Six catchphrases my family says

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Children, Parents

I want to talk about catchphrases. Why? My family uses a few of them for different reasons, like the Penguin does with his umbrellas. Some are funny, while others are very practical in nature; though they are not exclusively used by my wife and I, we all know what they mean.

Let’s look at them, shall we?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

1.) Calm the Farm

This gem came from my late mother-in-law. It refers to when there was a ruckus on the farm, the farmer would try to calm the situation down.

We break it out when UMC1 and/or UMC2 are becoming too loud, too excited, or when they’re fighting over some extremely important reason; like someone ate more chips than the other one; so we say, “Calm the farm, guys, calm the farm.”

2.) Team Indy

As some of you know, our dog is called Indy. We often joke about how our team was formed, basically like our origin story. First there was Indy, then he decided that living with my future wife was a good idea. The two of them went on a recruitment drive for a new team member, and I was asked to join. The three of us then added two more members to the team, thus giving us a team of five.

But what is the name of your team, Scott? Easy, we named it after the original team member.

The catchphrase is like a rallying cry in a way. Sometimes when a team member is having a bad day or when things have gone worse than Edward Scissorhands visiting the Museum of Paper, we try and regroup and remind ourselves, “Hey everything is going to be alright, we can do it. We’re Team Indy!”

3.) Toilet Drama

Toilet drama is what my wife and I call all of the arguments and negative experiences, surrounding UMC1 and UMC2 going to the toilet. Whether it’s about a roll of toilet paper being pulled off onto the floor; the stool being kicked over; denial of needing to go to the toilet, when they obviously need to go; or not washing their hands aka dunny hands; as well as everything else not mentioned.

If there is any drama connected to the toilet, then it’s Toilet drama; and we DON’T do Toilet drama.

4.) Roasty Toasty

This is an easy one, because it’s all about being warm and snug. Roasty Toasty is a catchphrase we say to UMC1 and UMC2, when we are putting them to bed; especially during late Autumn, Winter and early Spring.

The boys sleep in the same room and since the house is over 110 years old, it can get extremely cold. So when the boys go to sleep, we make sure they’re wearing winter pyjamas and several blankets, so they will be; and say it with me, Roasty Toasty.

5.) Being a Master

Firstly, this is not a Doctor Who reference, though that would be pretty cool. What I’m talking about, is giving the boys a job, where they can be the master of something. It sounds odd, but I’ll give some examples.

Say I need some help putting out or bringing in the rubbish and recycling bins. Asking if there was a Bin Master to help, will get a far more positive response from UMC1 and UMC2 than anything else. Other masters include: Washing Master, Shoes Master, Plate Master, Vacuum Master, Trolley Master, Lego Master, Duplo Master, Tidying-up Master, and the ultimate master this family has; the Biscuit Master.

Each week, some new Team Indy member becomes the Biscuit Master; which means they are the Master of Biscuits. They get to select the biscuits from the supermarket, regardless of any other person’s preference. We work on a rotation system, so since a new Biscuit Master is chosen each week, and UMC1 and UMC2 take this job EXTREMELY seriously.

6.) Kick in the guts

This is a classic catchphrase from my father-in-law; Kick in the guts. So, there is no stomach kicking involved here, just some oddly placed words. Kick in the guts means to wind something up or to finish something. We mainly use it when we are getting the boys ready for bed. After they’ve had some books or done a puzzle or drawn some art or played a board game, and all that’s left is to brush their teeth and go to bed; well, then it’s time to Kick in the guts.

We also use it when it’s time to tidy up; finish getting ready in the morning; or when it’s time to leave somewhere and go home. It’s time to Kick in the guts.

Does your family have any special catchphrases? If you do, what are they? Please let me know. Right, I’ll off to watch Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor, with my wife because we’re geeks. Thanks for following me, read some banned books, place your bets on the next UK Prime Minister, and I’ll see you next week for my Black Adam review.