Floriferous Ideas: The Language of Belonging.

An ode to the made up words and phrases that become part of your own dictionary. A secret language you share with the ones you love.

There’s a quiet kind of joy in feeling like you belong. It might come from being a regular somewhere like a hair salon where they greet you with a smile and say your name before you’ve even sat down, or a café where your coffee order is remembered without a word. But often, it’s found in subtler moments too, like the shared language you build with the people closest to you. Lately, I’ve been thinking about those invented words and borrowed phrases that sneak into our everyday conversations. They’re not always revolutionary or even unique, but they settle into our lives like your cosiest pair of well worn slippers. A quote from a book, a line from a TV show, a lyric sung off-key in the car…over time, these fragments become part of your own private dictionary.

I was chatting with colleagues this week about the words and phrases we create or adopt with friends and family. Some are playful nonsense, others are loaded with memories. They form a kind of secret language, a shorthand for love, for shared experience, for the comfort of being known.

Some of my personal favourites:

• Tubbies - I adored the viral meme of the young boy talking about how much he loved Komodo Dragons! It made me remember moments in my childhood where I would discover new facts about animals and feel a sense of amazement and awe. I watched a slightly longer snippet of this interview and he referred to taking baths as ‘Tubbies” and from there it stuck, bath time is now always Tubbies. It’s trivial really but something that has become ingrained. My partner will advise after an exhausting day or a long day of working at the allotment, ‘Why don’t you run yourself a tubbies?!

• Spicy Flies - I completely adopted this from a friend of mine who has two gorgeous labradors, we refer to honey bees and flies as ‘Spicy Flies’ and we routinely have to remind our three cats ‘Don’t eat the spicy flies!’

• Innie and Outtie - We watched far too much Severance which was both entertaining and perplexing, but we soon adopted the idea of our Innies and Outties, our outties being the ones that go off to work and our innies being in the comfort of our own home. Effectively the opposite of severance ‘I dont want to be an Outtie today, I just want to be innies’ or ‘Let’s just be innies today’ yes, we are a house of introverts.

• Oh no stuck! - Our nephew coined this, a little phrase he would say when he didn’t want to leave a place or a thing he was doing, he would exclaim ‘Oh no, stuck!’ and refuse to leave. It can happen at any time, especially once one is curled up on the sofa or snuggled up in bed.

• Chunkles - A family phrase, it’s like a hug and a tickle all at the same time. Kind of brings back that nostalgia of childhood, I guess it sounds odd because it is, its very silly but it always makes us laugh.

• I no see friends - Our nephew used to say this when having to get ready for nursery, he would say to his mum ‘I no see friends today momma’ I have never related more and its become a firm favourite in our house.

• Tours and tours of louvre - my younger brother read out a card I got send for my birthday and said ‘Tours and tours of louvre’ instead of tons and tons of love and from that day on the phrase was adopted forevermore.

• Chocma - my brothers and I called hot chocolates a chocma milk or a chocma. So it became a regular adopted term in our house when it’s cold and blustery outside and the colder weather is setting in one of us would say ‘Do you want a chocma?!’

There are so many more, too many to remember all at once, so many silly ones, but I love them all.

There’s something so deeply comforting in that. When someone gets the reference whether it’s shared widely or just between the two of you, it feels like a little moment of magic. A connection reaffirmed!

So here’s to the made-up words, the inside jokes, the quotes and quirks that weave their way into our everyday lives. Our personal dialects. Our secret codes of love.

I would LOVE know about your little made up words and phrases, I love finding out the stories behind them too.

I have set up a little subscriber chat which anyone is welcome to join, if you like the rambley posts and nostalgic chats then this is a place for you.