Odd quirks that only your family does

[tiredtiredtiredtired]

Mine sit on the kitchen worktops, when waiting for the kettle to boil or just to have a chat. never thought anyone else did this! Anyone else got any?

‘It’s nosing’
AKA snowing after DD called it that as a toddler

we also play spot the road kill and bonus points for identifying it!

DD says John and Terry instead of Tom and Jerry.

Yeah I had, from my first boss, “sideboards are for rissoles not for arseholes” which has stuck —doesn’t stop me though—

We also have “cheers on your bottom” as our family toast, mixture of cheers and bottoms up!

My colleague and I play “yellow car, no returns” at work. ( we are 40 something police officers on patrol).

We also try and spot yellow cars when out. The kids yell banana car as loud as they can if they see one.
We also like to spot pink cars.
Also yell monkey puzzle tree when we see one. There is a park nearby where we have been many times and know where all the monkey puzzle trees are but still say it even when we all know they are there.
We've adopted words that kids said when they were small; it's froggy out when it's foggy. Buttfly for butterfly.

Whoever says 'I win I win' when they see an emergency vehicle going past with flashing lights, wins. Keep count during the journey. I am a master at the game and nearly always win the game - much to the annoyance of my kids!!

Gindrinker We play ‘Badger!’ too. Whoever spots the roadkill first shouts the species out loud, if it’s an undefinable pizza, then an approximation is allowed. Strips of shredded lorry tyres are ‘Lorrysnake!’.

We have so many but we also play the 'Traffic light car' game. 1 point for a red, 2 for a green 3 for a yellow. The top prize is for an Argos lorry which should be yelled at the top of your voice.

We have loads of characters that we act out. My DD even has a baby brother that is actually DH and gets treated like a member of the family. We recently had a birthday party for him and he's getting Christmas presents.

What a lovely thread!

We have a couple of traditions/quirks, but I consider ours pretty traditional. Some of our DDs friends do question them, however, as they aren't normal in their homes.

1. We put out placemats and appropriate cutlery for all meals, including breakfast, and say 'cheers' at the start of each meal regardless of what we're drinking

2. Everyone has a 'Gin and Tonic' before dinner - including the children. Theirs is just tonic, ice and lemon but I'm worried about what teachers might say if the kids mention what they like to drink

3. We have pudding after lunch and dinner every day. This comes from DHs family

4. On long car journeys we buy hard boiled sweets and have a competition to see whose can last the longest

5. Before DD goes to bed we have various farewells e.g Goodnight sprinkle cake, goodnight chocolate cake, good night snot, good night finger. Basically, as long as we give a reply she could say anything.

6. Before we get up on Christmas morning to see if Santa has been, I always have to 'check' first and light all of the candles in the room. I initially did this when DD was a baby to make the lounge magical, but now it's an expectation that the candles will be lit.

Not a whole family thing as dh sim0ly won't, but dd and I sing conversations in the form of recitatives.

We have far too many to list but a few of my favourites:
We don't ask "what time will food be ready?" We simply say "I like your pigtails".

Prawn cocktail flavoured crisps are "lemon meringue" whilst Walkers cheese and onion are "boys crisps" sometimes just "boys". And not any cheese and onion but specifically Walkers.

We have a favourite, obscure Christmas film (Flint Street Nativity for anyone who might have heard of it) and it is mandatory to have a "quote-a-long" viewing as an entire family each year.

We quote random lines from so many TV programs, films, and even adverts, that I sometimes wonder how much of our conversations are actually original though....

When the kids ask what’s for dinner we always reply “runny grovels and gruel” and they always reply “oh no not grovels again”

Almost daily!

whogivesa the stones from fruit were very common in our house and often never made it to the crumble stage.
We counted them after meals.
Rich man, poor man,beggar man, thief
Silk, satin,muslin ,rags etc
There were more but I can't remember them at the moment.

Singing "The Simpsssssssonnnnsssss" anytime we drive past a power plant.

We talk for our pets too. The cat and the spaniel are French. The Labrador is a middle class English woman who sometimes gets sweaty. Never as sweaty as the cat though- she has a foul mouth.

A garden incinerator is a hectorus, and a remote control is a vertical. We are into the third generation of using those words. No idea where they came from.

Cant believe my family aren't the only ones who speak on behalf of the pets

For years I've taken the piss out of my parents for this and rolled my eyes, only to now find out there are others like them!

The only difference is that our pets havent been particularly clever or well read, they are almost always very sweary, grumpy and completely fed up with having to be showered/not getting left over roast dinner/not being walked on time etc etc etc

Anyway I shan't tell my parents they are not alone in this, wouldnt want to encourage their lunacy

@Finfintytint that has proper cheered me up !

Harry Potter became Hairy Potter in our house when DS misheard his name aged 3- he’s 18 now.

When trying to get DCs upstairs to bed, we race as in 'bet I can go up before you', soon shifts their dragging areas but it's now become 'I can get in every room before you' so you have to run up the stairs, then run into every room, announcing which room you have run in as you go. If you do them all first you are the winner. I feel a sense of achievement when this is me .

Oh, we also have a Harry Potter dance and chant. Basically DS wanted to watch a HP film one night, and to ask he came in doing this little chant and a (macarena) style dance with hip wiggle at the end. I do it all the time back to them now, especially when I was the first one to get the HP Lego mini figure blind bag .

For some reason not yet discovered my maternal family all refer to the buns you put a hot dog on as 'bunny fingers'. I had no idea this was not the real name until I got to university and no-one knew what I was talking about. Have since tried to discover why we call them that and no-one seems to know. 'We have just always said it' is the answer I get.