Offermann.us

Sometimes it feels like we speak our own language at our house. But, I’m guessing that that’s not unusual. Don’t inside jokes and obscure references make up the bulk of most conversations?

Over time, we find that some phrases fall by the wayside, but others, often the unlikeliest ones, become conversation shorthand that we use again and again.

Consider the next series of blog posts to be a phrase book, useful for decoding the strange expressions you might hear us say. Today, we’ll start with a golden oldie, then in the following days, move onto more recent additions.

Squash in the Fridge

Ten years ago, my brother-in-law overheard me call out:

“Honey! The butternut squash—do you store it on the counter or do you keep it in the fridge?”

Oh, no! Crisis!

At the time, he was in a relationship that was going through a period of high drama. What kind of a future did he and his girlfriend have? Should they even stay together? (Ultimately, they didn’t.)

The contrast between their relationship and ours was too much. Obviously, my brother-in-law concluded, my wife and I were leading a ridiculously pampered life, since the most pressing issues we had to deal with in our relationship involved the proper storage of fruits and vegetables.

So, now anytime my wife and I find ourselves nattering endlessly about some everyday minutia, and we need a reminder of just how inconsequential our argument is, one of us will stop, look at the other and say:

“It’s like squash in the fridge.”