HALLIE EPHRON: Once again, it's WHAT WE'RE WRITING WEEK on Jungle Red. I'm not sure that you'd call what keeps me busy right now writing. A whole lot of idea scribbling, blogging, and noodling about in my head.
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| Kasey Goodwin Paul's Valley Noodling Tournament |
My friend and Clever Girl Organizer Kathy Vines uses a word sticky to express the way things like words can, well, stick.
I've always been susceptible. Years ago, my husband I saw a
dubbed-in-Italian SHREK on television in a hotel in Italy, and ever since we've referred to one or the other of our daughters as the Principessa. (Pronounced: Prin-chee-PAY-sa). When I've got too many clothes to pack, I'm likely to say, "We’re going to need a bigger boat." (JAWS) "Sometimes the spaghetti likes to be alone" (BIG NIGHT) has a million uses.
GROMMIT. "Don't Panic" (said with eyes rolling and arms waving about) from CHICKEN RUN. And the simple "Thanks, Luv" from VERA.Lately I've been watching THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW (I am not a baker but I find it mesmerizing... even the episodes I've already seen) and I find myself adopting a whole new vocabulary. Who knew biscuits are cookies (I'm sure Debs and Rhys did). That a British pudding isn't gooey and creamy unless it's undercooked. I'm dying to know what royal icing or creme pat or fondant tastes like.
More than that, the baking show has larded my language with all sorts of new expressions. I find myself:- Complaining about having to do detail work with lots of fiddly bits
- Being chuffed for some kind words from a reader
- Finding the chocolates I made for Christmas scrummy
- Encouraging my husband to crack on
- And hoping that a bit of writing I've done ticks all the boxes.
What expressions have stuck to you from the TV shows and movies and social media you're imbibing?
Hallie I did know that biscuits were cookies in England, and royal icing is non-spreadable decorating icing that has set up and is hard [think of those packaged flowers you can buy in the baking aisle that you can put on the top of a cake] . . . .
ReplyDeleteI sometimes say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” but I never knew it was a Seinfeld phrase. However, I knew where “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore” and “There’s no place like home” came from. Ditto “Houston, we’ve got a problem” . . . .
That’s from Seinfeld! Thx!! And for the primer on royal icing (ick)
DeleteBiscuit is also the French word for cookie
DeleteIs royal icing a sly comment on the royal family, do you suppose: decorative, but hard set in its form?
DeleteI use royal icing for Christmas cookies. Works great and very edible. I use powdered egg whites in it.
DeleteWith reading lots of books set in England and Scotland, and becoming friends with some authors from those two places, I find my writing and speech thusly affected. Gobsmack is one of my favorite words now, and I also love chuffed and cracking. I'm sure I'll think of more after some sleep.
ReplyDeleteOh, Joan, my daughter and I say Seinfeld stuff all the time, and "not that there's anything wrong with that" is one of the phrases we use.
I LOVE the word "gobsmack," Kathy!
DeleteMe too - whenever I use it I think of Catriona Macpherson!
DeleteHallie, Catriona is one of the influences I was talking about. Her use of "chuffed" got me on board with that one, too.
DeleteDefinitely "We are going to need a bigger boat" and "Houston, we've got a problem." I love the word chuffed, but no one in my family has any idea what it means but me. Gets me a lot of side eye.
ReplyDeleteCan't think of others, but I know there are more - must need more caffeine this morning. What is creme pat? Sounds interesting!
Kait I’ll think of you when I say “gets me a lot of side eye” - it’s sticking
DeleteI get more vocabulary from reading than from shows - which is why I've known biscuits are cookies for many years. I particularly love "gobsmacked," which I believe is Australian. Now I'm off to look up the etymology for noodling. I hope the sentences start flowing soon for you, Hallie!
ReplyDeleteMe too !
DeleteSince I've become addicted to HGTV, I find myself using a lot of renovation terms in everyday life, especially as I refer to the rewriting I'm doing on my WIP.
ReplyDeleteNext time I’m in revision I’ll refer to it as renovation - could help
DeleteIn the UK, revision means studying for an exam. I really don't get that. And here, when I say "presently", I mean sometime in the very near future but the Brits mean right now, as in "I am presently drinking coffee and reading JR."
ReplyDeleteLots of phrases from TV and movies and reading creep into my vocabulary. Chuffed is a favorite, and one of the last things I recall my friend Pauline saying is that she was chuffed that I was coming to stay with her in a couple weeks.
I like cockney slang although I never use it. But coming across it in my reading or Britbox viewing is fun. Does anyone here watch QI on Britbox? It is possibly the funniest show in our rotation, the one we go to when feeling down. It elicits belly laughs. For maybe eleven years, Stephen Fry was the host, completely outrageous. Now it is Sandi Toksvig, and she is just as good, maybe better some days. If you watch the Great British Baking Show, you'll recognize her.
And speaking of Catriona, if she calls you a dozy mare, it is with love.
And Stephen Fry is one of the smartest people on the planet! I'm always blown away by his intelligence.
DeleteHe’s a polymath. So is Sandi Toksvig. They and many of the panel are Oxbridge
DeleteYour comment about studying for an exam reminds me of when I talk about college. I say I went to uni (meaning university) instead of college. And instead of saying "I majored in history", I say "I read history at uni".
DeleteRoyal icing is Delicious, just saying! There's another expression for you. Starting my life as British, I do miss the current slang from home but one that I use a lot, is no worries. I know I use others but can't id them as it's just part of my speech. But to get back to food. Hallie, I love The GBBS too. No, royal icing isn't like those nasty decorating flowers; properly made, it is crunchy when one bites through. I still, after 50 years, Miss Christmas cake. A delicious dark rich batter with lots of good dried fruit, spirits or beer, and covered with marzipan, then iced with royal icing. Appropriate seasonal decorations on top not to be eaten. Yes I have made it but Victor would eat a sluice or two, and no prizes for guessing who ate the rest. Creme pat is Creme patisserie; a version of custard usually thickened with a little flour, cornflour or arrowroot. But I think you all knew that.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Hallie, that ‘crack on’ is a very recent addition to British vernacular. Not a word I grew up with! And are these words going to make an appearance in your next book?
ReplyDeleteRhys, I remember British words from your Royal Spyness novels.
DeleteDiana
Pet, I didn't realize how much of the GBBS I had internalized until I wrote a short story from the perspective of a wedding cake baker: butter and cream frosting, fondant in a trellis design, crumb, texture, luscious raspberry and lemon curd fillings oozing...
ReplyDeleteOh Hallie, I love this. Love collecting words and phrases. Chuffed is a special favorite; I remember hearing Liam Neeson use it on a talk show. And the GBBS! So many things I've had to look up and then have promptly forgotten like the word they use for zucchini. But I love using the words icing sugar instead of what I usually call it here; just seems simpler to say. There is one thing that I see in a lot of books and even hear it on shows, the word 'brilliant'. Why does that bug me so? I think it is because it makes me think of 'awesome' which was so incredibly overused. Don't they mean sorta the same thing?
ReplyDeleteJudi, I love the word "chuffed." It expresses a state of mind you can't quite get to with other American English phrases - "pleased" is too formal, "psyched" is too casual (and dated!) and "thrilled" is too effusive. "Chuffed" hit the sweet spot.
DeleteAren't writers magnets for words, and readers, too? They stick to us like the decals on NASCAR racers.
ReplyDeleteI've been noticing, the last couple of years, that I use words and phrases that younger people are mystified as to their meaning. I can't decide if that makes me a dinosaur, or if a richness of language is missing from today's conversation. I'm choosing to believe the latter.
An old boyfriend turned me on to Kurt Vonnegut, and we used to say "So it goes" a lot because of it.
DeleteI've said for years that my friends fall into two categories: those who quote The Princess Bride and those who have no idea what we're saying. "As you wish," creeps into conversation a lot, usually when I mean that I don't want to do something, but I'll do it because you are the person who asked me. I have also been known to wish people goodbye and good luck by saying, "Have fun storming the castle!"
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Gigi. Being able to quote The princess Bride is a basic minimum for all civilized English=speaking people, like recognizing Shakespeare and appreciating dogs or cats.
DeleteGigi, yes! "Have fun storming the castle!" is still in use around here.
DeleteLoved the Princess Bride movie.
DeleteSome of us, who know everyone in the group is a PB quoter, can simply say, "Hello," in just the right tone of voice, and we all know what comes next.
DeleteToday's blog is so much fun, I really am laughing out loud. There are recognizable phrases from tv shows and movies, some of which we use. Then, there are those, as Gigi mentioned above, that we used in our youth and still pull out of the gray matter from time to time. And insults from tv or movies, like describing someone as a Ferangi.
ReplyDeleteAlso, every family has phrases that get passed along and characters whom you love to remember saying them. My grandmother, whom I adored, used to describe the endless westerns on tv as, "Shoots 'em and kills "em." It still cracks me up when my husband says it to me when I ask, "What's on?". My stepmother had a hilarious saying when something was almost perfect, but not quite, "Good enough for you," that used to get me rolling on the floor. I told my book buddy about it and now she uses it all of the time and we roar!
So, anyone want to make me an offer I can't refuse?
Judy, my grandmother used to malaprop K-Mart to "K-Marx." The family would say, "Where the proletariat shops!"
DeleteIn my family we use the term "Bernie wash," meaning to rinse off dishes in the sink and reuse them without going to the trouble of a proper sink full of suds, or running things through the dishwasher. Apparently Bernie was my aunt-by-marriage's father, Bernie Culbertson, who never bothered with that sink full of suds. So my grandmother started calling that rinse-off-the-visible-crud method "Bernie washing." Now I will say, "It's clean enough. I Bernie washed it."
DeleteThe K-mart comment reminds me of family jokes. Someone referred to a hotel chain as "horrid....". Several of os refer to Whole Foods shops as "whole paycheck" shops. LOL
DeleteThanks to Christmas Story we love and use Major Award and Fra-Gee-Lay. When Frank is listing various things that need doing I tell him to “make it so.” Thank you Captain Picard. Dad always called westerns “horse operas.”
ReplyDeletePat, in a similar vein, the girls and I binge-watched THE MANDALORIAN and now say, "I have spoken," and "It is the way."
DeleteI'm your huckleberry.
DeleteI use FRA GEE LAY bit every time we get our Christmas decorations out. It's a classic. My kids have never once laughed and yet I persist for the sake of tradition.
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ReplyDeleteAh, the Great British Baking Show. A sanity saver. Perfect for whenever life (public or private) is just too bloody much ( as they would never say on the BBC) Always soothing. But I like the original version better than the new one. Yes, love all the different names for ingredients; some I knew from Brit books and travel but am fascinated by the many flours. "Royal icing" was included in the best ever (seriously) sugar cookie recipe ( NY Times.) So now I use it, perfect every time. (Denying I have ever eaten right from bowl!) As to tv phrases? My husband, who is let's say "chronology challenged" often uses references from our childhood (stone age of tv) And then was disappointed that our children never, ever got them! But I do.
ReplyDeleteKibbutz is a word my mom used often and to this day I have to explain it when I use it. " Gaslighted" - a word I used to use, usually with mixed reactions, now it's easier to just be paranoid. I somehow missed "chuffed" until today, now to use it. My sister and mom made sugar eggs around Easter, royal icing was the glue to hold things together and the decorative squiggles, flowers, leaves and grasses.
ReplyDeleteI agree that one should be able to quote from The Princess Bride but I would add Monty Python, show and movies to that. Julia, I believe you had "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition" in one of your books.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite Britishisms is "And Bob's your uncle" which a British friend uses all of the time. She often uses it when she is giving tours to students at the museum and they are always gobsmacked.
Great post! I remember words like "ratty" from As Time Goes By with Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer. I love these British words. I remember phrases like "Bob's your uncle" from the Royal Spyness novels by Rhys Bowen. I remember bad words like "bloody" from British shows. I grew up watching British shows on PBS since the Royal Wedding.
ReplyDeleteDiana
I love the BBS! But I am always confused by "chuffed"--to mean it seems like it should wean a bad thing, like huffed or huffy.
ReplyDeleteAns yes, indeed--Ma-widge. And INCONTHEIVABLE!
We always say I have spoken--but I think it's pre-Mandalorian from something much older... ? My mom used to say it to us kids, so we're talking the seventies.
And from Rumpole, I am "She who must be obeyed."
Hank, love that phrase "she who must be obeyed". Rumpole is a funny character.
DeleteTwo that I find appropriate in so many situations: "Say goodnight, Gracie!" and "Sit, Ubu, sit."
ReplyDeleteLate to the party today! Gobsmacked is a word I use a lot, too. A book quote I use often, frequently to uncomprehending stares in reply, is "So long and thanks for all the fish," from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Another I use, mainly addressing myself,is "That'll do, pig," from the movie Babe.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! Of course I use all the British ones, including "knackered," which no one here except my family ever understands. And chuffed really cannot be duplicated in American English.
ReplyDeleteNo one has mentioned Star Trek. We use a lot of Star Trek-isms in our house. My husband's favorite is, "Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not (fill in the blank.)" And of course "Beam me up, Scotty," and "where no man has gone before."
We use Star Trek-isms, too. "Beam me up, Scotty," for sure.
DeleteMy husband frequently uses "Make it so." Often to the complete befuddlement of waitresses.
DeleteGranddaughter just had a baking screwup. If it’s not one thing, it’s another....
ReplyDeleteMy husband always tells me I have a strange vocabulary. I'm sure it's all adopted from the books I read and the TV shows I watch. I read a lot of British literature and watch a lot of British TV. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that I use all the time, though.
ReplyDeleteI like to use the verbal hugs words, luv and pet, but usually embarrass myself by unconsciously adopting a bit of a British accent when I do.
ReplyDeleteI’ve recently introduced the British comedy, Miranda, to a couple of friends and now we’ve started saying “such fun” and “bear with”.
I’m with Hank, I think chuffed sounds like the opposite of its actual meaning. I was surprised when I realized it didn’t mean upset or ticked off.
The Princess Bride is so quotable and aside from “Have fun storming the castle” , I particularly like “to the pain”. Much worse than “to the death.” I did see a clever poster advertising a yard sale that had a picture of Inigo Montoya with the phrase “Prepare to buy.” I had phrase envy over that one.
My sister and I quote movies and TV shows all the time to each other when we're together. One of our favorites to quote is Psych. We've even corrupted our mother into doing it too!
ReplyDeleteMany years ago I was in a shop in Glastonbury in the UK and used the word “lovely” while interacting with the shop clerk. My kids have teased me mercilessly every since. “Lovely” in that sense is sort of equivalent to saying “Great” to someone here in the US.
ReplyDeleteI love the Great British Baking Show! They do have the best expressions - “The cheek!” or “Off you pop.” And, yes, it is mesmerizing. I love your sticky words post, Hallie! Sometimes they stick too well and I overuse them!
ReplyDeleteNoodling around for a word is great! I learned it during my Texas tenure. It's waving your fingers as you ease them under a rock to tempt a catfish. Quite appropriate for hunting for the right word.
ReplyDeletePB is a classic, as are words/phrases from the various Star Trek spin-offs. For me, since I sent a character on Search (yes, capitalized as it was a rare event), I mutter about going on Search to find something I carefully put away so I'd know right where it would be, then can't remember where I put the darn thing.