Alisonisms fall into several categories. There
are odd little expressions that I use, independently, as the
occasion warrants. There are what I guess I would call "turns
of phrase" bits of sentence I use commonly. You'll
just have to see the examples... And finally, there are strange
word endings, akin to my pet-names for vegetables. For example,
I have moved the information about the wa-meme to this page,
where it really belongs.
- Some Expressions:
- ...worse than hell in a handbasket!
-
- Eat up, chow down, dig in and pig out!
- (I don't know which direction we think we're going, but we're
obviously hungry...)
Some turns of phrase:
- Color me...
- (impressed; hungry; bored; tired; excited... whatever I'm
feeling like)
-
- I'm sad because...
- (...you guys can't come along; ...my watch is broken; ...there's
nothing good to eat... it won't be done in time... whatever is
bumming me out.)
- This is the part where...
- (...I ablute for an hour; ...you get out of my way; ...you
hand me the scissors; ...I remember my lunch... whatever is going
on at that moment.)
Other Words and Stuff:
- Toodle-oo! or Tootles!
- Bummerama!
-
A few words on prefixes and
suffixes:
My feeling about words is that as long as you know the rules,
you can break them if you want to, for humorous purposes. This
does require that the person you're talking to also understand
the rules, and understand that you're not just stupid. I guess
the people I talk to this way generally understand this, so I'm
okay. So far.
So, to continue... I like to make words longer. When I nickname
somebody, their name gets longer, not shorter, so it's natural
that I would do this to other things, like nouns, verbs, and even
adjectives. I do a lot of what I believe is known as (in a lovely
self-referential definition) verbizing nouns, (or is it verbify?).
I also practice the nounification of verbs as well. I understand
that this is a pet-peeve for some people, and rightly so
it's a disgrace when people do it in print or in public, and set
a bad example. What you must understand about my blatant mangling
of language is that I don't generally do it trying to coin some
new term I do it for humorous effect.
For example, I once went up to Andy, felt his cheek,
and delightedly exclaimed "You resmoothified!" (We now
also refer to "the resmoothification process". This
is just a personal in-joke with us. Do not become alarmed.)
Some common suffixes
and examples of their "proper" use...
I didn't look these up in the dictionary. These are just a few
I've been known to use/abuse, and their approximate meanings,
as I understand them. Feel free to e-mail
me with corrections or addenda which I may or may not effect
here.
- -ule : a small version of the suffixed-word (a diminutive)
- -ickle : another diminutive
- -oid : resembling or having the quality of the suffixed-word
- -ation : the act of doing the suffixed-word
- -ize : to make like the suffixed-word
- -ify : to give something the quality of the suffixed-word
- -ification : the act of giving something the quality of the
suffixed-word
Some common prefixes
with all the same disclaimers as above...
- re- : to do the prefixed-word again
- de- : to undo the prefixed-word
- anti- : something that counters or combats the prefixed-word
There's tons of these suffixes and prefixes, and I guess I
could add to them indefinitely, but this becomes uninteresting
to me after a while. Oh yeah, and as a great segué into
the next section, I should also mention that I use prefixes and
suffixes from other languages, if I know them. Mostly I know French,
but there are some notable exceptions...
The Wa
Phenomenon
The first thing I have to do is apologize to anyone
who knows Japanese, as I'm probably totally butchering and mis-remembering
this lovely language.
Lately I have had this inclination to add "-wa" to
the ends of things. I believe this is from a time I tried to learn
a little Japanese, and I only got through the first chapter on
the tape on ordering drinks, most of which I don't even like (e.g.
uiski-wa, biru-wa). Some words were obvious "Japanesifications"
of English words, like whiskey, and beer. Anyhow, "-wa"
just seemed to mean "thing" or "that is there"
and just got stuck on the end of nouns. So I started out with
"Japanesified" words with "-wa" added, then
just branched out to other things that "-wa" sounded
good with (so far pretty much any nick-named object ending in
"-ee")
- keki-wa/cakee-wa (cake)
- Cokee-wa (Coke -- a beverage much consumed around Wunderland)
- weechee-wa/wichi-wa (sandwich)
-
- update!
- It seems that everything now is something-ee-wa, or
even just something-wa, whether it ends in an -ee sound or not.
The meme is spreading. Already close friends and casual acquaintances
have been heard to -wa things. Beware!
-
| --- Copyright © 2003-2004
by Alison Frane --- |
