If you are a regular gentle-reader of this blog, you probably think the title indicates a story about kids and sibling teasing gone bad. But no, this story is about me, my mom, my dad, and some people who I hope do not read this blog.
Mom went to the funeral of a high-school friend this week. Mom and Dad went to the same high school, are from the same small town (Vermont, Illinois population 801 as you may recall from last year's story about the Road to Bernadotte). They know all the same people from that area. Sometimes there conversations about people from Vermont, Ipava, Table Grove, Industry, Macomb, and Astoria that seem, to the uninitiated, to be in another language. Like last night:
Mom: I saw Luann's granddaughters, they are so big now, they are both in college...[etc...]
Dad: Remember when they were down at the lake and [etc...]
the conversation continued and they were talking about more people I don't know when I heard the following:
Mom: Yes, and you know that woman was a real a**h***, well, she's a ___________.
now here is where I got confused. In that blank I heard a word I'd never heard before. I thought to myself, Self, How did you grow up and never hear that swear-word before. The word I thought I'd never heard before sounded like "whore-whittle." Ok, I thought, what could that mean? Is it the same as a**h***? Or worse? Or just some girl that ran around with lots of boys in high school? Or what?
I admit that I felt kind of stupid, here I am a grown woman with 2 kids and my parents still know swear-words I've never heard before. So I didn't say "what does that mean?" Because after all I do have some pride. Some.
I waited for clues in the conversation. Dad repeated the word. Mom said it again, too, but I wasn't getting any indication of what that word could mean. I didn't think I'd find it in my big red dictionary, and I didn't see how I could just open it up without them finding out I didn't know what whore-whittle meant.
Then Dad said something about someone who had married a whore-whittle. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. I said, "what is a whore-whittle?"
As it turns out, the word is Horweddel, a family name. Not an insult at all. Well, at least not yesterday. But as of today WW is my new favorite swear word. I still don't know the exact definition. But remember, you read it here first!
About Me
- Kim
- United States
- Getting older is not for sissies. I'm not a sissy, thank goodness. I'm a physical therapist, mom, daughter, sister, friend, and I am looking forward to "what's next?"
5 comments:
I love it Kim. And thus a new swear word is born. And I was there at its birth. I will disseminate with your new spelling.
Well, may our daughters never marry a "dim-woody," etc.
As soon as I get done laughing I'll post something about this.
It's also spelled Horwedell but who is worried about the spelling?
If that word upsets anyone they can just say, "She's a B _ _ _ CH and it would come out the same in definition.
My mind is swimming with all the goofy family names from Pierce and Marion, Nebraska, I used to hear around the grandparents' tables. Such possibilities for expletive-deleteds. Thanks.
I am laughing so hard...but am also confused by the thought you felt you should KNOW a word mom and dad both knew. Take for instance the words we learned for breasts and poop. I thought those were the only words for a long time. I'm suddenly curious to know the origin of those words....the poop word is obvious, yet I'm laughing out loud again thinking about it..."Ted, what word should we use for poop in front of the kids?" "Well, Ellen, when some people poop, they make a sound with their mouth...let's use the word for that sound instead of 'poop'. It will be much more appropriate for them to go through life using that word instead of poop". Now...the word we learned for breasts? I have no clue. And now I'm wondering why I'm so reluctant to put said childhood terms in print.
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