What odd-but-lovely habits / rituals do you and your DP have?

[whatsinmypockets]

Inspired by a chat I had with a friend last night – she mentioned that she and her DP turn on 80s power ballads whenever they have to do house chores they don't enjoy, so they can play air guitar / sing into the antibac spray / throw armfuls of laundry in the air dramatically / hold the bathroom bin above their heads triumphantly while they get things done. Makes the job more fun and they get to feel connected.

It made me smile so much – and made me think of how DP and I, whenever we do something very mundane but do it well (like unpack the online shop delivery quickly or get eyedrops into the dog successfully) will put on overenthusiastic American accents and compliment one another like sports commentators: "Did you see the SPEED of that?" "This man is a true CHAMPION" "Ladies and gentlemen, I think we just witnessed history being made" "I've never seen talent like it"...

I love how couples often develop these weird little rituals that are totally unique to that specific relationship...

Given there's (understandably) so much "something's wrong with my relationship" on MN, I'd love to read some more examples of things like this - what do you and your DP do that's a quirk of your relationship?

Doesn't have to be as 'significant' as my friend and her power ballads – might just be a sweet how-we-make-coffee-in-the-morning routine or a specific way you hold hands...

We go to bed together 99.9 % of the time.We have a cuddle and a bit of a chat then go to sleep (we tend to have daytime sex as cba at night)

Don’t need to be in a couple

Exactly right. My two sons have endless shared references from TV shows and films. There are loads of them I don't get.

For years if I cooked sausages one would say: "Are sausages like hot dogs?" and they'd double up laughing. Eventually I saw the "nae rolls" sketch from Burnistoun ..

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=361321707994856

Just thought of another.

If we're drinking red wine one of us inevitably say "Gillians drinking pint noir" in a faux posh voice.
It's a Micky Flanagan reference.

Pinot Noir

We do this… of course the actual Ddog, a dopey German Shepherd, remains oblivious🙄

According to the Ddog talking, she loves Dad. (DP) to the balloon and back, but she must bite him regularly to check he’s real…

She of course would never bite me, I’m Supermummy who loves her the mostest in the whole wide world and must bite Ddad regularly to prove her love for me - then starts the play-fighting…

The silliness that accompanies the daft voices provoke the Ddog into howling and getting overexcited…then we sing to her and she joins in.
All utterly childish 🫢

We frequently apologise to our lovely neighbours.

DPs arms look like he’s attacked by sharks!

We have a couple of Toy dogs, having previously had large dogs. I once referred to them as doglets. Then we both used that and called the cats catlets. Then he became DHlet and I became Annlet (I can’t believe I am revealing this publicly 🤣). DH’s first wife of 33 years had crushed any daftness in him. I released it apparently. Good thing because I do enjoy a bit of daft. There is lots of it in our relationship.

Any time we drive along a straight road in the country, we say “This is a Roman road”.

Any bend in the road beyond that point “That was the Saxons going round a puddle”

Any right angle bend “That was a Saxon field”.

Dp does lots of accents really well, but I can only do a few. From a trip to Devon we went on years ago, we still both say, "Devon knows how they make it so creamy" from the Cadbury's Caramel advert.

Just thought of a few more we do:

• we randomly quote bob fossil from the mighty boosh and say “and that’s why I don’t like cricket” which we apply to any situation really. Usually inconvenient ones though. The best timing of it being said was when when we’d just collected his new car and were driving it home, I was heavily pregnant, really needed to pee and had one of those awful tickles in my throat which triggered a coughing fit and I peed myself which soaked the seat. He just looked at me and said “and that’s why I don’t like cricket”.
• we occasionally cawcaw like crows to find each other around the house. Our DC have started doing this too haha
• we have two “signature dance moves” that we’ll spontaneously burst into, the other always joins in. Every dance has to end with a dramatic toe point at the end too. We then rate our own dance performance like judges on strictly.
• Sometimes when we answer each other calls, one of us will pretend to be a takeaway, or in character as someone else, we’ll engage in a completely unrelated conversation to why the call was placed in the first instance. We end that call and then call back for the real purpose of the original call.

actually, we’ve been going though a really shit time at the moment but writing these out has made me realise he’s not such a shit head after all! Great thread. Thank you!

We quote Patches O’Houlihan from Dodgeball at opportune moments.

That's really funny!

We have a secret handshake routine which we’ve kept going for over 10 years, adding to
it occasionally…

we do this too, have you? Have you really!!
oh you have, have you!
makes us laugh all the time.

Me & my teens, if 1 person shouts noot noot (a la Pingu) the other teen replys the same, but I respond noot noot mother fucker!! We quote a lot of things to each other from tv shows, films, songs & even stuff we've watched together on youtube!!! We also do the villager hmmmm, from Minecraft as it's my favourite game, but both my kids have played it too! We're generally a happy, albeit slightly insane, household!!! (unless daughter no 2 is in a mardy) I'm definitely happier now than towards the end of my marriage, so it's nice to share the crazy!!

DH does quite a few impressions and expressions that he has picked up from one of our old neighbours who is really quite offensive in many ways, sexist, the neighbour would refer to me as 'Lassie' in a cockney voice and tell me outrageous things about his life in Thailand years ago and how my husband's head would be turned as although I'm a "pretty Lassie🙄" I'm not apparently polished enough! Anyway, DH often jokily calls to me up the stairs, "Lassie are you ready yet?" (Ironically) if we are about to go out. I say, 'What, what?' to my teenagers a lot and my DH copies it as it reminds him of the Grandma in Southpark that shouts, "what, what what?!" We often say, "such is life" as we overheard someone say it in a Brummie accent at a service station (strangely) about something that had gone wrong and ever since we have it as a family catchphrase when something doesn't go to plan.

Oh yes, sometimes DH will call me at work at lunchtime and put on a twee sounding posh accent and will say something like "oh yes, hello, I would like to complain about data please, do I speak to you .."

Lovely thread. We randomly poke each other and say ' tag you'r it'. Oh started it years ago. We did it to the children when younger. Sons now early.20s and We still do it. Especially if in large supermarket or busy place. Such fun trying to avoid being poked. Another ritual between oh and myself. I always hated being shouted awake by abusive mother. Rule has always been gentle.waking up. In our youth it would be rampant sex. 40 yrs on if he wakes me up it is by gentle massage of my feet as he always wakes first and gets up then comes back to wake me up. Lovely way to be gently woken and our special ritual. If I make a brew and he isn't around. I leave teabag and sugar in a mug for him by kettle.

Ha ha (or ah ha) we do a lot of Alan Partridges too…

we often use a sausage as a break-water 😂

We are the same and refer often to gorging on Toblerone and driving to Dundee in our bare feet if works been particularly taxing and DH will ring late teen DS when he is at his girlfriend's and call him Fernando and ask him why he hasn't got out for the day yet😄

“You have a woman’s hands my lord!” Or similar if hubby mentions a body part. Lots of other little bits from old British comedies.

when I developed rheumatoid arthritis I used to complain that my fingers looked like fat slugs when they were swollen. He sculpted me a little slug head and painted it to match my finger so when I was feeling down with a bad arthritis day I could put on my slug hat on one of my fingers and it would cheer me up.

he knows I always loved castle in the sky and was terrified of flying so he 3D printed me a levitation stone like the character wears in the movie to wear when I have to fly.

I love this thread - it’s so lovely reading through everyone’s weird oddities and thinking “ooh yes we do that too” or “how sweet” or just imagining people doing their silly dances etc.

My husband and I have loads of bonkers things we do or say, and the great thing is now our children are old enough, they join in with them as well.

We all do serious triumphant lunges on completion of a task well done; we also occasionally randomly dance into a room using a specific dance my little boys made up to entertain me when I was ill in bed following chemotherapy a few years ago. Anyone in the room joins in and we dance up and down the length of the room for a few goes, and then just walk off as though nothing has happened. We have family sayings where one person starts and anyone else around has to sing or say the second half in a silly voice (think “soooooper” followed by “doooooper” etc). I never offer my husband a cup of tea without doing it in a Mrs Doyle voice, will you have a cup o tea, go on go on go on…we make an offering to Occo by throwing empty snail shells into the marram grass at the beach, one shell for each person in our group (dogs count as people) every single time we go to the beach. I think Occo is a made up entity dreamed up by my children as the kindly god of surfing, but I’m not 100% sure. I spotted my almost-teenager throwing one for his friend the other day, on the sly without wanting his friend to hear him saying “for occo!” as he threw the shell.

All spiders are known as Jeremy or Frank (or Spider Dave for ceiling spiders obviously) in our house and we make little tiny addresses for them when they are living in hidey holes like Jeremy Spider, Stair Cottage, Carpetville, Sittingroomshire, SP1 0ER. We write the addresses out in tiny handwriting and Blu-tac them to the skirting board or wall near the spiders lairs. Apart from Spider Daves who we just sing “there’s a spider on the ceiling and his name is Dave, Spider Dave you’d better behave!”. All moths are called Motthew and although I am scared of them, I am not allowed to squish them because all Motthews are related and they will send a giant Killer Motthew to eat me if I squish one of their family.

There are loads more, but one final one I can think of now is every time we leave the house as a family or couple my husband will inevitably say “I’ve got the key” to which I (and the children if they are there) sing back “I’ve got the secret”.

We and DP shout "I love you, MADLY" in a swooning posh English accent when one of us leave the house

Dog jingles (specific jingles you sing when you see a certain dog breed)

The van spotting game.

Whichever one of us gives in and gets up to make the morning coffee declares "I will... MAKE!"

'Smell my cheese, you mother' is used by both of us whenever any vaguely 'special' cheese is purchased.

Bit embarrassing, but if DH is away I have been known to wear his dressing gown to bed because it smells of him. I am 54 FFS!

We do loads, but my favourite is if we're watching TV and someone has an interesting outfit on. DH without fail will deadpan say 'smashing blouse.' Sometimes I get the blouse quote which instantly makes me laugh.