About 3 years ago for New Year's Eve (it was before Jason and I were married, so it must have been New Year's of 2005), we rented a big house on a lake in the mountains of western North Carolina with 3 other couples and all their kids and dogs. We went for walks, took the canoe out on the lake, rough-housed with the kids, watched movies, and played cards and drank bourbon after the kids were asleep. Lots and lots of bourbon, and lots and lots of cards (I think we were playing Hearts).
At some point, Jason, who has a colorful way with words, mentioned to someone that they might want to think about sticking their cards up their mud-button. And yes, it means exactly what you think it means. Kathleen practically did a spit-take, she was laughing so hard, and "mud-button" became the word of the weekend. Someone who was being a dick while playing cards got extra "mud-button" points. We vowed to come up with a way to add "mud-button" to the Oxford English Dictionary. Could it be a verb as well as a noun? We were determined to make it work.
This week and next, a bunch of my friends and their children are coming to Hawaii (or are already here) for my birthday. My mom's coming, too, which will be great, because she hasn't seen Zeke since he was born. Jason rented a huge house on the North Shore, and we'll take the kids surfing and build sand castles and just relax and have fun.
And last night, I think we came up with the new word of the week -- this year's "mud-button" if you will.
When my mom was stationed in Papua New Guinea, I went to visit her and I brought back presents for some of my friends. As a joke, a couple of the guys got penis gourds. Last night, Jason and Chris and I were sitting around after dinner gabbing, and we were talking about my PNG trip. Chris mentioned the penis gourd, but he couldn't remember what it was called, so he kept calling it a "ball cozy." Which just about killed me. I kept thinking of a smaller, testicle-sized version of a tea cozy and I couldn't stop giggling.
And of course, "ball cozy" kept working it's way into the conversation. How useful they would be while hiking or doing athletic activities, particularly in the cold, what the TV infomercial selling them would be like, and the variety of colors they could come in.
I may actually knit some this week as party favors, if I can figure out a pattern. (Or I could cheat and cut up a hacky-sack and put a drawstring on it). And if the guys don't like it, I'll tell them they can stick it right up their mud-buttons.
If you knit a ball cozy, please, please, please post a picture! And I LOVE mud-button. My personal favorite spontaneous profanity is when a friend of mine from the Navy got dumped by his girlfriend and said, "Well, ain't that a purple f*cker!"
ReplyDeleteI still don't know what it means, but it's hilarious!
Mud-button is particularly useful because so much of the conversation between my husband and myself involves suggestions of sticking things up one's "mud-button," "freckle," "bot-bot," or whatever else we're calling it that day. It seems immature and hostile, but it's always said with love and affection. As in, "Honey, where should I put the salad dressing?" And I'll look at him, shake my head, and say, "Really, you have to ask?"
ReplyDeleteWHEN is your birthday? Mine is March 6..you must be a Pisces too. If so, all we have in common is kinda startin' to freak me out!
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