John recently got a pair of chukka boots that he can wear in the winter that go with both work and school outfits- apparently wearing his shiny dress shoes to class made him feel a little silly.  John was not familiar with the term “chukka”, so when he was describing to me what he wanted and I said “oh, like chukkas?” he said “what? What are Chumbawumbas?”

And now he calls them his Chumbawumba boots, and I have that absolutely insanely annoying “Tubthumping” song in my head on a weekly basis.  Thanks, John!

As much as I regret the fact that I have had a mid-90s one-hit wonder earworm for the past three weeks, I actually love these little mishearings that become a part of a family’s personal vernacular.   My sister in particular is famous for these.  When she was little, whenever she wanted to go sledding, she would demand that my mom get out her “snowsnoot,” a word my family uses instead of “snow suit” to this day.  She’s also the queen of the Malapropism- we still tease her about time when, as a preteen whining about some grave injustice that had been done to her, she said “I hate this family! I always get the short end of the shaft!”

There are others: we all call my grandmother “Gummy” because my oldest cousin couldn’t say “grammy” correctly, and when we’re feeling something is particularly unfair, we’ll say that it “bites the baboon” (my sister’s childhood mishearing of “bites the big one.”)

Any good ones in your family?

* From the classic Friends scene: