"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" and other family sayings

"Forget it, Kid!" ~Dad (quoting a line from nearly every "Charlie Brown" movie)

Peeking ahead, "A Celebration of American Family Folklore" is easily the most interesting of our textbooks thus far (it's all pictures and stories - what could be more fun?), and the most relevant to understanding the type of folklore which I am best acquainted with. One of my favorite sections of the book is devoted to the collection of unique family sayings; I really enjoyed browsing through the stories and laughing at the explanation of seemingly baffling exclamations and expressions.

To give an example, here is my favorite story from the book:

Cut it, Helen

When you felt that someone was putting you on, you'd say, "Cut it, Helen." There was nobody in our family named Helen, but it came about when one day the phone rang and somebody said to my mother, "Hellen?" And my mother said, "No, I'm sorry, you must have the wrong number." And she kept insisting, and my mother said, "No, you must have the wrong number." And finally she said, "Cut it, Helen!" My mother told us about it at dinner that night. From then on, it became an expression in the family. It's continued in my own family, though they probably don't realize why I say it or where it came from.

I was so tickled by the quirkiness and humor in this story that I wanted to adopt the saying into my own family. Would that be a violation of this family's private folklore?

Anyway, I began thinking about sayings in my own family, and I realized that my dad has a lot of personal catch-phrases and sayings, some of which have been adopted by other family members, and some of which I have no clue where they came from. So with that lengthy introduction, I present the following

"Collection and Attempted Interpretation of Sayings from Dad":

1. "[Insert child's name] McKendrick, we are WAITING!" This comes from the Disney film The Parent Trap, I believe, but I have no reason why my dad latched onto that particular phrase. As long as I can remember, he has used this phrase (in a high-pitched, teasing voice) to call one or the other of us to family prayer, to the car, to come downstairs, etc. It's always a good sign if he uses this expression, because we know he's in a good mood and we aren't in any real trouble.

A quick funny story: When we first got our dog, Teddy, Mama was afraid that Dad would find him annoying and a nuisance. But then, one day, Dad and my sister were waiting to take Teddy on a walk, and he wouldn't come when they called, so Dad yelled, "Teddy McKendrick, we are WAITING!" Later, Mama told my sister that this was a sure sign that Dad had accepted Teddy as a bonafide member of the family.

2. "Give me that pen!" This is a quote from Veruca Salt, one of my dad's very favorite characters in the Gene Wilder version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He uses it whenever he's pretending to be angry with any of us kids, or when we bring him back something of his that was misplaced.

3. "Oh, you blockhead!" My dad says this in a cheerful, jovial voice, whenever one of us makes a mistake (not a serious one) or does something laughably stupid. I believe the saying was first used by characters in the Peanuts cartoons to criticize and berate Charlie Brown, which makes perfect sense since there's a running joke in my family that my dad is a lot like Charlie Brown anyway (bald, has bad luck...). With my dad being equated with Charlie Brown, you would think this would be a natural phrase for us to apply to him. And you would be right - it is now perfectly acceptable for the children of my family to say "Oh you blockhead" to Dad when he is losing a game or telling a funny "horror" story about work. We never say it to each other, however. And Dad never says it to Mama. Even folklore has its fences, folks.

4. "You wanna bet?" Also from The Parent Trap. It was used exclusively by my dad for a long time, but I sometimes catch the odd family member saying it now and then.

5. "Shock!" I have no idea where this came from, but it's always uttered in a low, exaggerated voice, and accompanied with an open mouth and a shaking head. It can be used in almost any circumstance, whether or not you are really surprised by what just happened, but the voice is more likely to be lower when the event is less surprising (i.e. BYU winning their football game against Utah in 2006 would merit a fully audible "SHOCK!!!!!!" In contrast, finding out that my mother had switched dinners for one night would only merit a mild, hushed "Shock!"). I admit to using this expression on occasion, but I prefer to hear my dad say it. My brother has started just saying "Shock" without the accompaniment, and the effect is nowhere near as good.

6. "[Insert child's name, strong emphasis on a particular syllable, usually the second - i.e. Jo-SEPH, Mary AL-MA, Dan-IEL, Ru-UTH (drats! A one syllable name won't save you here), Sa-RAH, Han-NAH]": If you hear this, it is always a bad sign. Always. We kids do the same kind of upspeak when we're mad at each other, but we never take it seriously unless it comes from my dad - he really knows how to make that emphasized syllable sound mean and nasty and threatening. You better be prepared to drop anything and come fast and come running.

7. "My wages, if you please." Also, "What a very pretty hat!" Both from Mary Poppins. Katy Nanna (another one of my dad's top ten delightfully annoying movie characters) says the first, and Mr. Banks says the second (about Katy Nanna). My dad uses the latter to tease us about our looks, sometimes inserting another word for "hat." I don't recall any exact catch-all situations when he would use the former, but it's always very appropriately suited to the expression when he does use it.

8. "What were you saying, my dear?" From the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. Dad usually uses it to point out a mistake we've made in a conversation (and it's not uncommon for him to follow it with "Off with his/her head!"). We use the phrase on him, too, though. The only person who never uses it, and whom we never use it on, is Mama, who is apparently sacrosanct as far as teasing is concerned.

9. I'm not sure if this would qualify as an "expression," but there's a certain rhythm which we've always associated with my dad. He will honk it on his horn, he will knock it on the door, he will chant it or clap it in the house, and anytime we hear it, we know 1) it's Dad, 2) he's in a good mood, and 3) he's calling attention to himself. It's hard to spell out over a keyboard, but I'll do my best to give away this secret code, in the hopes that someone someday will be able to tell me where it comes from.

3 slow beats: knock, knock, knock

5 beats in rhythm: knock, knock-knock knock-knock

(KEY: The emphasis is on the bolded knocks. There is no pause between the hyphenated knocks.)

10. "What is the meaning of this?!?" Not even my dad is sure where this comes from, but he is guessing it's either from a Jane Austen film (my dad is a big Jane Austen fan), or The Parent Trap again. This phrase is never used in a serious situation; never. Update: My sister, who is apparently a lot sharper when it comes to identifying these sorts of things than I am, found the source for this quote - it's from the White Witch in BBC's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Thanks, Mary Alma!

11. "Oh, I don't know, I (he, she, it, whatever) was just over there." The Parent Trap again. It's interesting how many quotes come from this movie when my dad hasn't seen it in years and my mom really hates it. Oh well! Perhaps similarly, I have found myself saying "Inconceivable" a lot, when I really don't consider myself a huge fan of The Princess Bride (although, sigh, I will confess that I did fall in love with Wesley - well, I was only human and under the age of 13 - when I first saw the film).

I enjoyed writing up this collection of a few family sayings. It's fun to see how we interact in a close family network as opposed to the rest of the world. With that, I hope I haven't exposed too much of my dad's private character and personality to the world. I guess I won't know for sure until he reads this blog and then says, either "What is the meaning of this?" or "Ru-UTH."