The American Spectator

p> LINGUA FAMILIA br> Re: Lawrence Henry’s Our Family’s Words : /p>

Like Mr. Henry, I also grew up with a family vocabulary that was broader than could be found in a standard dictionary. I remember that my brother and I had an imaginary dog named “Whoowy” (sounds like woo-wee). I have no idea where that came from, either the dog or the name.

We also had polite names for certain bodily functions, too, until the unimaginative numerals took over. My friends and I also mispronounced cuss words, like G-d damn it as “dom dannit.” We feared retribution.

Sadly, I eventually had to give up the dog, and after many years of watching the political scene, I learned to swear properly. Psychologists would probably say these are healthy things (unless one only gave up the dog a couple of weeks ago).

p>Rudy and Fred on the same ticket? Is that too much to imagine at this point? If not, can my name for this imaginary creature be “Frudy”? (Sorry.) br> — C. V. Crisler br> Gilbert, Arizona /p>

Just this week I listened to an interview of Paul Dickson, author of Family Words: A Dictionary of the Secret Language of Families (How America Speaks series) on a morning radio talk show. Lawrence Henry’s essay was a nice follow-on.