Very Local Slang ... or Is It Jargon?

[chomiji]

Does your family (or group of friends, for that matter) have words or terminology that are unique to you? I mean, when you say xword, you all know what's meant, but anyone else is likely to go "Huh?"

For instance: this is the humble yet soothingly tasty sweet steamed rice cake, which the Intarwebs say is called something like pak tong kou (attempts at rendering the Chinese into English vary):

(Photo from Wikimedia)

It's commonly found at restaurants that serve dim sum.

However, among our family and my friend Kat's family (who are the folks with whom we usually do dim sum), this is known as square meal.

Yes. Square. I know that the picture shows a triangular cake. But the first time we had them, they were cut in squares. And someone called them "square meal" in reference to what poor Milo is served in The Phantom Tollbooth when he's asked what he wants for dinner, and unwisely, he recalls an expression of his mom's, and says "I think we should have a square meal." And he's served a platter of squares. Which don't taste like much, unlike steamed rice cakes, which are nice.

And the name stuck.

So: Do you have any interesting alternative terminology in your life? Please tell!

Comments

[lauand.livejournal.com]

YES. In my family there are tons. My mother's fault, really. Then I talk to my friends and they don't get me. Unfortunately, they're all Spanish terms.

Another thing we do a lot, is to quote movies' titles when we're having a normal conversation. Everytime we need to say a word which is the main word of a movie, we continue with the rest of the title, even if it has no sense in the conversation. The worst part is when we do it outside and people don't know the movie or don't make the conection, so they think we're talking rubbish.

[chomiji]

Movie titles ... yeah, we do some of that too! The "That word -- I do not think it means what you think it means" comes up a a lot. (Along with "Never get involved in a land war in Asia!")

[lauand.livejournal.com]

He, he. "The Princess Bride" is such a classic that my friends DO get me when I quote it. Glad to see I'm not alone in this!