Happy Feet

Every family has their own little language.  With certain words and phrases that work their way into your everyday vocabulary.  You know what it means, because you know the story behind it.

 

One of those phrases in our family is “happy feet”.  And here is the story behind happy feet.

 

Hubby is very smart. He reads and he remembers.   He knows all kinds of things about just about everything, just a wealth of knowledge (it's why his head is so big).   Combine that with his talkativeness, and you get someone who LOVES to explain things.  And explain things.  And explain things.

 

So.  Surly Teenager had a cat that had kittens.  While watching them nurse, she asked about why they knead their feet like that.  Off goes Hubby on this lengthy explanation about milk treading.  Surly Teenager’s eyes started to glaze over.  She does not have a long attention span.  She looks helplessly at me.  I interrupt Hubby, look at Surly Teenager and say “they have happy feet”.  And she was perfectly happy with that answer.

 

So now when she asks a question we’ll say “do you want the happy feet answer”.  Meaning short and sweet or more detailed.  Occasionally, she will really want a full blown Hubby type answer. 

 

Another one is “tire hair”.

 

We are out looking at new tires.  Surly Teenager asks about the fine, little rubber bits sticking up off the tires.  She decides she wants a full Hubby answer.  He obliges and starts talking about tire molds and the temperature of the rubber and the air holes.  It doesn’t take too long before she looks at me and says “ I changed my mind.  I want the happy feet answer”.  Hubby pauses trying to think of the best short answer, and I spoke up with “It’s tire hair”. 

 

That satisfied her.

 

The only problem is, sometimes you get so used to using these words and phrases that you don’t realize when you have said them to someone outside of the family.  You have to remember that there are some people who are not familiar with the back story, and who will look at you strangely.

 

Like  the IT guy at your office, who is patiently trying to explain about why the “market” field in the new software application you are learning needs to be populated, and you say “can you give me the happy feet answer”.