Do Y'all Take Credick?
It is very amusing to me when people use words that don't make any sense to ask for or describe something. Sometimes the word (or words) they are using, although it may sound like the right one at the time, may have a completely different meaning or application. Sometimes the word being used isn't even close to being the right one. And even more amusing is when the same words are misused repeatedly in the same context. Is this confusion regional? Is it hereditary? Is it the result of drinking non-potable water?
I remember several years ago responding to the lady who came in to our antiques shop in central Alabama and asked, "Do y'all take credick?" She was holding a credit card in her hand. She then went on to ask if we took items on 'assignment'. She meant 'consignment'. She said she just wanted to know because she had some items to sell but had never put anything on 'assignment'. Over time several people from the same area inquired about our services using exactly the same words.
One day in the same town I spoke to a fellow I hadn't seen in a while. I asked him how he was doing and he said, "I've been having a problem with my privacy." My first suggestion was that he might want to keep his curtains closed. He cleared my lack of understanding by letting me know that he was going to schedule an appointment to have his prostate checked. I think the connection here is between 'privacy' and 'private parts'. I think?
I have to admit at this point that I'm guilty of having heard someone misuse a word and then goofing on them by repeating it in the same conversation myself. One example of this would be when the lady told me her finger was infected and her doctor had 'progged' under her fingernail during a recent office visit. I told her I imagined the progging must have been a little painful and I was glad that as far as I could remember I'd never had my finger progged. She said it was painful and I was lucky a doctor had never progged me. I believe the word we're looking for here is 'probe'. And I think I'm right about this because I've heard the word prog used in connection with spaceships. "They sent a prog down to the planet to see if there was any intelligent life there."
My wife works in a book store. Among the services the store provides is book cover imprinting. Particularly on Bible covers. She says that rarely does someone ask for their newly purchased Bible to be imprinted. The request is usually for monogramming. That's close, even though monogramming really refers to using only the initials in a name to identify something and customers often want more than initials on the cover. What is really amusing is the number of requests the store gets for 'mammogramming'. "Would you mind mammogramming this Bible for me?" I'm not sure if my response would be, "What would you like me to mammogram on it?" or "I'd be glad to, but it's going to pinch a little".
Speaking of mammogramming book covers, the most interesting one they've done was for the newlyweds who actually wanted "YOU & ME 4 EVER" mammogrammed on their new Bible cover. I guess this shouldn't be surprising in a part of the world where a common response to the question, "What translation of the Bible are you looking for?" is, "The Holy one".
I hope you can find the same humor in this kind of stuff that I can. People are just people. The result of how they were raised, where and who they're from, and how much effort they've put into being who they are. We are all just people. I'm one like everybody else, so don't think I'm trying to take credick for being any better than you.
I remember several years ago responding to the lady who came in to our antiques shop in central Alabama and asked, "Do y'all take credick?" She was holding a credit card in her hand. She then went on to ask if we took items on 'assignment'. She meant 'consignment'. She said she just wanted to know because she had some items to sell but had never put anything on 'assignment'. Over time several people from the same area inquired about our services using exactly the same words.
One day in the same town I spoke to a fellow I hadn't seen in a while. I asked him how he was doing and he said, "I've been having a problem with my privacy." My first suggestion was that he might want to keep his curtains closed. He cleared my lack of understanding by letting me know that he was going to schedule an appointment to have his prostate checked. I think the connection here is between 'privacy' and 'private parts'. I think?
I have to admit at this point that I'm guilty of having heard someone misuse a word and then goofing on them by repeating it in the same conversation myself. One example of this would be when the lady told me her finger was infected and her doctor had 'progged' under her fingernail during a recent office visit. I told her I imagined the progging must have been a little painful and I was glad that as far as I could remember I'd never had my finger progged. She said it was painful and I was lucky a doctor had never progged me. I believe the word we're looking for here is 'probe'. And I think I'm right about this because I've heard the word prog used in connection with spaceships. "They sent a prog down to the planet to see if there was any intelligent life there."
My wife works in a book store. Among the services the store provides is book cover imprinting. Particularly on Bible covers. She says that rarely does someone ask for their newly purchased Bible to be imprinted. The request is usually for monogramming. That's close, even though monogramming really refers to using only the initials in a name to identify something and customers often want more than initials on the cover. What is really amusing is the number of requests the store gets for 'mammogramming'. "Would you mind mammogramming this Bible for me?" I'm not sure if my response would be, "What would you like me to mammogram on it?" or "I'd be glad to, but it's going to pinch a little".
Speaking of mammogramming book covers, the most interesting one they've done was for the newlyweds who actually wanted "YOU & ME 4 EVER" mammogrammed on their new Bible cover. I guess this shouldn't be surprising in a part of the world where a common response to the question, "What translation of the Bible are you looking for?" is, "The Holy one".
I hope you can find the same humor in this kind of stuff that I can. People are just people. The result of how they were raised, where and who they're from, and how much effort they've put into being who they are. We are all just people. I'm one like everybody else, so don't think I'm trying to take credick for being any better than you.
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