Linguistical Abuse

Family slang is cute and all, but once you get a little older and go out into the world and discover that not everyone calls a certain thing what you call it? It can be enlightening as to how screwed up your family has really made you.

This isn't a job for a psychologist. This is a job for a linguist!

Back when my children were wee puffs, I would throw together a treat of cheerios, chocolate chips, little marshmallows, raisins, and whatever else I could find in the cupboards.

I knew it as Gorp. Others call it trail mix.

All this was at the time of the teeny beenie baby toys at McDonalds. (Yes, as a matter of fact, we were bastions of good nutrition. I always made them eat ketchup with their fries. Ronnie Reagan said it was a vegetable!) My daughter had the little turtle and let me tell you, that little turtle was talented.

It had a far more interesting life than I did.

And it liked trail mix. A lot.

It got to the point where my daughter wouldn't tell me that SHE wanted trail mix. She would tell me that her turtle wanted it.

Thus, Turtle Mix was born.

It has been known as Turtle Mix for well over a decade now. We buy it in bulk at the grocery store and call it Turtle Mix. We pick up a tin of "trail mix" and call it Turtle Mix.

Long after the teeny beenie baby turtle has gone to the Japanese soup pot in the sky, it is still known as Turtle Mix.

It wasn't until recently that I discovered how my kids learned the hard way that the rest of the world did not know what Turtle Mix was.

Of course, in a group of incredulous pre-teens that couldn't possibly comprehend how trail mix is called Turtle Mix.

Well, ya see...it's kinda like this...