Dads say the Darndest Things

"How's Your Job?"

In the six months since my father passed I've been recognizing more and more how often I repeat things he'd say given a certain situation. "You know if my father were here he'd say..." I told my brother Stephen about this and he told me was doing the same thing. At any given time Dad would speak to us in German, Italian, Yiddish, and Pig Latin. Given the situation he'd say expressions he picked up as a teenager, in school, in the Navy, and friends. It's as if Dad spoke a different language that only those close to him understood. As Stephen and I reminisced and laughed about our father's sayings we decided to create a list of his favorite expressions and given this forum I decided to publish this list here.

• Whenever he'd greet you he say, "How's your job?"
• If he was admitally against something he say, "neigetz boats!"
• He referred to Stephen and me as
• Shorty and Izzy Bushkoff
• Primo & Segundo
• How strong was he? Dad would say (in a Russian accent) "He strong like dozen midgets."
• Sometimes when he was excited about something we'd hear, "Wazzy wazzy woo woo!"
• one dollar bill = "beansky"
• five dollar bill = "finsky"
• Dad would wet his lips and very slowly and carefully say "par-tic-u-lar"
• When Dad would say "my shoes" he basically was saying, "why, of course."
• When Dad said, "Oy Becky Madone!" he was pissed
• He refferd to Barry Manilow "Barry Mazel-tov"
• If you ever spoke while he was watching TV he say, "Hey, this is a talkie!"
• "What?" (after he'd burp)
• "Mach die Tür zu" meant close the door in German
• "schnicken" was a yiddish term for a pastry or dessert
• insanity or madness = "mishegosh"
• One who is crazy = "meshuggenah"
• darling boy = "boytchik" or "boychale"
• The Phillies = "Bums"
• Hey dummy = "Hey, stunod!"
• Too loud = "Too piercin'"
• If he ever saw a tv show or movie he didn't like he say, "That movie was stink-a-poots."
• He'd refer to lousy sport figures as “He’s a ham-and-egg-ers.”
• If you said something and he didn't understand you he'd say “The wha--?" If you repeated yourself he say, "The woo--?" Then he'd say, "the we--?"
• He referred to my mother as Picina which morphed into Picin, then finally, Cin.
• We'd say, "Hey, Pop what are you doing?" and he would reply, "I'm thin-king about it."
• If Dad ever saw you put milk/cream and sugar in your coffee, "What do you want a milk shake?"
• Whenever Dad watched a big time dramatic scene (be it tv show, movie, or even sports) he would take in a big breath, blow out the air very loudly.
• Whenever Dad would say “Phildelphia!” he'd say it doing a John Facenda impersonation
  
• "Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart?" was something Dad would say to us about once a month and always when we were about to leave with our jackets on and keys in our hands.
  
• In Dad's later years we'd hear him say "ohhhhh-kay" as his opening statement whenever he would leave a phone message
  
• Anyone who Dad did not agree with was a "chooch"
  
• In Dad's later years we'd hear him say "ohhhhh-kay" as his opening statement whenever he would leave a phone message
  
• Anyone who Dad did not agree with was a "chooch"
  

This is the beginning a what will become a very large list. If you know of a Don Altobell expression not listed here please share.