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Maybe this should be titled “10 Things Stacy Didn’t Know the Names Of.” I suppose I shouldn’t assume that you are all as sheltered as I am. But, I know now, and I feel like my knowledge for a future Jeopardy! appearance is growing by the second.
1. Tittle – the dot over a lowercase “i”.
2. Botts’ Dots – the dots that divide lanes on the highway. They’re named after their creator, Dr. Elbert Botts. Photo by Wikipedia user Coolcaesar.
3. Bib nozzle, sill cock (AKA bibcock) – any outdoor faucet on a house.
4. Escape words – the words you use in place of swear words, such as “Gosh” and “Darn.” My mom’s favorite – “God…” [pause] “…Bless America.”
5. Crown cap – a metal bottle cap with crimped edges. Bust this one out when you’re out with friends this weekend.
6. Toque blanche – a chef’s hat.
7. Twilight zone – not the show, either. It’s the space just inside of a cave where the cave is still lit by the daylight from outside.
8. Mandarin crease – the lines on either side of your mouth.
9. Preprandial libation – a drink before dinner.
10. Punch holes – the holes in the toe of a sneaker.
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I always thought a bib nozzle was just a spigot.
posted by L on 12-9-2008 at 3:27 pm
Is it sad that I knew Bott’s Dots because of a very (scared) driver’s ed instructor constantly telling (yelling at??) me to watch for the Bott’s Dots? And then proceeding to go on an -ots rhyming spree for the remainder of the ride. It has been 16 years since then but the Bott’s Dots is one of the main things I remember. The other being “I’ll pass you just because you have a year to, uh…work on… your driving” :)
posted by Jen on 12-9-2008 at 3:31 pm
Escape words: My parents would always say “shhhhht!” and leave out the i (and it’s tittle). Somehow this was okay for them, yet still a no-no for anyone else.
posted by Pete on 12-9-2008 at 3:43 pm
Now I have a question – Is the dot over a lowercase “j” also a tittle, or does it have another name? :)
posted by Debi on 12-9-2008 at 3:47 pm
About escape words:
There’s an obscure saying -”two tears in a bucket mother**** it” I believe it boils down to the same meaning as “don’t cry over spilled milk”, but anyway when I was in high school I taught dance at a day camp and one of the other teachers was fond of that phrase, which we obviously couldn’t use around the kids.
Somehow over the course of that summer we morphed it into “duck in a bucket!” whenever we wanted to say “f*** it”
Yeah..I’m 23 and I still say duck in a bucket. All the time. It’s hard enough finding someone who knows the original phrase, let alone what we turned it into eight years ago. People look at me like I’m a loon.
Fittingly, my recapcha is “exits society”
posted by Caitlin on 12-9-2008 at 3:57 pm
For a while I was “collecting” (for lack of a better term) “Phrases Your Great Aunt Ernestine Says So That She Doesn’t Curse When She Stubs Her Toe.” For example, “Sour Pumpkins!” and “Cranky Bigfoot!” were favorites. But one of my personal favorite is something my dad says: “Heck fire!” I don’t even really know what that means, but it’s awesome. At least now I know what it’s called.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 12-9-2008 at 4:10 pm
I work in commercial construction and I’ve never heard an outdoor faucet called a sill cock. We do call them “hose bibbs” all the time. So, I guess that’s close…
posted by Dianna on 12-9-2008 at 4:22 pm
You and I must have the same mom, because my mom says that “God bless America!” bit every time she stubs her toe – complete with the dramatic pause.
posted by Melissa on 12-9-2008 at 4:28 pm
Are there also prandial libations and Postprandial libations?
Should we always avoid prejentacular libations?
My favorite escape words were “bug guts” or “bad words”.
Recaptcha: effort Detroit
(Good luck with the bailout)
posted by Bryan on 12-9-2008 at 4:38 pm
My parent’s favorite escape word is “Son of a bristle stomping Annie” I’m still trying to find its origins…
posted by Thomas on 12-9-2008 at 5:43 pm
My mom used to say “Sugar honey iced tea” when I was a kid. I was well into my teens-and well versed in swearing-before it clicked. Considering my mother’s talent for swearing, I figure she made it up, but I could be wrong.
posted by Kate on 12-9-2008 at 6:01 pm
Actually, I knew a few of these…What can I say, I have no life. A friend of mine several years ago collected Bott’s Dots. Couldn’t believe how many different ones there are. Wonder if he still has them?
posted by Laurel B on 12-9-2008 at 6:58 pm
Yes, after-dinner drinks are postprandial libations.
A bib nozzle or bibcock is one which is secured to a wall-type surface by having a flange molded in, which has a couple of holes in it. At the base of your water heater, there’s probably a bibcock used for drainage.
A sillcock is simply a faucet near the sill of a house. The sill is the lowest horizontal member of the foundation.
Some sillcocks have a male pipe thread on the supply side; others have a female pipe thread. Normally, the ones with female pipe thread are bibcocks, and the ones with male pipe thread are not.
Frost-free faucets on the outside of the house have a long pipe attached, and the actual valve is located at the supply end of the pipe, rather than near the handle. These are normally bibcocks, even though they have a male pipe thread connection on the supply side.
It’s reasonable to call them all sillcocks if you have to bend over to attach the garden hose and turn the water on.
posted by Harl Delos on 12-9-2008 at 8:57 pm
I’ve always liked the word gound – the eye crusties you get after sleeping. It even sounds like what it is.
posted by Debbie on 12-9-2008 at 9:14 pm
Isn’t the twilight zone also the time right before you fall asleep, yet you’re not fully awake?
Also, in regards to the “escape words”, I always like my term for the real cuss words: sentence enhancers. :)
posted by Shandi on 12-9-2008 at 9:14 pm
Kate, there’s a girl at my work who uses “sugar honey iced tea” as an expression.
And when I play racquetball, it really gets the foulest part of my vocab out. I try to use those escape words (it usually just turns into a German curse word since a certain one is very similar to English), but one time it came out as “Shoe!” My boyfriend has not let me forget this.
posted by catherine ann on 12-9-2008 at 10:00 pm
The blue Botts Dots indicate the location of a fire hydrant.
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 12-9-2008 at 10:45 pm
I don’t think I knew any of these! I’m glad I don’t have to resort to ‘escape words’ too often. In fact, my swearing has gotten worse since moving to New Zealand…
posted by Dawn on 12-9-2008 at 10:46 pm
I teach 1st and 2nd graders (special ed) and my students all have a habit of saying “tarter sauce” when they get frustrated (maybe from Spongebob but I’m not sure) – and now I’ve started to say tarter sauce.
posted by Sarah on 12-9-2008 at 11:00 pm
After hearing so many of these escape words, I came up with a phrase that sums up my feelings: “you better watch what you say or gosh is gonna darn you to heck”
Also one morning while I was the morning personality on our local Christian station a lady called and said I was using the name of God in vain. How? I never…(really), Anyway, after a while she finally said that I said “by golly” when what I meant to say was “by God”. Yep. Been tellin’ that one for a while.
posted by Terry D on 12-10-2008 at 12:10 am
You can find some great escape words in movies edited for tv. They try to use words that match the mouths so no one will notice that’s not what the actor actually said. First that comes to mind is in Die Hard 2 they say melon farmer, just doesn’t have the same effect.
recapcha: central spitzer
corrupt politician day?
posted by Kat on 12-10-2008 at 1:05 am
my favorite escape word is fruit. as in fruit you, mother fruiters…things of that nature.:)
reCAPTCHA: Cochrane who
posted by lotuskid88 on 12-10-2008 at 8:57 am
my dad used his own variation of escape words:
God……bless a…….DUCK.
i guess duck at least rhymed with something he wanted to say.
reCaptcha: Ariel certificates
mermaid certification?
posted by mri on 12-10-2008 at 9:57 am
I’ve gotten several people I know to use the phrase “poop on a stick”. I think it came from “The Upright Citizens Brigade” and it wasn’t an action, but an object. They said that using a piece of poop on a stick would be an effective weapon in many cases, scarier than a gun even. Well, I though the phrase was great and started using it in all sorts of nonsensical ways. Before long it became an escape word of sorts.
posted by Jen on 12-10-2008 at 10:26 am
My favorite escape word is [son of a bisciut eater]. I have been using that one forever.
posted by Micah on 12-10-2008 at 10:42 am
I have 3 children, all girls, 6,4, and 2 years old. Im also an army wife and that gives me plenty of reason to use foul words, however I have always said “son of a biscuit eater” or “mother flucker” and “pickle it”. The last one is lost on even me. Im not sure where I got it from. My kids all say tartar sauce and it is indeed from Spongebob. I love escape words.
posted by Tammy on 12-10-2008 at 10:47 am
Wow. I thought for sure this list would’ve included PHILTRUM. Though, I suppose that I DO know the name of it, so it shouldn’t count…
posted by Josh on 12-10-2008 at 10:48 am
Down South: “Son of a Biscuit”
And: “Cheese and Crackers Got all Muddy”! Y’all…
posted by PT on 12-10-2008 at 11:17 am
I’ve always called Bott’s dots “city t!tties”. Now I won’t have to censor myself when in the car with my mom!
posted by christie on 12-10-2008 at 11:21 am
I have heard my mother curse just once in my life – her favorite ‘expletive’ was to call someone a “turkey”. My father on the other hand used no escape words EVER. (I take after my dad.)
Lotuskid88 – thank you for the laugh – mother fruiter indeed!
posted by Keeker on 12-10-2008 at 11:46 am
I’ve never hear them called “escape words”. I’ve always heard the term “minced oath” used.
ReCaptcha: Stamping bills
posted by Steve on 12-10-2008 at 12:23 pm
Wow, I must be a geek (a civil engineer, actually) but I only know “Bott’s Dots” by their technical term–reflective pavement markers (RPMs for short).
posted by Kiki on 12-10-2008 at 12:40 pm
I know a waitress who uses “Oh Mother Duck!” when she burns her hand. I also had a high school history teacher who used “rectal orifice”, as in “Who is the rectal orifice that moved my papers!?!” My 4 yr old daughter uses “tartar sauce” from Sponge Bob. My dad always used “Jumpin Jiminies” instead of the big JC. My mom was a fan of “Jesus Boom”, especially when she was mad. I just swear, it has more impact!
posted by Jaime on 12-10-2008 at 1:10 pm
What is heck? A place for those who don’t believe in Gosh.
posted by R M on 12-10-2008 at 1:57 pm
I could never understand the rationale behind ‘escape words’ – same with ‘bleeping out’ cursing on television. Everybody on the planet knows what’s either ment, or being bleeped out.
Sigh, I guess putting a sugar coating on it makes it alright.
posted by Lee on 12-10-2008 at 3:30 pm
My favorite escape words/phrases are “Oh, Billy!” and “Cheese and Rice”.
While we’re on the subject, does anyone know the technical term for the window-roller downer thingy? (I’m pretty sure that’s not it)
posted by Orange on 12-10-2008 at 3:40 pm
I think escape words are more fun, Lee. If I actually curse, it tends to make me angrier. My escape words are goofy and so they help me laugh at the situation.
posted by Orange on 12-10-2008 at 3:41 pm
Twilight zone is also the range in ocean depth that light just barley makes it to. Similar to the cave, but I am pretty sure it is more commonly used in oceanography
posted by Luke on 12-10-2008 at 4:49 pm
I’ve used plenty of “escape words” myself… I use cheese and rice, mother truckers, fother mucker, son of a biscuit, Jesus (prounounced the spanish way) Christmas or Christos, and when I’m super angry, I’ll yell out, “Mary, mother of Lord Jesus!” But my favorite is “Sweet Jesus!”
The thing is though, I’m not religious, and I swear all the time (in German, as well… was surprised to read someone else did it too!). My dad also uses “rectal orifice,” so I guess that makes two people!
posted by Cassie on 12-10-2008 at 11:14 pm
I started calling escape words near-beer swears. My uncle was fond of “thunder!” and “foot!” My mother used to say, “We were so poor we didn’t have a spot to kiss in,” and it was several years and her finishing once with “…or a window to throw it out of” before I even knew she was substituting.
posted by Hepcat on 12-15-2008 at 12:16 am