With the family reunion only a month away, I've been thinking about some of the words-slash-phrases that we've been given by my grandfather. This is my mom's father so if you've been following my blog or Derek's, this could be where Mom got her funny from.

And now, without any further ado I proudly present HAROLD'S DICTIONARY!

CRICK (crick) [noun] - This is actually another way to say "creek." For probably the first twenty years of my life, I thought there was a difference between creeks and cricks. My grandparents lived in Vail for a while while Grandpa was helping remodel the Sonnanalp hotel. They lived in the penthouse loft suite and had a great view of the "crick." Every once in a while, Grandpa would ask if we wanted to go down to the crick and skip rocks. My favorite memory of the crick-visitin' was when Derek & I went down to throw rocks in the water while the adults played cards. We were told not to get wet. So what did Derek do? He walked into the middle of the crick using rocks as stepping stones to see a lizard and he slipped, drenching himself. We actually tried to sneak in without being seen but it didn't happen.

PURDINEER (purr-di-neer) [adj] - A combination of the words "Pretty" and "Near." Used when something almost happens. Ex: "I purdineer drowned in the ditch this morning." I think I was maybe 15 before I realized that this was not a real word.

LPC (Ell-pee-see) [abbrev] - LPC stands for Lead Pipe Cinch. This is used exclusively during the game of Oh Heck. This is said when you know for a fact that you will take a certain amount of tricks..for example, if the amount of the deal is one card and trump is spades and you have the Ace of spades in your hand. That is an LPC! It's the only one of Grandpa's words that I use even now while playing cards. When I tell everyone that I plan to take 6 out of 8 tricks and everyone looks at me like I'm crazy, I smile and say, "It's an LPC."

Stay tuned for more fun words!

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