Family Words

“I have a fuzzy in my coffee,” I spoke to a couple of my coworkers.
“A what?”
“A fuzzy…you know, a thingy,” I tried to explain.
“Something floating in your coffee?”
“Yeah, exactly. How would you describe that?”
“I’d just say there’s something floating in my coffee.”

This exchange didn’t surprise me in the least, because I had long been made fun of for the use of my family word “Flicker”, meaning the remote control. My coworker was sympathetic to this complaint, as she had grown up hearing the refridgerator called the “icebox”. Go get a pop out of the icebox, will ya?

Family words are perhaps most distinctive when describing bodily functions or body parts. My family was fairly scientific, and when not scientific at least simple and non-graphic, mercifully so, in my opinion. Growing up with three brothers is hard enough without having to add disgusting words to the mix. Fart, burp, pee, and poop were the old standards and all sensitive body parts were simply grouped under “private parts”. I used to cringe when I went over other kids’ houses who would use words like “tinkle”, as if it made it seem like a special process or something. I’m hugely in favor of keeping it factual.

What about you all? Have any family-specific words?