Did your family have funny names for random things when you were growing up?

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3_box@reddit

My favourite of all the adopted words in the family is hooshooner for shoehorn. It just makes me smile.

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rumham_milksteak@reddit

My great nan always used to call minced pies "minced arseholes". Nobody knows why. She died about 30 years ago, but minced arseholes live on in my family

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Euphoric_Rough_5245@reddit

My grandad used to call Eccles cakes fly buns and we still call them that.

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Beginning-Annual-860@reddit (OP)

Brilliant!!!

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Comfortable-Bug1737@reddit

The remote control was called the duffer on the Glen or duffer for short 🤷‍♀️

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Euphoric_Rough_5245@reddit

Grumbling grandad and nice grandad. One didn’t like kids.

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Lyrakish@reddit

Oofer Doofer for the remote, shortened to Oof after a few years. Gubble Bum for bubblegum, due to a sister saying it when she was little. Tuppa Tea, for Cuppa tea.

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Beginning-Annual-860@reddit (OP)

I love a nice tuppa tea. ☕️

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Lyrakish@reddit

Tuppa tea had to be the weakest strength for the youngest, served in their sippy cup. It literally saw the teabag and was mostly milk.

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BuggerFace@reddit

Pillows are pillfluffs Our dog's farts are known as bum puffs Onions are non nons There are loads more but they're the regular ones. No origins, no reasoning. Just... We're odd.

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oldie349@reddit

My kitchen and living room were referred to as the back kitchen and the front kitchen, respectively.

No idea why!

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SocieteRoyale@reddit

'back kitchen' is a very popular scouse term for some reason, as opposed to have a front kitchen?

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MrsMiggins2@reddit

Oh wow, we called it the oofer doofer!

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confuzzledfather@reddit

I've heard others say this, so not sure where it came from. Maybe it's a regional thing?

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shazj57@reddit

Blipper for our remote, George for the Nespresso machine (George Clooney adds). Mr Dyson for the vacuum cleaner.

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SocieteRoyale@reddit

we used to call the hoover nozzle 'the snozzle' as a joke, but my mum obviously didn't get the memo and asked in Argos did the new hoover have a snozzle?

We all found that very amusing

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lankymjc@reddit

A standard deck of playing cards has four suits. Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, and Curly-wiggles.

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We had nicknames for our great grandparents - ‘blue nanny’ because she had a blue door, ‘the reds’ (great nan & grandad) because they had a red door and ‘nanny fruitcake’ because she always made fruitcake not because she was bonkers 🤣

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PuddingBrat@reddit

This is cute. I had Nanny Warner (not creative, sorry Nan) and Nanny Pattern (her name was Pat and she was talented in cross stitch and other habedashery crafts).

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screwthedamnname@reddit

This is so random, but have you mentioned this online before?? i'm like so so sure I've read this before but maybe I'm imagining things

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SignatureGold6447@reddit

I have! I think it was a similar question but forever ago, how funny we’ve (sort of?) crossed paths before!

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kirstinet@reddit

A friend has kids (in their late 30s now), who still call their grandmother, "Nanny Dog" even though said dog crossed the bridge 20+ years ago and she never git another xx 🥲

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acceberbex@reddit

We had granny woof because of the dog. The dog died 25 odd years ago. Grandad is just grandad but our paternal grandparents were granny papa and papa.

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Tute_Sweet@reddit

My family has several Jeans, and we have White Jean, Black Jean and Baby Jean (who is black but named after White Jean, and to this day is still called Baby Jean as a grown adult).

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Experiment328095@reddit

I had a ‘Granny Canada’ 😂

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Cantbearsed1992@reddit

Granada 😀

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Beginning-Annual-860@reddit (OP)

Underrated 🫡

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Cheese_Dinosaur@reddit

Little Nanny - because she was the smallest. Great Nanny - because she was Nanny’s Mum. Big Nanny - because; well she was a little bit on the ‘larger side’… 🫣🫣🫣

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JaBe68@reddit

My mother was always Granny Far Away because it was a 2 hour car trip to see her.

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MutinousMango@reddit

I had a “nanny in the window” who was my great nanny and would always say hello out her living room window and pass us sweets haha

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MarsStar2301@reddit

Reminds me of a song…

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foxholes333@reddit

I had a granny far too!

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Mean-Construction207@reddit

My niece had "nanny" who lived up the road, and "holiday nanny" who lived in Cornwall.

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AardvarkSilver3643@reddit

We had ‘Nanny at the beach’

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kirstinet@reddit

I'm Nana No.. because I have strong boundaries in place, and don't allow my autistic grandson to sit on his tablet when I'm around.. I prefer conversation to "beep beep beep".. he gave me the name aged 3! And he still loves me and is a sweetheart when I'm around.. 😉😁

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Manbry@reddit

Hahaha my sister in law is called No fun nanna. And not that she isn’t fun, she is. But because she is more sensible than my brother haha

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mcboobie@reddit

Good nanny 👵

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JDLoxx@reddit

My Mum died so Grandad is known as 'Grandad with no wife' and the other Grandad is known as 'Nanny's Grandad' 🤣

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KatDaSlayer@reddit

I had my grandparents at the brown house because their house was covered in rocks and looked brown

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mcboobie@reddit

Pebbledash?

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mcboobie@reddit

I had a Nanny Fruitcake! She was both!!

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Elibazeth@reddit

Nannan and Jenny Nannan - a long name for one woman and her poodle Jenny, who died fairly quickly but the name still stuck

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Xiniov@reddit

My nan had a rocking chair

She’s been Nanny Rocky for 40+ years now for around 25 grandkids and another 30ish great grandkids (I’ve stopped counting now)

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BeagleMadness@reddit

I love this, it makes her sound like she's a champion boxer or something 😂

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thesaharadesert@reddit

I heard she’s an absolute bruiser, and that’s before you even get a single sherry in her

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emmylouhowareyou@reddit

My nephew has had several names for my mum, Nanny Hop (she was on crutches after an op), Nanny Pub (they went for meal in a pub) and she is currently Nanny Car (he goes in her car most weeks).... My SILs Mum is Nanny Door 😂

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jimmywhereareya@reddit

To my youngest son's kids, I'm nanny whelo, their other Nan is nanny and the kids, because their mum is the eldest of 8

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Rubytitania@reddit

My husband had one grandmother with white hair and one with black hair so they were “White Nan” and “Black Nan” (both were white).

My aunt was called “Auntie No-No” for years because when we misbehaved as kids she’d say “no no no no NO”. When we got old enough she told us she fucking hated the nickname.

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blue-banana-@reddit

The original Smeds and Smoos!

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Traditional_Mail_778@reddit

My family all call TV remotes "plonkers." And hair ties "pretties." Also if you want someone to move over (like on the sofa or a bench) my granny used to say "aye ip."

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wlsb@reddit

Not my family but one time I had plans to visit my best friend on a Sunday. Her husband's parents invited all three of us over for Sunday lunch. There's a mushroom Wellington recipe that they all call "mummified cat". It's very tasty.

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Majestic_Matt_459@reddit

I started mine - we lived near The Shuttleworth Collection between Biggleswade and Old Warden Bedfiordshire - its all old Biplanes and Spitfiresetc and we saw trhenm flying all the time

I couldn't say the word right when i was young - I called them "lanebines" - and until my Mum and Dad died we always called them that - and plane a Jumbo Jet or Concorde - still a lanebinme ) - they weren't the huggiest of parents so it gave me great comfort that little nod to me x

Super day out btw - and Old Warden nearby - https://www.shuttleworth.org/

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Beginning-Annual-860@reddit (OP)

Went there about 18 months ago… really cool place!

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Ill-Breadfruit5356@reddit

When my children were little a plate of biscuits was offered round with bourbons and Jaffa cakes and someone said “now that’s a dilemma” before picking a Jaffa cake. My children thought that dilemma was the name for Jaffa cakes, and so that’s what they’ve been called ever since.

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Beginning-Annual-860@reddit (OP)

Garibaldi will always be “flies biscuits”

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fblthpthewise@reddit

Helicopters are forever known as howie-doptors.

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Bonsuella_Banana@reddit

Jelly-copters in our house haha

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RainingBlood398@reddit

Pocca-planes here!

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SparklyRainbowAngel@reddit

I called them telicopters because someone told me hell was a swear word.

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Longjumping_Tour_613@reddit

In a similar vein, my brother called fire engines, " dee der ebinge" when very young. Has stuck till this day, over forty years later!

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coombeseh@reddit

Firing renge in our household

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Flapparachi@reddit

Chelly-hopters in our family!

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Warm-Reference-4965@reddit

My nan used to call the cardboard tube inside a toilet roll a dood ood. No idea why!

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Midnight-Wolf-1607@reddit

Is/was your Nan a Whovian? There's a species of alien in Doctor Who called "The Ood".

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Warm-Reference-4965@reddit

She could well have been. Admittedly she was a bit quirky and odd. Miss you nan.

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ChuckStone@reddit

It took me far too long in life to learn that "The Dinger" is not a universally recognised word for the television remote.

I live in Wales, and most of the people around me do not speak fluent Dearne Valley...

So "Pass us' Dinger" seems like a perfectly reasonable phrase to me.

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Beginning-Annual-860@reddit (OP)

I thought that was the microwave!

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ChuckStone@reddit

That makes so much more sense.

My house didnt get a microwave until about 1997 though. We had a colour TV by about 1988, IIRC (i was 2, so its unlikely)

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UglyFilthyDog@reddit

Farts were 'fluffs'. Not a single clue why.

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Yaseuk@reddit

My dad always calls “tartar” sauce “see you later sauce” 🥰

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Beginning-Annual-860@reddit (OP)

Such a Dad joke!!

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Beginning-Annual-860@reddit (OP)

My Nan did upholstery and would make draught excluders for the doors. They would all have weird long noses and eyes. And they were all called Mazgal Dazgal.

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VxDeva80@reddit

The crusts of bread were always called the 'bum ends'.

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Beginning-Annual-860@reddit (OP)

Bread you have to cut yourself = cutty bread

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Zestyclose_Speech_56@reddit

That had me cackling!

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Frodora@reddit

My husband called them 'doodie bit' when he was tiny!!

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amanda_burns_red@reddit

That's so cute

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sunnysunshinebaby@reddit

my mum used to call the TV the haunted fish tank! none of my friends knew what I was on about when I said it

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Ready_Spinach9711@reddit

I haven't heard that one for years! 🤣

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BobBobBobBobBobDave@reddit

Mostly just stuff a child has mispronounced or said in a funny way.

So we have getty rather than spaghetti, hand cheese (grated cheese because my daughter used to pick it up in handfuls and stuff it into her mouth, and asks for hand cheese), funions, etc.

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phatboi23@reddit

(grated cheese because my daughter used to pick it up in handfuls and stuff it into her mouth, and asks for hand cheese)

this is me making anything with cheese, chef has to have a handful is my rule.

also 3am snacking cheese by the light of the fridge.

can you tell i like cheese? haha

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Electronic-Sound331@reddit

Hand cheese sounds so unappetising 😂

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Over-Language2599@reddit

Better than foot cheese, probably.

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Fingertoes1905@reddit

When asking my dad what was for dinner it was always chumps and chairlegs, I’ve no idea where it came from

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MarsStar2301@reddit

Sounds a bit like my grandad - if my dad/uncle/auntie asked what they would be having for dessert, he used to reply “Ifit - if it’s there, you can have it”.

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Least-Conference9547@reddit

My kids have "Dead Grandad" and "Shit Grandad".

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pickindim_kmet@reddit

I had Dirty Grandad, because he was a mechanic and was always covered in oil.

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phatboi23@reddit

had us in the first half haha

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Cautious-Carrot-1111@reddit

My nan was from an Irish family with loads of kids. So the second baby, I think, was called Margaret but died. My nan was around the 11th or 12th baby in the family, and they decided to reuse the Margaret name for her. And I’ve been told that they were always referred to as baby Margaret or dead Margaret. Wholesome.

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MarsStar2301@reddit

Similar(ish) to my mum’s two aunties who were not only both called Margaret, they had the same surname as they married my granny’s brothers…and subsequently became “Harry’s Margaret” and “Sammy’s Margaret”.

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StinkyBird64@reddit

lol we have nana and grandad on my mams side, and my grandparents on my dads side (both passed away) were Granny Nanny and Grandad Grump lmao

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mcboobie@reddit

Oh bless you all. I am so sorry that this made me laugh so much. Can confirm my children also have the same, we just never vocalised it this way

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Character_Arachnid65@reddit

My son used to call his bathrobe his weasel, so now we call bathrobes weasels.

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SheCameleon@reddit

My mum called slippers ‘pippies’ when she was a child, and so then we kids did too. I still call them ‘pippies’ to this day.

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seahorsebabies3@reddit

Our microwave is the crimewave.

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MarsStar2301@reddit

My colleague’s Italian dad apparently calls theirs a ‘micro-cooker’.

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No_Camp_7@reddit

My Italian grandfather called the Olympic logo “de ting wit de circle”

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Trick-Station8742@reddit

Our first used to call it the fire wave

She knew it made food hot

And she knew fire was hot

Mash 'em together and you get fire wave

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amanda_burns_red@reddit

Prime Video = Crime Videos

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MysteriousB@reddit

Referring to McDonald's as "MDs" aparrently nobody else says it according to friends, either Mackies, Mickied, Mickie Ds but never MDs

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MarsStar2301@reddit

My sister (thankfully briefly) went through a phase of referring to it as “Mc”, for some reason.

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annedroiid@reddit

Once when my brother was young he knew it was polite to ask before leaving the table but accidentally asked if he could "move" the table rather than "leave". We've been asking to move the table at the end of a meal for the last 30isg years.

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wearecake@reddit

Side note- things like that are known as a familect. Family dialect. Pretty cool stuff. There was that one post about someone whose family spoke a really unique familect of French in the States a while ago.

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Harriet_Vane_@reddit

Croissants are known as houses.

My daughter loved The Very Hungry Caterpillar when she was little, and she thought his cocoon was a croissant, and shouted “house” every time she saw one.

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Wes_tleton@reddit

Highland Cattle are Woola Hullahs in my wife’s family

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Worried_Suit4820@reddit

We had a 'soondry' as in a rod under the mantle piece; 'put your mittens there and they'll soon dry'.

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NewChapterBeginning@reddit

My brother and I called my aunt Auntie Witch because she was a bit scary and her kids called my mum Auntie Dragon because she smoked.

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Juddftw@reddit

TV remote was called the oofa doofa, said it at a friend's house surrounded by school mates not knowing it wasn't something every family called it..

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Motor-Platform295@reddit

Taddybangs for caravans due to my sister's mispronunciation 60+ years ago.

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Electronic-Sound331@reddit

My when my younger sister was a toddler she inexplicably called carrots “dops”, so they were dops forevermore. We also called slippers “pippers” which I think might have started similarly, but that one makes more sense 😂

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TrueAgency8491@reddit

My partner also calls slippers "pippers" !

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Sad_Introduction8995@reddit

I called ice cream ‘lickoy’ once as a kid, and it stuck.

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MidgetkidsMomma@reddit

When my twins were little they came running in the kitchen and said "we want rice pudding" i turned around and said " Pardon" ? Onviously meaning where are your manners and a please would be nice .

Both said " oh can we have a bowl of PARDON please" ...thats it, 27 yr laters and all family still call it Pardon .

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CommercialAd2154@reddit

We used to pick up my granny from Watford Junction so we’d call it ‘granny’s house’, even though we’d been to granny’s house many times befor

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P19bw@reddit

You can never have too much mint sauce!!! Love the stuff

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mcboobie@reddit

Was this meant for the Too Much comment above 😂

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P19bw@reddit

😂😂😂 I'm a reddit novice

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mcboobie@reddit

You’re fine, babe. We knew what you meant! Happy Easter :)

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NarcDetector@reddit

Try it on mushy peas! Sublime!

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NecroVelcro@reddit

There are few ways to make the grotty taste of mushy peas worse but that's one of them.

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DogtasticLife@reddit

My brother couldn’t say Elephant so they became Logears and more recently I couldn’t remember the word for shoehorn and it became forevermore the Footspoon

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Significant_Dog_3978@reddit

Footspoon makes much more sense than shoehorn

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DogtasticLife@reddit

I think that’s why the name has stuck 🤣

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MD564@reddit

Fanickapants for someone who keeps fussing and not doing what they're meant to. It could have real origins but my grandmother is Spanish so I know she made up some stuff that passed down the family.

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Our_Peg@reddit

My grandma used to call us Fanny Fanacker pants if we were fussing and being pains. From Lancashire x

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Broken_Woman20@reddit

Kelloggs All Bran (we were given it for every breakfast growing up) was called browny stuff in our house. And spaghetti bolognese was called spaghetti boiling eggs. Just from what we kids couldn’t pronounce properly.

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AdaandFred@reddit

Broccoli is dinner trees in my family, courtesy of 2.5 year old me. I was served, and enjoyed, broccoli one Sunday lunch, the following week no broccoli was served and I said "oh, no dinner trees". My parents had no idea what dinner trees could be till I got some lego trees and put them on my plate.

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Timtitus@reddit

When you get a small quivering point of reflection on the wall or ceiling from something like a knife or a watch lens, it was called a "Jolly Noddy" for some reason. As far as I can tell it's unique to the Squires family of Pinner.

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Adminisissy@reddit

The things that you spray plants or windows with, those squirty bottles with the handle (I still don't know their proper name apparently) = smookers. "The plants need smookering"

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L0gic_Laden@reddit

We call coleslaw "sawdust" because when I was little I couldn't say it so sawdust was apparently the next best thing.

I also have a nan called Nanny Bob because she used to have a pig called Penelope which my sister (a few years older than me) couldn't say so she called it Bob and it just stuck to the point where my cousins in Australia (even younger than me) also call her Nanny Bob

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ChelseaMourning@reddit

The tv remote has been through many name changes in my time. With my parents it was the “dinkie doo” and I have absolutely no idea why. But with my ex partner, we started calling it the Raoul Moat and it stuck. So it’s still the Raoul Moat.

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Hatchetface1705@reddit

My nephew wrote on his Christmas list one year that he wanted a “mokinchow” car. My sister messaged asking wtf does this even mean? Has anyone heard of this brand of car? Christmas Day she discovered that he meant a remote control car. So the remote for anything is the mokinchow

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Practical-Fishing788@reddit

My mum has whimsical names for animals that we all still use: Woofalupticus/ Woofles/ Puppy Dog (used as occasional pet name for whatever dog is about) and Ellyfantyfohsus (elephant)

Still make me smile

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External-Pen9079@reddit

Frank for the remote control… any guesses as to why?

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Aid_Le_Sultan@reddit

It’s called Frank in our house. Probably down to me as I’m a Zappa fan.

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PM-me-your-cuppa-tea@reddit

Frank Zappa

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Py3wacket_@reddit

Zapper/Zappa

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Bbew_Mot@reddit

It was possessed by the ghost of a man called Frank who kept changing the channels to what he wanted to watch?

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throwaway-awawa@reddit

sketti

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BustyMcCoo@reddit

Bisghetti in our house

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Queasy-Ad-18706@reddit

My very young son,1and half referred to water in his drinking cup as dooter. No idea why but 40 years on we still refer to a drink of water as dooter.

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Bubbly-Tumbleweed316@reddit

Recyclabubble bin because I could never say recyclable as a little kid

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jingleson@reddit

Mustard is granddads custard due to me being young and mishearing

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Organic_Reporter@reddit

Smuffmies = mushrooms. From a mispronunciation by my sister as a toddler.

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KingsFontaine@reddit

For reasons completely unknown to me, my Mum and Dad named the TV remote control after Spanish footballer Andoni Zubizarreta. I grew up thinking that they were called "zoobies" and still call them that to this day. They didn't explain to child me that that wasn't really what they were called though, so it caused A LOT of confusion when I would go to other people's houses and asked where their zoobie was.

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Experiment328095@reddit

Mostly from kids pronouncing things wrong but we have

Moken - Remote Control Ayips - Crisps Pipe - dummy/pacifier Popcorn - Awkward

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60022151@reddit

Waterfalls are ‘water fall down’, which was the name my brother gave them when he was small. I christened speedbumps as ’bumpity bumps’ as a toddler.

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dizzley@reddit

Some food went down the wrong way in a restaurant and my instinct was to head outside. I struggled to blurt out “I’ll go outside”, which sounded like “old goat’s arse”. The family looked at each other, wondering if I really said that.

From then on, if a coughing fit ever happens in earshot the family will say, “Ah, old goat’s arse!”

Note: leaving a room is a common but dangerous response for a choking victim. DO NOT leave them on their own.

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Aroracherry@reddit

My sister couldn’t say Kentucky for kfc so used to called it Kak-Pucky so now that is what it will be referred to forever more

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pixpix89@reddit

Tupney tustard tut in two. My grandpas name for custard. We still call it that.

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Ill-Situation73@reddit

We had a few thats stuck around. Flipper dippers - cooking tongs, flipper - spatula. Buttons - remote control. Wishy washy - washing machine, skimmers - underwear, Telly box - TV. Tumbly- tumble dryer. That's all I can think of for now and that's only because I've already said those this morning 🤣 sick spread is sandwich spread that comea in a jar, not sure how that one started but I am not a fan.

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hunta2097@reddit

Jebus, is Stanley Unwin your granddad?

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hunta2097@reddit

https://youtu.be/iNEWovL90sM?si=bvX8DvF5wT-jz4v-

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Ambivalent-Axolotl@reddit

Onion bhajis - Onion badgers
Remote control - diddler (coined in more innocent times!)
A mildly irrelevant story detail that's going to take too long to explain - because of some plot...

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armsless@reddit

My nephew couldn’t say nail varnish, so it is forever known as Nelly Parsage now

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amanda_burns_red@reddit

This is adorable

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writeordie80@reddit

I obviously misheard the word "lorry" as a child as for years they were "weewees".

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flowerbeautygirl95@reddit

On the topic of roasts - puffs for Yorkshire puddings, was obviously the favourite part when a kid but could only describe it not say it, over 20 years later puffs are still my favourite

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Cyan_Ryan@reddit

My dad used to tell us when we were kids that the British Sugar Factory in Bury St Edmunds was a “cloud factory” because of the steam it produces. We all still refer to it as the cloud factory

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thebigperson8@reddit

I was told that about the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station on the M1!

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Rootes_Radical@reddit

Our little girl calls it the cloud station

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AliG-uk@reddit

The only ones I can think of:

Tribwodge, Wiffla, Tinkle, Paper toilet.

Can you guess what they all are?

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StereotypicallBarbie@reddit

We were once at my brothers having tea… where my brother had said to his wife “take it easy with the vinegar” we don’t know why? He’s a manic idiot..

And from that day on.. if anyone in the family has used vinegar or even mentioned it at all.. one of us would say “take it easy with the fucking vinegar”

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