like, the first decade of my life that my grandparents on my father's side weren't actually named Iso Isa and Iso Aiti. I just assumed since I called my parents by their first names, that my dad would refer to my grandparents by their first names.
*shrugs*
Damn! I got one of them wrong. :|
My male cousin used to call my sister "unni", which is the word that younger sisters call their older sisters, because he thought it was her name. Her name is really something like "euni" (best transliteration I can do because it's technically "Eini" [ee nee] but doesn't sound the way it really should). I guess since the two words sounded similar and I was always calling her unni, he did too. The aunts and uncles teased him for years about that.
Incidentally, I never call my sister unni anymore, even though I'm technically always supposed to always use it.
My grandparents on my Mom's side are from the south and we call them "Mamaw" and "Papaw". When my great-grandmother was alive she was "Old Mamaw". It never occured to me that that was weird until first grade when my friend asked me "what's a mamaw?". Chad can't stand when we say Mamaw and Papaw. It's natural to me.
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