Anonymous wrote:MIL's insistence upon calling nearly every female under age 60 "a girl." So many stories about "that girl at the doctors office." Or, "the girl from my work

My mom does that, too. If she uses "gal" instead of "girl", it's her way of saying that the "girl" is "fat" (fat in quotes because my mom is nuts).

I love words, and regionalisms.
I don't see anything grating about what what any of you said.

Phrases and expressions are fun! They should make you smile and enjoy life!

MIL's insistence upon calling nearly every female under age 60 "a girl." So many stories about "that girl at the doctors office." Or, "the girl from my work."

Also MIL has a weird way to refer to my relatives. In conversation with me, she never refers to my mother other than by using her first name. So, it's kind of jarring to hear my MIL ask me, "Hey, how's Muriel? Is Muriel leaving soon? I liked Muriel's Christmas card, etc." I'd say, "how's your mom?" Opposite with references to my only sister...MIL always says "your sister" and never her name or oddly, she might throw in, "your sister, Mindy."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ILs use 'brother' and 'sister' instead of other appropriately gendered nouns. This is apparently a Detroit thing.

Wait, what? My dad's side of the family is from/still lives in Detroit and I have no idea what you're talking about. Can you give an example?

I wonder, too. Could it be related to unions or religion?

I have friends from Detroit who do the same thing. "Larlo, help brother find his teddy bear" and the like. It's to children about their siblings, not to any ol' person about someone else.

When angry about something: "Makes my ass want to chew tobacco!"
Cracks me up

Anonymous wrote:I don't want to reveal myself by the phrase my ILs use, but it drives me up a wall how they overuse this one word so much. If i had a dime for every time they say it...

Is the phrase, "if I had a dime. . ." ?

Anonymous wrote:My MIL pronounces normal words strangely. Like magazine is "MAH-ga-seen" and teach is "teesh." Also words from other languages, she will often pronounce them in that accent but get it wrong EX: "I'd like a glass of cow-BEAR-nay with dinner," "this pee-TAH is wonderful with this dip" I think she thinks it makes her sound more sophisticated but it just makes her seem unhinged.

Wait wait you might be SIL. Does your MIL call au pairs "Aw pairs"? Please say yes!

I don't want to reveal myself by the phrase my ILs use, but it drives me up a wall how they overuse this one word so much. If i had a dime for every time they say it...

I love this. My mom is like the FIL above and adds "the" to everything but insists she's modern and current so is constantly talking about The Instagram and The Facebook. But if something is supposed to include The, she drops it. She refuses to call The Limited by its actual name when it still include the "the", for example, much to my third grade chagrin.

She also constantly messes up singular and plural, so leggings are singular.

My dad was a Warshington guy and we lived in OH so he was always saying "Cincinnat-uh".

My MIL calls all forms of soda "soft drink" and asks "would you like soft drink?" (no a)
My FIL adds a "The" to the name of every store.

My parents and my in-laws say Eyetalian for Italian. My own mom refuses to pronounce some ethnic names correctly. Jesus is Hey-ZOOS, Like a sneeze.

"If you/he/she were smart...." and then impart judgement.

Anonymous wrote:OMG, mines says snickety snacks!

Also, refuses to pronounce the end of the word "leggings." Always says "leggins." Goes out of her way to find a reason to talk about leggins. Makes me insane.

But she's a lovely person and I'm from a family tree that says "libary" and "warsh," so, mustn't throw stones.

Oh, how about this...my ILs say snickety snacks AND "warsh"/"Warshington" and "wuter" instead of water. Aughhhhhhh!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ILs use 'brother' and 'sister' instead of other appropriately gendered nouns. This is apparently a Detroit thing.

Wait, what? My dad's side of the family is from/still lives in Detroit and I have no idea what you're talking about. Can you give an example?

I wonder, too. Could it be related to unions or religion?

OMG, mines says snickety snacks!

Also, refuses to pronounce the end of the word "leggings." Always says "leggins." Goes out of her way to find a reason to talk about leggins. Makes me insane.

But she's a lovely person and I'm from a family tree that says "libary" and "warsh," so, mustn't throw stones.