I don't know about you but I LOVE inside jokes. I love the humor that usually is associated with them and the way people look at you like you must have just landed on the earth. The interesting thing is that inside jokes are not always that funny, especially to those who were not originally there when the joke was birthed. I mean have you ever had one of those amazing jokes that literally causes you to laugh every time that you think about it? Then you try to explain it to someone and they stare at you as if you are mad...not angry mad but "Mad Hatter" mad?
My family has a bazillion inside jokes and I am sure that during any given conversation at least one is used. For example, in my house we call the T.V. remote a "gamote" (pronounced "guh-mote"). This word's origin dates back over 20 years ago, when my son was around one year old and had some problems pronouncing words as do most little kids and we found he could not pronounce remote. It's a simple story and one that I imagine most people don't find funny or endearing, but it is a word that reminds me of a story that always brings a smile to my face.
My daughter and I have a nightly routine which includes prayers, conversations, jokes, singing, etc. Tonight I realized that it is chock-full of inside jokes. Every night my daughter says something that sounds like "schlafe gut" which I believe translates to "sleep well" in German, which is the language she has been taking since she was in 7th grade. However, when she first learned it, I couldn't remember how to say it and one night said something like "shlaf snaff" and it has some how stuck. Every night she says "schlafe gut" and I respond with "shlaf snaff". Then there is the one time that I was texting something to Lo and I went to type "Love Mama" but instead I typed "Llama" which to me looks like it would be an amazing abbreviation for "Love Mama". That is now how I tend to sign texts to Lo. Seriously, look at it and tell me you don't see it!
I guess I love inside jokes so much because for me it is more about the shared experience and the laughter associated with it and laughter brings me so much joy. As I reread what I have written, I realize these are incredibly not funny, but alas they make me laugh just the same.
So what are some of your "inside jokes"?
I have sooo many! One of my favorites (and one that always gets me laughing) is "I whip my HAIR to and fro!" But it MUST be said loudly and awkwardly in a snotty British accent. Backstory? (Warning: lonnnng weird backstory.) My roommate had never heard of Willow Smith's "I Whip My Hair Back and Forth", so I showed her how ridiculous the music video was. Much later in the day, I had the song stuck in my head, and I started thinking about the words... "I whip my hair back and forth"... and then my brain, being the crazy thing it is, linked "back and forth" to this song I loved when I was a kid. The lyrics are "And I go up and down, and *forward and backward*, side to side to side - and don't you know, to and fro, I go from here to there?" Then I started thinking what Willow's lyrics would be like if you switched out the directional words with "to and fro" instead... those are kind of old-fashioned words... then this picture popped in my head of a stuffy old British guy wearing a red coat, white trousers, and a puffy white wig! And then he started headbanging and awkwardly singing "I whip my HAIR to and fro! I whip my HAIR to and fro!" and I was in hysterics! It was magnificent. :)
ReplyDeleteTrish - Thank you for sharing! I love how you explained it and I could totally see it in my head.
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