Monday, November 9, 2009

The latest Noraism

I love my mom. I love the way she takes care of us when we're sick. I love how fun she is to travel with. I love how incredibly generous she is. And you'd love her, too, if you knew her. You'd love her wittiness and her sense of humor (and, yes, those are two different things. Believe me.) You'd love her love of vocabulary words that no one else in the world knows.

But, most importantly, you'd love her Noraisms.

Noraism (Nor - uh - iz - um) noun: A uniquely "Nora" way of wording things. Most often done unintentionally. Always entertaining.

For example . . .

Recently I was leaving my mom's house at the same time she was and we thought we'd both be back at her house later. These were our parting words:
Mom: Maybe I'll see you at the flip flop!
Me: Ok! [enter into brief state of confusion and trying not to smile because she's so proud of herself]
Mom: Remember that from Daddy's CB? Remember when you'd hear those guys say that? "See you at the flip flop!"
Me: Yep!
[awkward pause]
Me: Wasn't it "Catch you on the flip side"?
Mom: Oh shut up. You girls . . .


Restaurant names are often the subject of Noraisms. For instance, a few months ago we were planning to meet some friends out for dinner. This led to this little gem:

Mom: I just talked to them. We're still meeting them at Traildusters.
Me: Traildusters?
Mom: Yeah . . . right?
Me: You mean Texas Roadhouse?
Mom: [shaking her head at me] You're gonna call Tammy and Erin now, aren't you?
Me: Yep . . .

But I think one of my favorite Noraisms to date happened this weekend. Our friends, Jim, Deborah, and Matthew, came in from Plano to visit us. On their way into town, they went through Madisonville. And what's in Madisonville, friends? Why, a Buccee's, of course! Remember how much I love Beaver Nuggets?? Well, my mom remembers . . . but she can't ever seem to get the name "Beaver Nuggets" right. So, with all the best intentions, my mom told Jim that I like "Buccee's Balls."

How embarrassing.

So Jim goes into Buccee's and asks one of the cashiers where Buccee's Balls are because one of his friends really likes them.

How embarrassing.

Luckily, the cashier knew that he meant Beaver Nuggets. Otherwise, that could have been a mortifying miscommunication that could have possibly resulted in the confused paging of someone of named "Bucky." That would have been horrible.

Jim was telling me about this latest sure-to-be-a-classic Noraism and my mom overheard it. She scrunched up her face very seriously and said, quite disapprovingly, "That sounds dirty."

Ya think, Mom?

Just think how Buccee must feel . . .

1 comments:

Phyllis Eddings said...

Thank you for making me laugh this Monday morning.