Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The Pie Hole Factor

"Shut your pie hole". Simple, straight to the point, and often heard in my life with Kathy, especially when I'm giving her a razzing over some dorkish thing she's done. Being the husband to the orchestrator of Legends Of America is an adventure in language everyday. Back when we first starting dating, I think I was learning a new word just about every time I saw her. Even if the word didn't really exist.

For instance, take Kathy's invention of "Potito" (Poh teet oh). I heard this word several times before finally asking what the hell she was talking about. She explained it was a reference to her shirt pocket. Ok, harmless enough, until one of her friends actually thought it was a true Spanish word for pocket. Boy were they red faced when using it in front of the wrong crowd. It didn't take me long to start clarifying whether a word was real or a "Kathyism".

What's amazing though are the words I hear come out of her mouth that ARE real. She loves to throw nuggets in conversation that she knows I have no clue about, then watch my face as I struggle over whether or not to look stupid and ask. In particular, she loves the language of the old west, as evidenced by her newly expanded definitions pages posted this month.

From 'Absquatulate' to 'Zitted', she's posted one hell of a list of words, some of which are still used today. Like 'Tarnation', or 'Ditty', these words in some shape or form have stuck with the culture, and continue to be 'knocked round' from time to time by 'Jackeroo's' 'jawing'. It makes me 'afeard' that I'll get 'balled up' and feel like a 'saphead' every time she 'opines' on what ever topic is being conversed. Don't get me wrong, I'm not 'bellyaching', it's just that I still get 'bilked' by her once in a while when she feels up to a good 'bushwack'.

So instead of 'pitching a fit', I'm here by declaring to Kathy that the 'jig is up'. I now have a portion of your reference material on line, and will set to 'argy' if I feel inclined. And the next time you hit me with a Kathyism like 'potito' I may just tell YOU to shut your pie hole! 'Allers' with love of course. ;)