a happy plate...

Okay – so evidently I’m the only person in my circle in the northwest who knows what this means… is this a southern phrase? Is this a phrase that is specific to my own upbringing… (not that my parents ever said it – it came much later – when I was in jr. high and high school – and related to the day care that mom had… but I said something about it at dinner on Saturday night and everyone looked at me like I was nuts… what? a happy plate? Yes… a happy plate – It means you finished all of the food on your plate, so it’s happy…

However… I just talked to a friend from school who said that he lived that – a place that he used to go had a yellow smiley face painted on the plates for kids – and the idea is – the kids would eat all their food and there is a smiley face at the bottom so it’s a happy plate!!! It all makes sense, doesn’t it?

Also – something we said growing up – was if you mixed up all different types of soda in your cup it was called a suicide… I don’t know why – we just did – but I don’t think that’s a common phrase where I am now…

And the big one – I know a toboggan as a hat – but here it’s a sled… and everyone thinks I am weird because I think of a toboggan as a beanie and not a sled… hmm…

So I’m wondering what other random phrases I know that no one else really knows… are they geographical oddities or specific family oddities? Feel free to comment…