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This is a question Eccentrics

We all know someone who's a little bit strange - Mum's UFO abduction secret, or the mad Uncle who isn't allowed within 400 yards of Noel Edmonds.

Tell us about your family eccentrics, or just those you've met but don't think you're related to.

(Suggested by sugar_tits)

(, Thu 30 Oct 2008, 19:08)
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My family and other animals
When meeting up with each other, we use the 'Universal Greeting' (initially developed so that I could recognise family members from a distance without wearing glasses). This involves lifting both arms and one leg to an angle of about 30 degrees and lowering them again.

Don't ask me why we call it the Universal Greeting when only we use it.

We call our Mum 'The Mothership', and hence we the children are all 'pods' (Peapod, Charpod, Spudpod). If any of us need a hug, my mother will say "Ahhh, dock with Mothership".

The Mothership, when ranting/exasperated, will replace most words in a sentence with a sort of mumble and just go for the important ones e.g. "Cat! mnmnmnmn porridge! mnmnmnm curtains!"

My brother is and always has been mad about railways. For his eleventh birthday, what did he ask for? A 6' by 4' board to put his model railway on. Last Christmas (he was 16) I bought him some ear defenders and he was delighted with them. He's now an apprentice railway engineer.
I phoned up my family last week to see how they were and I could hear in the background a sort of low 'muuuuuuuuh' sound. Mothership just said 'Oh, the Boy is just pretending to be a foghorn." In my household, this is perfectly normal.

My sister also has a habit of flapping her arms up and down if she's excited or stressed. If sufficiently agitated, she may also spin 360 degrees on one leg.

My Dad talks to himself when he's in the bathroom, a habit which I've also picked up. He invented latin-sounding names for our cat and dog (besides their actual names). We call the cat 'Mogus' and the dog 'Dogus'. Mogus enjoys curling up and sleeping wherever she can. Favourite places have included 1)The top of the shredder 2) The recycling box 3) The cupboard where we keep the shoe polish (current favourite).

I think it's our house that breeds eccentricity, since it's rather eccentric itself. For example, none, and I mean none, of the doors fit their doorframes. There is a cavity in a supporting wall where the fridge is which is causing the kitchen wall to sag worryingly.
We also strongly suspect that removing wallpaper from anywhere in the building would cause the house to collapse.
(, Tue 4 Nov 2008, 23:10, 10 replies)
Don't ask me why we call it the Universal Greeting when only we use it.
It's in part a Masonic Hailing Sign

I'm guessing it's an in Joke from some of the male members of your family
(, Tue 4 Nov 2008, 23:37, closed)
But
My Dad and brother don't use it, it's usually only me and Mothership that use the sign. Very useful on railway platforms.
(, Tue 4 Nov 2008, 23:56, closed)
I thought the universal greeting was something like
Bada Weet Grada Weet Niddybarng?
(, Wed 5 Nov 2008, 0:11, closed)
If you say so.
Like I said, it's 'universal' only to us
(, Wed 5 Nov 2008, 0:50, closed)
No, the hailing sign is pictorial
Greetings are usually "Lettered" or "Halved".

I could go on, but it would spoil their fun.
(, Wed 5 Nov 2008, 8:11, closed)
I think
it sounds like a fun family.

My dad and I have a strange dorky dance that we do together.

He also has a nick-name for me that not even MrKitty can get away with using.

He used to wake my sister and I in the morning with the question
"Why are you so fat and ugly?"

He also has a song he sings in the shower to my mum

Jackie why are you so ugly-
bad tempered, mean, nasty and vicious?

I would make a real post about him but he's not rich enough to be eccentric.
(, Wed 5 Nov 2008, 4:01, closed)
Mogus and Dogus
Unadulterated genius.
(, Wed 5 Nov 2008, 8:35, closed)
I would post a picture
If only I could work out how
(, Wed 5 Nov 2008, 14:57, closed)
Your family...
...sound like my kind of people :) I love raving loonies, I am one and live with three others....

*wanders off to do our 'time machine dance' whilst impersonating a German*
(, Thu 6 Nov 2008, 0:34, closed)
If you like tea,
and cake, and cats and general silliness, then yes they will be
(, Thu 6 Nov 2008, 10:19, closed)

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