Special language all my own

I like words, the kind that are in the dictionary and the kind I make up. There have been several over the years, which I will add to this list as I remember them. For now, here are two:

Bloop bloop – In the year 2005, during some particularly tragic, awful, heinous, unfathomable events in my life (which I will write about One Day), my mind got a little overloaded.

Tired of thinking and trying to come up with words, I began to substitute “bloop bloop” for words I thought I could get away with omitting. For example: While having dinner with my Blood Sisters (BSs), who were likewise gathered around these tragic, awful. heinous and unfathomable events (TAFU-E), I might point to a bag of crawfish on the table and say: “Pass the bloop bloop.”

As time went on, an entire, goofy system was built around bloop bloop. Any time during TAFU-E that any of the BSs didn’t want to say a word or couldn’t think of a word, we started saying “bloop bloop.”

This was eventually disconcerting for others in my life, i.e. my children and my husband, who often get dragged involuntarily into BS, especially when bloop bloop started becoming as common a phrase as bread or water in my head, but it didn't translate well to those around me, as in “Chris, do you want to bloop bloop with me today?” This could mean have lunch, swim or take a zip line from the flour mill to the river.

Meanwhile, my sisters and I, so obviously cut from the same crazy quilt, continue to often and randomly love our "bloop bloop, which we have come to say with a popping, melodic cadence.

BS Susan (BSS)’s partner Charles has even taken to calling me “Bloop Bloop.”

“Is that Bloop Bloop on the phone?” he calls out to BSS.

Otter – Otters are my favorite animal. Hands down. Ever watch them play? They are playful, but they are also smart. They have to be to swim around in water all day long without bumping into each other. And they are loving. They hold hands, to wit this popular utube (14 million hits) from Vancouver Auditorium. www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno". Of course, I didn't make up the word, "otter." But I kind of made up its usage: People that I like a lot, I call otters. And puppies. "You're a puppy, a kitty and an otter" is a really good thing.