It’s 4pm and I am late for a meeting. Just as I step out the door, the house phone rings. For a moment I think I am going to let it go to voice mail and then, for no reason at all, I turn back and answer.
It’s one of my daughter’s friends. And could she ring her back? I mumble a yes, put the phone down wondering why she didn’t call her on her cell phone and off I am, to save the world. Later on, at the dinner table, I remember:
“Ah Baby!”
I call all my kids “Baby!”.
She looks at me and I tell her:
“Whatchamacallit called you this afternoon!”
Now you know why I call all my kids “Baby”!
And just like that it dawns on me… The things we say sometimes!
We all have these little gems. What are yours?
Here is another I have been known to utter:
“Baby!”
Nope this time I am talking to my wife.
“Baby” I say, “Could you bring me the thingamagic from the kitchen?”
And just as I finish this sentence, it occurs to me that I am not giving her a whole lot of information, which makes it all the more surprising when she brings me exactly the thingamagic I needed!
Some men are lucky… After all, how did she know the difference between thingamagic and thingybob? The woman never ceases to amaze me.
The other day, I heard a big thump from upstairs and then I saw my little one streaming down the stair case, with a frown on her face.
“What’s the matter Baby?”I ask her.
“Nothing” she says with that look on her face that always drops me straight in my tracks.
“The thing just fell off my bedside table. And it broke!” I have no idea what it is, but I am just glad she is alive!
Now my wife… She would have known exactly what “thing” had just broken and would have simply carried on with whatever it is that she was doing, with the knowledge there was at least no imminent danger… from the broken thing! I on the other hand have to get myself up, climb upstairs, turn right, walk down the hall, turn left and see for myself that my wife would have been right!
“I told you” my daughter says and before I have time to catch her, she makes for her sister’s bedroom!
Nobody enter my teenage daughter’s bedroom uninvited and now I am really worried..
“Baby, can you come here a second for a moment?” is another one of my favorite mishaps!
You know what they say about opinion re-enforcement!
When it was fashionable there was a thing that kids used to say. Used to drive me up the wall, it did…
Imagine the scene if you please as I would settle my large frame in front of one of my kids, attempting in my inimitable style to explain a fact of life. And as a look of recognition would come down her gorgeous face and I would feel all fuzzy inside after a job well done…
This little one, with her gorgeous smile would look at me and say…
“Duh!”
Ah the things we say!
Mon ‘ti Bébé amour cherie a moi…
Stevie, I had to chuckle reading your post. Funny how some females have that women’s intuition. Funny how men can’t find anything w/o the help of their wife. We go right to it when He can’t find it. Oh, and one of the sayings I used to cringe over is “that sucks”. I’ve gotten used to it now, but hardly ever use the term until something is absolutely irrevocably horrible. Get my drift?
Have a good one!
Lynn
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Dr. Dad Reply:
August 29th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
True, true… And another thing!
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You made me laugh tonight! Thanks. My husband calls out to me and I say, “I’m in here”. Well, how the heck does he know where in here is. This is one we both do.
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It is pretty funny how men seem to need the help of a female to find things…and how she almost always seems to know what a “thingamagig” is. One of ours was “doohickey”.
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Dr. Dad Reply:
August 30th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Doohickey! Now that’s a good one!
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Hey Stevie,
Thanks for the fun post.
I know my wife has a 6th sense when it comes to understanding what I am trying to communicate and knows what I am trying to say even when I don’t personally have a clue.
There always seems to be at least one word in the sentence that gives her the clue.
My wife is great with names and numbers and if I ask her for the name of “what’s his face from the other night?” or the occasional
“what-cha-ma-call-it”…I usually get the right answer.
Women definitely do have that ability…
With my 15 year old son, it doesn’t matter what I tell him…I always get that look like I have 2 heads.
To your continued success,
Marc
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Dr. Dad Reply:
September 7th, 2011 at 6:19 pm
Ahh.. Our spouses’ famed 6th sense!
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Funny that you mentioned women have this sort of indescribable intuition
. I say that’s true in an inexplainable way, haha.
One of the weird things I say when I knock on the bathroom or bedroom door after the person on the other side of the room asks, “who is it?” is (what most of probably say) “it’s me!”
I enjoyed reading your post, thanks Stevie!
-Jaclyn Castro
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I believe that men are having intuition too. Funny story!
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Hello Stevie
My wife not only has a sense of understanding of what I say, she seems to know what I am thinking. She is a retired High School Business teacher and one of her students says she had eyes in the back of her head because she always knew what he was doing. Here in the Music City area the word “Whatchamacallit” is being used by the Metro Transit Authority in their advertising on benches. Stevie this is an excellent human interest article. Great Editors choice.
Thanks
Perry A Davis Jr
Music City
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Hi there Stevie
I guess we all have our idiosyncrasies….
My family make fun of me for making up words… I get tongue tied in old age…. I asked for a “sprout” instead of a “sprite” once on a flight abroad… the Stewardess broke up with laughter and the story comes out regularly when the family get together
You post was good fun!.
Pete
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Dr. Dad Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 2:52 pm
You’re right! The good thing about mishaps is that we get to laugh about it later.
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so that’s why I’m the only one who can find anything in the house! having 3 sons and a husband I’m at a loss why things are like that are. Now I know! Thanks Stevie
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It is amazing that our partners know us so well that they can almost read our brains. I ask for “thingamagigs” all the time (english is not my first language) and he always knows what I mean.
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Dr. Dad Reply:
October 8th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
It is called the language of love in whichever language we happen to speak.
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I think it’s great when someone accepts and more importantly can understand our idiosyncrasies
Either that or they have just got used to us and put up with it!
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Hi Stevie:
I have been known to have foot in mouth disease from time to time. Ah … the things we say.
Kevin
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I am particularly fond of the very technical term “dohicky” myself.
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“can you come here a second for a moment?”
Never heard that one before, but it is a funny oxymoron.
One thing that I say that always confuses my own head is when I am giving directions to a driver… I say “turn right here” as I am pointing left (that is when I chuckle to myself).
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Lol, this was so funny. What happens if your whole family is in the room at the same time though- do you say Baby and see which one looks up first? I have two other siblings and my mom has many, many, many times called us the wrong names repeatedly and then got mad because we didn’t respond. Or she’ll go through the list all at once- “Nancy, I mean Mike, I mean Lizzy!!” And the funny thing is I’ll be the only one home! Ha.
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What a brilliant post. You should do a series!
I did a sort of blogging for dummies over on one of the craft forums and I thought it was too simple for them, but the amount of emails I got asking questions just like what you addressed was unbelievable. As young people today we have grown up with computers, but it’s easy to forget that even people just a few years older have not! Really good post! 
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Let’s empower our role as wives and moms to the whole world.
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Thanks for sharing, i find this blog a very useful one i apply this to my self,its very well explain and glad that i found this post. You write about important subject importantly and I have always had difficulties in understanding the ladies of the opposite which by your article are now easier to read.
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Dr. Dad Reply:
February 6th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Well, if you put it that way!
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I love when people do the “remember that place we went that one time and we did that thing??”. Nope! I do not remember! Lol.
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I think it is absolutely normal that you use a more laid back, funny language at home, with your family, because you know they would understand you even without words, so by uttering at least something, they are sure to know what you meant. It is not uncommon in our family either.
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I remember when my 2 youngest boys would look at each other and say at the same time, in a naughty tone, “she knows everything!”
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They are girls, but I avoid calling my wife and kids the same name. It’s great to call names but you know girls are hard to understand the women’s mindset, so to avoid these things to happen, better to be safe.
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Whenever I’m speaking to someone – family, girlfriend, work collegues all included – I have a tendency to forget names, even of people I’ve known for years and years. They just seem to slip out of my head for a little while. Knowing this, everyone who knows me now knows not to take offence when I call out them, draw and blank and say:
“Um, you – whatever your name is.”
Haha. I’ve ever done it to my mother. It’s a strange phenom!
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Dr. Dad Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
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My dad has the same issue of yours. he calls me random names, usually the name of our neighboor. then the third time he mentions a name, it’s already my name. I don’t know why he has this habit but it’s funny though.
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Yay, so I’m no the only one! It was like saying something and immediately forget about it, and turns out like “You, uh.. you! (blahblahblah)” LOL.
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