Since today got Very Philosophical on CoSo, let's end with something sillier.
In my house growing up, to make light of oneself after saying something intelligent, we'd point to our heads and say "kidneys".
What's an expression that only makes sense to your family / local in-group?
😳 I am afraid to ask the context here.
@MLClark There's a story about a little boy who keeps misbehaving. His father tries over and over to explain to him that he can't keep getting in trouble, kicked out of school, caught stealing, etc.
Finally, after the umpteenth incident, the dad decides a spanking is in order, where words failed, and takes the kid over a knee.
For five minutes, he spanks the kid, the whole time lecturing him on what a bad boy he is.
He then sets the boy on his feet, and asks "Now what did you learn?!"
@MLClark And of course, the kid says "33 ants crawled out of that hole over there".
🤣 You WOULD have a household story about incorrigibility! Well played, Luce.
@MLClark throw rocks. It came from “boys are dumb throw rocks.”
😅 And now it just floats in the ether, context-less!
@MLClark it was pretty self evident at the time, mid 90s.
I'm familiar with the original context, but my preference was the follow-up context: brains are dumb, throw rocks at them. :) Now I guess "throw rocks" is universal!
@MLClark whew, wasn't aware of that follow up. In my world with my daughter and her friends “throw rocks” is a whole shorthand
It's amazing to watch language change before our eyes through the easy synthesis of young speakers, eh? You must be hip to the whole jive of the next generation via teaching, too. :)
@MLClark its definitely amazing. They are also so willing to share, explain, teach.
@MLClark @LaurelGreen The first way I heard the point-to-head and go "kidneys" thing, it was part of a very offensive joke about nazis and Polish people!
I just did a deep dive through a 1973 text called "The Types of the Polack Joke" and couldn't find that one, but I DID come away with a greater disgust for our species, so it wasn't a total waste of time! 🙃
Huh raayyyyyy....!
I suspect that this "joke" was the sort where people replace the Polish people or nazis with their personal favorites.
I have an old one lying around somewhere called "Jewish Jokes for the John". It is written by jewish comedians though, so it's no more terrible than it usually is when jewish people get up to when making fun of each other.
The jokes are mostly silly and dumb rather than mean, though some are shockingly sexist by today's enlightened standards (Jewish princess jokes, blonde jokes). Pretty sure the authors would be excoriated for it today.
@MLClark @LaurelGreen Note that just because someone is a "whatever the joke is about" when they tell it, it doesn't necessarily mean it's okay and not racist.
There's always been some comedians whose stock in trade has been deprecating their own people to members of a more dominant society around them.
That makes me feel more than a bit disgusted when I see it.
@MLClark @AskTheDevil @LaurelGreen
I heard it as a school for developmentally delayed kids, and one of the kids was in front of the class reciting for a parents day event. The teacher asked him the location of his eyes, ears, mouth, hands, etc, and he got them accurately. She then moved on to stomach, heart, lungs, larynx, spleen, liver, and the kid was right for every one. One of the parents exclaimed, "My goodness, how can you know all those organs?" And he taps his head and says, "kidneys."
Oh, I LOVE that I asked this question.
I had no idea about the deeper provenance of this family habit!
Not a fan of its use in hateful jokes, mind you! But it was *never* used that way at home - always for self-deprecation, so we didn't sound like we were boasting. What a history!
@MLClark @AlphaCentauri @LaurelGreen
I much prefer your version!
What's an expression that only makes sense to your family / local in-group?
Whenever unexplained mischief occurred, and nobody wanted to take credit. We would blame it all on Mr. T. W. Anthony Woo.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/867508.Mr_T_W_Anthony_Woo?
Oh, that is SO much better than the Family Circus version. :)
🏳️🌈
@MLClark Standard reason for anything that went wrong or got broken was "The Republicans did it". It stems back to a great uncle who went to vote in the 1930's and came back disheveled with a split lip and a black eye. My Grandmother was in near hysterics and all he said was "The Republicans did it" . This became a standard excuse for the next two generations. Odd that in this time maybe more than all those other decades its more true and much less funny.
Why people buy flares for funerals.
I moved to the south and didn't understand the accent. While a collection was being taken for flowers for a funeral, I asked Why do you neeed flares for a funeral?
My classmates burst into laughter and slowly pronounced FLOW ERS. Then told me about Tars.
I told my grandparents and it made them laugh so much that every year we gave them flares for their anniversary.
@MLClark we have lots of them between friends and family but that one became a tradition.
@MLClark in the south at that time I guess tar stood for three things.. towers, tires and tar.. unrelated but the school actually put me in a “speech” class for a quarter.
My dad would often fall asleep on the couch, and if anyone woke him, he'd say he was just meditating.
So, "just meditating" became the term for nodding off.
Also, we had a bunch of these made out of paper, so no one could use the excuse that they didn't get a round tuit.
@MLClark "Thirty three ants just came out of that hole."