The Picture Book as Family Phrase Generator
It is a truth universally acknowledged that if a parent or guardian reads a picture book to a child repeatedly, day in and day out, for weeks or even months on end, something is bound to happen to the child’s brain and that of the adult reader as well. I don’t mean to make this sound dire or anything. The child, as many studies have shown, benefits from the repetition and learns from it. For the adult, however, there can be side effects. And perhaps the most common side effect is Chronic Family Phrase Generation.
Example: You read We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury constantly. Even if you have never seen this book performed in a storytime, you are aware that there are natural cadences to the text. You’ve read this so often that you have its natural cadences memorized. You have different voices for each of the sound effects. When the family runs from the bear you thump on the book like their frightened footsteps have come to life. And what is the result of all this hard work? Every time you go outside and the sun is shining and the breeze is blowing and the temperature is somewhere between 73-75 degrees you say aloud, “What a beautiful day.” And then, not five seconds later, “We’re not scared!”
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Every. Single. Time.
That, my friends, is Chronic Family Phrase Generation. The upside of this is that everyone in your immediate family knows what you’re talking about when you use these phrases. It’s like a secret family passcode. If they ever kidnap you and replace you with an evil twin, all your family has to do to determine whether it’s you or not is to simply say off-handedly, “What a beautiful day.” If you don’t respond with that Pavlovian “We’re not scared,” then clearly you are the evil twin.
I think it’s actually really interesting to consider the qualities that make a written sentence into a family phrase. What must it consist of? The length? Where the stresses on each one of the words falls?
In my own home we have many such phrases, but only a couple occurred to me while writing this post. They are:
- From Go, Dog, Go: “Up the tree. Up the tree. Up they go to the top of the tree.” These sentences are modified every time I’m trying to get the kids to go up the stairs. Also acceptable, “Go down dogs. Go down, I say.”
- From The Daddy Mountain: “And that could be a catastrophe.” This one comes up randomly, but is very satisfying. I recommend placing the stresses on “that”, “be”, and the “tas” part of “catastrophe”.
I asked my husband if he had any growing up and he let me know that yes indeed, there were some. Both, to the best of his knowledge come from Dr. Seuss. They are:
“If such a thing could be then it certainly would be.”
“An isn’t has no fun at all. No he disn’t.”
This leads to a word of warning to the wise. The danger of all this, of course, is that someday your phrase can potentially remain but the source will have disappeared. In my own family growing up, for example, the phrase, “I swoop. I soar. I fly. Back up, back up!” was acquired somewhere. Possibly from a book, possibly from a film, possibly from a television show. The source has been lost but the phrase remains, only now every time we say it we cringe and feel obligated to follow it up with, “What is that from?”
So in the interests of research that will certainly never go anywhere, what are some of the family phrases in your home that you heard growing up or that you say now to your kids or grandkids, and that can claim picture books as their original sources? I wonder if any of your answers will repeat. Surely I cannot be the only person in the world doomed to say “We’re not scared” every time the day outside is beautiful.
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About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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Anonymous says
For some reason, in my family these phrases came out during shopping–and still do. If you are buying (or wearing) a particularly snazzy outfit, then you are the Grandest Tiger in the Jungle. Shopping also offers the opportunity to lift an ugly blouse by the hanger, and say suggestively, “Would you, could you, with a goat?”
And for more modern (office) usage, there is Mo Willems’ glorious phrase, “I am not a happy pig.”
Shauna LaVoy Reynolds says
I love this topic. When my kids were younger I would respond to fussing with “baby llama, what a tizzy!” I’ve been known to say “Go, dog, go! The light is green now” in traffic when appropriate. There are a bunch of Elephant & Piiggie quotes that I use when (vaguely) appropriate, and ALWAYS in my Gerald or Piggie voices. (A very resolute “I AM HUNGRY FOR LUNCH” is a nice one.) Finally, sometimes if I feel like I’m being ignored I’ll mutter “Goodnight nobody. Goodnight mush” under my breath. I feel like I’ve just revealed too much about myself here?
Joanna Reser says
“if I feel like I’m being ignored I’ll mutter “Goodnight nobody. Goodnight mush” under my breath.” I love this so much! And it’s these little facets of our character that make people so worth knowing. Thanks for sharing that. 🙂
Kim Pfennigwerth says
My daughter who has three older brothers loved the book: A Special Trade by Sally Wittman (1978, Harper Collins) and the line from that book that as she is a year from her 30th birthday and her brothers Still say to her if she is stressed about something:
“Don’t be saddish — Have a radish!” . . . Brings a smile to everyone’s face immediately.
Joanna Reser says
I’m having a hard time coming up with any from my own family; four kids spaced out over 12 years didn’t lead to a lot of group reading, more one on one, and we did a lot of library borrowing, not so much repeated reading of the same books (at least that I remember). We’re more likely to bust out into song lyrics from kid music tapes listened to on road trips before the days of ipods and everyone having their own tunes. However, I am polling my facebook world because I know there must be plenty of good ones out there! Will report back in a day or so.
Judy says
Betsy, it’s not only within families that this happens. I remember instances while I was teaching when certain phrases from read alouds would have the same effect on a group of students. The shared “inside joke” bonded the class like nothing else. Thanks for prompting some wonderful memories today, but don’t ask for specific examples! I just can’t remember.
Sarah Flowers says
I think we had several, but the one I can remember right now is “Things aren’t very good around here any more!” from A Baby Sister for Frances. As you can imagine, it’s a very useful phrase when things are not going the way YOU want them to.
Jules says
We have made songs out of some phrases/books. As but one example, we still to this day say that we’re going on a “mystery ride” when we have boring chores ahead of us. As in: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780152060213. And we made a song out of it.
Same with this book: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781561454334.
As for qualities, I think a lot of it has to do with simply the enjoyment of the book, though good meter (and such) with these phrases certainly helps.
Jean Reagan says
I thought, “So true! So true!” but then I couldn’t think of a single example ’cause our kids are long gone. BUT, I did think of an example where the reverse is true — a phrase shared within a family makes it into a book you write. When our kids were little we would frequently say, “Kids have good eyes for nature. Moms (or Dads), not so much!” because inevitably the kids would spot the coolest natural things the grownups had just walked past. “Our” phrase made it into my HOW TO SURPRISE A DAD book. Warms my heart. 🙂
Sondy says
I love this! But the only phrase that comes to mind right now is from a movie — “Let’s all go home!” said in Cody’s voice from The Rescuers Down Under. Let’s see – that movie also gave us, “Is that a razorback in my truck?”
Oh, I did think of one: “You are not my mother! You are a Snort!”
(I have a soft spot for the Isn’t, too. Though I like the Wasn’t a little more. “A Wasn’t has no fun at all. No he doesn’t.”)
Then there’s “You never can tell with bees.”
(I am really dredging my memory here. My kids are grown.)
Arika Dickens says
Ah, YES! This is so our family! One of the first we ever used pre-kids, when watching the winter forecast, from Shulvitz’s Snow: But snowflakes don’t listen to radio, snowflakes don’t watch television. All snowflakes know is snow, snow, and snow.” A favorite now with kids (and always when we have peas for dinner), from Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing: “Eat it or wear it!”
Elizabeth Bird says
Oh yes! There was a Lynne Rae Perkins book called SNOW MUSIC where the snowflakes make the sound “peth peth peth” when they land. Still think of that every time I see them fall.
Lynn V says
Thank you, Arika, for sharing this quote! My sisters and I (now all 50-somethings) still use that phrase but had no recollection of its source.
We will also still suggest to one another that we “sit for the present,” attributable to Miss Binney, dear Ramona’s kindergarten teacher.
Sarah says
We had a ton, when I was a kid, but for some reason the ones that spring immediately to mind were both from William Steig books. “Like many another thing in life, it remained a mystery”, from Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, and “How should I know, I didn’t make the world!”, from The Amazing Bone. I now say these things all the time to my husband.
(Also, basically any situation in life can be enhanced by a quote from one of the Frances books. I am 37 years old and still sing the jam songs).
Sarah Flowers says
Okay, now “Jam on biscuits, jam on toast, jam is the thing that I love MOST!” is going through my head!
Jen Robinson says
This isn’t exactly the same, but we say “Alright, Pigeon” whenever my daughter gets tired and cranky. Then she says: “I’m NOT the Pigeon and I’m NOT tired.”
I’m sure there are more, but I can’t think of them at the moment… Love the post!
Maya says
Another Steig favorite in our house, from Spinky Sulks, for when someone is wrong but doesn’t want to admit it:
“Spinkalink! I apologize! You’re posilutely right. Philadelphia is the capital of Belgium!”
Pam says
Several of our family’s favorites are also from Go, Dog, Go. “Do you like my hat?” “I do not like that hat.” “Goodbye.” “Goodbye.” OR when feeling especially generous, “I like that party hat!” We also often wonder, “Where are those dogs going?” and of course the answer is “Up the Tree!” And who can start a party without calling, “Let the Wild Rumpus start!”? When my daughter (age 26) and I are clothes shopping, we inevitably come up with, “Jesse Bear, what will you wear?” Such fun memories! Great post!
Margaret says
In any peculiar or unexpected circumstances, Children’s Services staff at our library regularly use “‘Odd,’ said the duck. ‘Very odd.'” from Gaelyn Gordon’s Duckat. (Does anyone else out there love that book as much as we do?)
At home, I grew up with multiple catch phrases from A..A. Milne, both the Pooh stories and the poems. And as general advice for personal conduct in any situation, the fairy godmother’s dictum from Dickens’ The Magic Fishbone: “Be good, then,” said the Fairy Grandmarina, “and don’t!”
Mimi says
Thanks to Bink and Gollie, in my household we say “I will take off ONE of my ridiculous socks” whenever a compromise is in order. (The response is, of course, “I will make HALF” the pancakes.”)
Ellen Myrick says
In my house, it’s all about Pratchettisms, especially those from the Tiffany Aching books. “Ach Crivens!” is often heard and the occasional “Waily, waily, waily” is a guaranteed perspective-fixer.
Coincidentally, this is why I can do an almost-passable Scottish accent which worked well when I did the above-mentioned GOING ON A BEAR HUNT in Scots (WE’RE GANGIN’ ON A BEAR HUNT) for storytime at Parnassus. Och naw! We’re no feart!
Erin Murphy says
The Wee Free Men’s expressions are used often around my house, too!
:paula says
“Nae quin! Nae president!” was a thing for a while in my family when they (fruitlessly) wished to defy the queen’s edicts. Since I’m the queen, you can see why this was fruitless 🙂
Also I SOOO recommend listening to those books on audio if you want to get the Wee Free Men accent right. Or, just, for lots of reasons.
Keith says
I read “Quack!” by Arthur Yorinks to my daughter ten years ago. Written in the language of ducks, it tells the story of a duck who builds a rocket to get to the moon. We still quack almost every time one of us sees the moon in the night sky.
Even in Australia says
We like “It’s not raining on MY side of the car.” It comes in handy more often than you might think. We also like to caution each other not to mail anything other than mail (e.g. the phone in your hand, your snack, etc.) by referencing the time Anastasia mailed dog poop (accidentally, of course). And I talk about some others here: http://eveninaustraliakidlit.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-literary-frame-of-reference.html.
marjorie says
We do “waily, waily, waily” too!
Also a sympathetic “even in Australia” when someone is having a bad day.
Jen says
Yes! That is definitely one of mine. Any time someone says “Some days are like that” I absolutely have to say, “even in Australia!”
Another one in our house is “I hear ya cluckin’ Little/Big Chicken!” from Little Chicken’s Big Day.
Karen Gray Ruelle says
Mine was “Go around again!” from Go Dog Go.
Lisa Heintz says
“Don’t go! I’ll eat you up I love you so!” from Where the Wild Things Are still comes up–and my son is 21. 🙂
We do the same thing with song lyrics. When my son was a toddler he had a penchant for Irish drinking songs (!!) and would bellow the words through the grocery store from his seat in the cart:
“Run like the devil from the Excise Man, Keep your smoke from risin’, Barney!” both of which lines pop up at odd moments in everyday life when we are together. It sure did keep the other shoppers shocked and horrified… and us laughing!
“You never can tell with bees” and “Tut, tut, it looks like rain” from WTP, too.
Lee Wardlaw says
Oh, so many choices! But two off the top of my head are both from Rosemary Wells. From BENJAMIN AND TULIP, the line “Back aways” is one my husband, son, or I will utter when asked “Where is X?” The other book is Morris’ Disappearing Bag. When someone asks, “What’s wrong with him/her?”, one of us will respond: “It was the gas. He breathed it in.” Okay, out of contex these don’t make much sense and they don’t seem very funny. But if you know the books, and the lines, well, they still crack us up 20-ish years after we first read them over and over and over again…
Boni Ashburn says
The warning “It’s time for bed!” is always followed by “…little mouse, little mouse, darkness is falling all over the house” from anyone within earshot (Time For Bed, Mem Fox). Anytime “plans” are mentioned in any way, someone shouts “Big plans, BIG plans I say!” (Big Plans, Bob Shea). “What the heck” is always completed with “…gonna paint my NECK!” in a drawled southern twang (I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More, Karen Beaumont). But my personal favorite (and my daughter Lily’s) is when someone shortens “Okay” to “K”, and we automatically go to “K is for Kate who was struck with an axe” and devolve into remembering the other 25 unfortunate souls (Gashlycrumb Tinies, of course). We’re kind of a nerdish but rowdy bunch around here. At least we try not to do it in front of outsiders….
Sarah says
My dad usually sets up our wifi passwords as either Constantinople or Timbuktu, because of Hop on Pop and the line “My father can read big words too, like Constantinople or Timbuktu” Also, any type of blue kool-aid type drink is refered to as Blue Goo (as if from Fox in Socks. 😀 clearly Seuss is a huge influencer in my family!
Sarah says
In our family an aged copy of Marvin Gardener’s “Never Make Fun of a Turtle My Son” is what made it into the family lexicon. To this day if someone asks for jam at the table someone calls out “the jam! the jam! the jam! she cried!” and then with the line “mother took a sip of tea” I have often found myself just saying that when someone asks for someone without saying please. And then when the offender did say please we’d say the line from the poem “mother heard the magic word and passed it right away”
Alyson Whatcott says
From Green Eggs and Ham: When it gets dark, “Could you, would you, in the dark?”
Sue Rokos says
“How goes the work?” ….. “HONK!”
Sue Rokos says
(Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell, but you knew that!)
Sue Rokos says
Duh. QUACK! Now what is the Honk one??
Meg Patriquin says
In my family if anyone is engaged in a long or slightly boring task like — doing homework, washing dishes, folding laundry, etc. — we ask “How goes the work?”. The required response is “Quack”. This is of course the question and reply asked and answered so many times in the classic picture book FARMER DUCK by Martin Waddell. My kids are now teenagers, but they still reply instantly.
Monica says
From Cat in the Hat…”Somebody, somebody has to you see” (which is followed by some horrific task to do) 🙂 I’m sure there are MANY more but this is the one the first came to me.
Juanita says
“Wall to wall helter-skelter mess” from The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room has described our messiness for over 25 years now and starting on the next generation.
Elizabeth Bird says
Of course the very combination of Berenstain Bears and the term “helter-skelter” is intriguing in and of itself.
Teresa Garrett says
My sister and I both like to ask each other if we like our hats like the dogs in Go Dog Go. My husband used to read a Paddington Pop Up book to my daughters and in a deep booming voice would tell them Paddington was from Darkest Peru a phrase we often use when describing where something comes from. I am sure we have others but these instantly popped into my head when I read the article. Fun!
Erin Murphy says
I’m sure there must be some from my childhood, but the one that jumps to mind the most is whenever anybody in my grown-up household exclaims, “What!” in surprise, we have to follow it with “Cried Granny!” (Kate Lum) And my literary agency’s colors are purple and green, and we often have swag or decorations in those colors at our annual client retreat, but our office manager, who procures these items, often gets carried away with things, prompting a stern, “Too Purpley!” (from our own Jean Reidy’s book).
Matthew Archibald says
Well, most of our Family Phrases come from musicals, and involve various family members spontaneously bursting into song. However, a few come to mind immediately that are from books.
First, if anyone says “a comb and a brush,” it’s inevitably followed by “and a bowl full of mush.” More common, though, is someone saying, “Uh oh!” with just the right inflection, then we all say, “The jeep won’t go!”
The third doesn’t seem to have a consistent trigger, but periodically, for no discernible reason, one of us will blurt out, “But not the hippopotamus!”
Patricia Connor says
Some days are like that….”Even in Australia.”
fran manushkin says
I often say, for no reason whatsoever, “What I am is tired of jam.”
Mimi says
Yes!
Kim Dare says
Even though one of the kids is almost 20 and the other is 16, at birthdays, we still feel obligated to chant “Present time! Present time! Open the present, see what’s inside!”
Sarah says
“We gardeners never retire.” From The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and David Small. A favorite saying, especially for our middle son, Nathan, the inspiration for Wolfsnail.
Also, Gurgi’s “crunchings and munchings” from Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain.
Pat Zietlow Miller says
After a frustrating day: “Some days are like that … Even in Australia.” Upon seeing a stick: “It was a stick. Just right for smacking a snow-covered tree.” On windy days: “Go home Irene. Go ho-o-On my way!.”
Pat Zietlow Miller says
OK. My autocorrect mucked up the last one.
:paula says
Wait til they’re teenagers, then every line recalls a line from either Hamilton or Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. “This dinner is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike meatloaf.”
Janet ID says
Oh Yes! When running a yellow or making a tricky lane-change: “Vroom vroom vroomy vroom vroom – pigeon at the wheel!” When asserting authority: “I am Mr. Frimdimpny! I am in charge of this book!” And when wishing the driver in front of us would look up from his/her phone: “Go dogs go! The light is green now!” Among many others.
Rose says
Waily, waily, waily!
Home, James! (from a Ruth Chew book about a witch who rode a vacuum instead of a broom)
Go dog, go, the light is green now.
No, Pat, no! Don’t sit on that! (Hop on Pop)
And many others. 🙂
Mimi says
Oh! “And it’s lovely rice pudding for dinner again!”
Elizabeth Bird says
If I’ve learned nothing else from the comments here, it is that Go, Dog, Go is the most popular book for family phrases.
Kelly says
Whenever my daughter is asking something repeatedly, I’ll say, “Okay, Moose.” Sometimes she does it on purpose because she wants me to say it. (Z is for Moose – Kelly Bingham).
Ashley says
Llama, llama MAD AT MAMA! My girl is too little to spit this one out at me (she’s not quite 2) but I repeat it enough to her that I’m waiting for it to come barreling back at me…
I also use no fits nelson!
Genevieve says
“Even in Australia” shows up from time to time. I should pull out “vroomy vroom vroom vroom” again now that my kiddo is driving.
When he was little, we used to tell him it was “time to brush your dino teeth and put your p.j.’s on,” from Dinosaur’s Binkit. And not being able to find something led to “WHERE’S MY BINKIT?!?”
Genevieve says
Oh, and when any of us were sleepy, we would sometimes say “Once upon a time, there was a bed.” “Good!” “With a bear in it.” “Even better.” from the end of The Bravest Ever Bear. It’s been a couple years since we did that, I think.
Josh Berk says
I love this. We do a lot of Skippyjon Jones in my house. If someone is being overly dramatic we say “Ay so dramatic-a… And such a pain in the sciatica.” Another fav is “going insane-o around the rim of a volcano,” muttered at various wacky behavior. The way Judy reads these lines makes them extra fun and likely to get stuck in your head. Audiobooks may increase the likelihood of family phrase generation?
Tracy says
I can’t believe we are the only family who complains of having a “terrible horrible no good very bad day” when we are in an Alexander type of mood…
Frances Smith says
I can’t resist following up my 15 yo son’s request for his baseball cap with “Caps! Caps for sale! 50 cents a cap!” (The benefit there is that he no longer asks me to help him find his cap.) But my favorite appropriation is actually another family’s. When a person in that family mentions putting something off until later, someone else is bound to say, “Tomorrow will be a very hard day for you, Toad.”
rockinlibrarian says
I want Facebook likes or something in this comment section to keep track of all the ones other people’ve said that I do, too. In my family, though, it seems to be just me– I keep quoting books and my kids roll their eyes and occasionally say “Mommy, why do you always do that?” (If they were teenagers I could accept this more, but they’re only 9 and 7).
Like so many others I’m also prone to launching into Go Dog Go, Alexander and the THNGVBD (I also employ Lily’s Mr. Slinger’s “Today was a difficult day. Tomorrow will be better” a lot in similar situations), Winnie the Pooh, and Goodnight Moon, but I think my number one Spontaneous Quote Trigger is One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, just because there are such a variety of poems there to apply to such a variety of situations.
Our Pigeon quoting mostly revolves around hot dogs.
This past spring we were on vacation in Florida with my parents, and observing palm trees set my 7yo and I off on coconut trees until we ended up reciting the entirety of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom together, much to my parents’ bemusement as they’d apparently not experienced that book before.
The most obscure, secret-codey one is a hangover from my own childhood, or more appropriately my younger brother’s: when he was a toddler his favorite book was this one about a bunny getting ready for bed (no not Goodnight Moon, a random unknown one), and after his bath his mommy wraps him in a “FLUFFY towel,” as my mom always enunciated it, and to this day I cannot refer to something being wrapped in a towel without that towel being “FLUFFY” in that same voice.
Galen Longstreth says
A recent one to add to my family’s list is that my daughter loves the last page of Joyce Dunbar’s Pat-a-Cake Baby that says, “It’s eating time!” So that now we call it out with great verve when it’s time to eat, or brush teeth (It’s brushing time!) or any number of activities. A perfect match for a toddler’s general enthusiasm.