Saturday, January 5, 2008

The Idiom and the Oddity

My mother operated under her own kind of logic. She was a remarkably astute woman when it came to people and their motivations. She could provide insight into many interpersonal situations which confused the rest of us.

However, it was in the verbal arena where she would become bogged down.

Some evenings, she would say, "Well, I guess I'll go to bed so I can get up." Now, translated, that meant, "I need to get to bed early so I can wake up easily." However, to my preteen mind, this stated the obvious so thoroughly it defied logic.

My sister gave me proof yesterday that she, too, has this quirk. She said, "I guess we'll find out, and then we'll know." Translated, that meant, "I am not worrying about this until I have more information."

One of my favorite memories is my sister and mother seated on the sofa, watching television. My mother asked, "Is that what's his name?"

My sister replied, "I don't think so."

And the truly scary part is that I knew who it was they were talking about.

2 comments:

TobyBo said...

LOL. I can do the "Is that What's His Name" thing with my oldest, but that's all.

Munchkin Mom said...

Isn't that funny how we can read each others' minds at time?

I remember the moment I found out that Kiki "got" The Far Side. Our vet had a cartoon in the examining room, and Kiki read it. She laughed out loud, and I rejoiced.

Rocky says things like, "Why is he dog using TNT? Dogs don't do that sort of thing."

I give up.