The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #10553   Message #74657
Posted By: Jerry Friedman
30-Apr-99 - 02:42 PM
Thread Name: Creating your own name for something
Subject: RE: Creating your own name for something
On this subject, friends of mine used to say, "I have to zim" when they needed to relieve nature. From "zimmer", from mispronounced (and incorrect?) German "Frauenzimmer", meaning "ladies' room". Take that, Roger!

One of those friends pronounced "Target" in French 15 years ago. You might not have been the only person to invent it, Cara.

Speaking of which, "flutterby" is so common that I was told as a child it's the origin of "butterfly". (It's not.) "Willie the Shakes" is in a Joni Mitchell song, I forget which. I don't know whether she invented it. "Fix Or Repair Daily" is indeed old, and so is "Fix It Again, Tony".