Thursday, June 10, 2010

Signal Congruence

Families all have their own special language or word associations that evolve over the years and my family's language happens to include many words that either have dual meaning or words that are made up altogether.

My little sister Emily was very good at this skill as a child and coined many terms which we still use today. Over the last 10 years, Michael has learned these words and integrated them into his own vocabulary which is the equivalent of some strange passage and acceptance as part of our immediate family.

Lately, I've come to realize that Michael and Grayson also like to coin words and phrases. The inspiration for my blog title actually came from a conversation I recently had with Mike. Something sparked a discussion about why we are compatible as a couple and he said we were "signal congruent" as in we understand each others thoughts and emotions, both expressed and implied. Sounds just like a Hallmark card, right?

As part of Grayson's vocabulary development, I find it interesting to see the meaning he attaches to various words (which actually mean something else). Here's a short list of examples:
  • Bubbles = water (like from a hose or sprinkler)
  • Good girl = his name for Roxy (though she's been far from good lately, but that's a story for a different post)
  • Hot = don't touch (even if it's not something hot like the oven)
I can only imagine the words that will be added to our family vocabulary as Grayson grows up. I just hope I will remember to capture them along the way.

3 comments:

Keenan said...

So funny! Luke also says "Ouch Hot" to things he knows he shouldn't touch like fragile items, coffee cups, the oven, Mommy's shoe collection... :)

Whitney said...

What were some of the words you and your sisters used when you were young? My sisters and I were just laughing about some of the terms in our sister language. Hilarious!

Lindsay said...

Some of our sister words were "bouge" (which is now a term of endearment we call each other). Dipsty dumpster is what she called the big trash dumpsters.