Case in point:
Our family loves playing Taboo. We wish it was an Olympic sport. Do you know Taboo? Basically, a word guessing game. You have a word on top of the card, and five words below it that you can not say any part of in your attempt to get your team to guess. You have one minute to get your team through as many cards as possible.
In the pic above, yearbook is the word you want your team to guess. The other team gets the buzzer, off you go. And of course, we also have the electronic version. Game-playing-nerdios.
My older brother and I think we are unbeatable with our spectacular vernacular. But everyone in our family loves to play and it is no holds barred.
Example A: On a previous visit home, after dinner and vino, we are playing Taboo with about eight people. My older brother, TumbleWeed (named so for his constant and nonstop traveling for work) is giving clues to my Mom, my little brother (HiPie), and a friend of ours. He is yelling out clues and finally says, "This is what JennyMac is!!!! This is what JennyMac is!!!"
My mom then shouts out with glee like one of Rudolph's reindeer mates: FLAT.
Wait a minute. Did my Mom just say I am flat? I mean, I am but is that how this family is giving clues?
My brother cracks up. He is laughing SO hard he can not finish his round. OOOOPS Mr. LaughyTaffy, times up. The word he wanted her to guess? ATTORNEY.
The word not to be guessed: flat
Example B: My Mom and my Father have been divorced for a long time. His house in WA is a mile away from hers so we see him often when we are home. He is a fierce game player. I believe I was taught cribbage at age six. He stopped over one night and we invited him to play. He declined but said he would listen in.
I am giving clues to my Mom and various others. I am describing a word like this:
thin, small, most people have them, very handy, in your wallet.
My Father who is NOT playing says: CONDOMS!
The word I wanted my team to guess: Credit cards.
The word I did not want them to guess: Condoms.
Guess who I did not want to hear shouting condoms about what my Mom has in her wallet? My Father. Her ex-husband for decades so ditto for her.
See what I mean? It is genetic coding.
We play a TON of games too! And those are the same kinds of answers that come tumbling out of our family member's mouths! I love it!!
ReplyDeleteI'm really going to have to make sure I don't have coffee in my mouth when I read your morning post - yes folks, yet another spit the coffee out the nose moment brought to you by our own JennyMac. Thanks for the laugh. Kathy
ReplyDeleteYou blog is lovely to read
ReplyDeletexox
I challenge you to a Taboo olympics sister! Hahah. I love that game too, it makes the crowd so involved and people laugh the whole time.
ReplyDeleteWow, maybe we're distant relatives because I LOVE Taboo! Always have. I haven't played it in years though, not since we've moved away from family. I am VERY competitive and very good at this game. Like your family, I can find some word or way to describe the item of the card.
ReplyDeleteExample: Years ago, my cousin Rachel and I were playing girls against guys with our boyfriends. I say, "What did grandma get for Christmas last year?" She screams, "Television!" And that was of course the correct word. It's so fun to play with relatives who you share a history with.
My husband, sadly, HATES this game and refuses to play with me (b/c I am so good at it). He would rather play Trivial Pursuit which I hate. So we settle for "Scene It" where we can at least watch movie clips. And I just kick his butt at that one too. ;-)
I hope you're having a blast with family and old H.S. friends. And why the hell are you up so early in Seattle??
Love your dad!! My dad still gets mad if we call the cat ...
ReplyDeletepussy cat. REALLY!!! I love to say crude things. I'll bring a six pack for your pop. Let me know when the next game is.
We are doing comment approval now?? WTF??? Who is the evil spawn that has ruined our fun??? We must have names.
ReplyDeletethe day after christmas is Game Day in our house. And now the much extended family get involved. 2 christmases ago we played Trivial Pursuit: the Australian Version (much brother married an aussie). They don't have literature or geography. Or even History. These have been replaced with gossip, sport and television.
ReplyDeleteI won and I am actually quite stupid.
I've not heard of this game, but I feel the need to track it down. Hilarious fun!
ReplyDeleteYet another thing I'm pretty sure I miss out on by living in the UK. I've never seen this game before. But I want it.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting my bad self on Ebay right now to find it!!
LBM xxx
That's what I call 'kick ass' DNA! I put my money on it every time!
ReplyDeleteYou know, my mother lives with us, while my father and step-mother live 11 houses away. My parents 17 year marriage ended 39 years ago...and those three see each other 6 mornings a week. We've got a senior sitcom going here. I pray that's not in my DNA....
Laugh out loud funny as always.....am still giggling at "CONDOMS"!!!
ReplyDeleteI almost forgot about Taboo. Must get one to play here, too. Your folks are hilarious.
ReplyDeleteVery good. Reminds me of christmas games at home, playing charades and my father goosestepping around the lounge sieg-heiling as he tried to do 'Adolf The Red Nosed Reindeer' by mistake.
ReplyDeleteThe man designed bombs for a living. Quite worrying.
I feel your flat pain, but that is so funny! That is a totally fun game! Maybe when brattitude boy can read I'll get it!!
ReplyDeleteI love word games, too, and it seems my girls will as well (yay!)
ReplyDeleteFlat! Hah! And it was your MOM, dude! Oh, man, that's funny...
That is so funny! My family's game is mexican dominoes. It is definitely not tfor the faint of heart! We usually make new players team up with somebody for the first round, but my fam is dangerously competitive!
ReplyDeleteAnd you are the first person outside of my own fam (and under 70) that I have ever heard of playing cribbage! My grandpa taught me when I was about 7!
hilarious!!
ReplyDeletethat is a great game ...
Your family sounds like THE people to hang out with :) I was thinking coins on the last one, but I guess Dad's thoughts were more, eh, creative. Can I send my family over to get some tips on how to be cool? ;)
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have a blast.
ReplyDeleteI love family game nights. Our family has nearly every edition of Trival Pursuit. We started with Picitonary when the daughters were young and then moved on. The best part of the evening is laughing until you cry at some of the answers. What great fun. Thanks for sharing yours.
ReplyDeleteWe LOVE Taboo over here!!! We played it for New Years one night...Try that with a coctail!
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of dorky board games - my family sounds just like yours.
ReplyDeleteEver tried Cranium? OMG. SO Fun.
So funny! My friend had a singles party a few months ago and got us all to play Taboo (big mistake - the guy she had tried to fix me up with kept yelling out the craziest and most inappropriate words like "sperm", "g-string", and I can't even remember what else)!
ReplyDeleteThe problem? None of those words had anything to do with any of the clues - he was just a pervert. Glad I found out early!
This is my favourite game as well. I bet my husband and I could take you on!
ReplyDeleteChristie
http://childhood101.blogspot.com/
My family can't play games like that. It ends in bloodshed, name calling, and vows of disownment.
ReplyDelete"this is what JennyMac is"--atleast your mother didn't shout "my beaver!" Thanks for the laughs--great way to start the week.
ReplyDeleteYou flat too.
ReplyDeleteSucks when your chest actually looks better in a sports bra than a real one.
Cheers to being concave together.
.mac :)
Have you ever played "Balderdash?" Thats my favorite. We used to play that often with my sons and their wives. But now they have little ones, so we don't play because too often the answers were R-17. Your family sounds like fun!
ReplyDeleteHa! That is hysterical! My family and I LOVE playing board games, too. Scrabble, Taboo, Cranium... probably my favorite way to spend a cold winter evening, in front of the fireplace and drinking hot cocoa!
ReplyDeleteLOL...y'all need to get your head out of the gutters....boobs and sex accessories at a family game night!? ;P
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine what might get yelled out in my whacky family...
ReplyDeleteThat's probably why my husband doesn't want to play board games with me... I always wondered why. He really hates them. My family LOVES the games and my grandma even cheats at Balderdash.... SHAME grandma SHAME ON YOU!!
ReplyDeletehahahahaha, man - that's just wrong. we like catch phrase around here.
ReplyDeleteMy best friend and I have a psychic ability with this game. We're even weirded out by it. I can utter a first syllable of a clue and she'll blurt out the word. It's crazy. Love love love that game!
ReplyDeleteSo the moral of the story - if there is one - is that we shouldn't accept an invite to play TABOO with your family? Right?
ReplyDeleteLOL that is too funny. i love taboo!!
ReplyDeleteOMG I swear that's how my family would play that game, which is why we have banned all board games.
ReplyDeleteSo funny! The last time I played this game was with my coworkers, on a slow night. It was so fun!
ReplyDeleteAHAHAHAHAHA! My family and I used to play that, too. It's like a horrible, horrible rorschach test :D.
ReplyDeleteGod heavens. I would kill to have an evening of games with your family. Sounds like my kind of people.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have Taboo but we have a very similar game called Alias as in finding other words to describe the word that needs to be guessed. I'm a TOTAL ace at it. Me and my younger brother can beat ANYONE. Even when they are cheating and we are not (has happened).
ReplyDeleteOh your family is so like my family. Real.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to hear about this game. It's name was throwing me off. We tried Password but it just wasn't fun. This one sounds great . . . as long as one of the words isn't condom!
ReplyDeletewe break out Taboo every Thanksgiving. Guaranteed good times every year!!!
ReplyDeleteMy friends and I have played alot...always a hilarious game to play...!
ReplyDeleteYour family sounds fun! :)
Sounds like you are having a great time on vacation with your family.
ReplyDeleteAnatomy allusions aside...
Taboo is the BEST game Ever.
ReplyDeleteFlat and condoms with your family...classic! Taboo is so much fun, and like you've shown here, you never know where it will take you!! I personally like to play it with friends and a whole lotta cocktails!
ReplyDeleteFlat??? As in chest size? that's hilarious. I'm sure I've got you beat, though (at least if we really are talking cups!). The only bra that fits me (since I quit nursing and lost my boobs) is in the wash. So I'm not wearing one. Can't tell. I'm as flat as a board.
ReplyDeleteI love Taboo! I've found the more you have playing, the more fun you have. But condoms? Not one you want to hear a parent shout. Parents aren't even supposed to know what those are!
ReplyDeletethats awesome. Taboo is a fabulous game.
ReplyDeleteOh my god I want to join your family! Flat? Hahaha! And seriously, condoms? That was hilarious!
ReplyDeleteWe are a charade family. I think because everyone knows the rules so there can be no fighting over interpretation, which is an issue in my family.
ReplyDeleteBut we love our charades :)
OMG, Taboo and Pictionary are still the highlights of my family Thanksgiving dinners. I love Taboo. Your story is mortifying but funny as hell. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt's official. I need to play Taboo with the Mac family. Like right now.
ReplyDeleteThat is hilarious! My hubby and I have hosted cocktail parties slash game nights with some neighbors and friends...I have laughed so hard, my side and face hurts.
ReplyDeleteI love game nights!!
Smooches,
Sassy Chica
Oh how I wish my family would play games. I LOVE THEM!
ReplyDeleteHave you played Apples to Apples? It's a good family one.
i love taboo!! but i agree, best to be played with family and close friends, too many subliminal thoughts coming out in the open :)
ReplyDeleteI just love that game and your family rocks!!
ReplyDeleteWe must be related through some great, great, great, great relative because my family is very similar.
ReplyDeleteSounds like if your family and my family got together we would have a ball!!!
ReplyDeleteMy youngest loves games. We have pictionary and have a ball with it. She has been asking for Taboo. I will get it for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThanks xx
I love Taboo! Playing with your family sounds like my kind of fun. That needs to be a scene in a movie.
ReplyDeleteBTW, word verification is asking me to type in "chips".
I still love, love playing Monopoly.
ReplyDeleteSeriously what a cute family you have.
I bet you are anything but "flat".
ReplyDeleteMy family used to enjoy games like "balderdash" and "pictionary".
My family, like yours, is separated by lots of miles. Enjoy the fun to the maximum!
"so ditto for her" hahaha your poor Mom!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually kinda terrified to play these types of games with my family...enough crazy stuff comes out of their mouths on it's own. But it's memories, right? :)
My family plays this game, too! I have a love/hate relationship wit it when it gets inappropriate:)
ReplyDeleteI am so suggestible. Now I desperately want to buy the Taboo game.
ReplyDeleteand as always, 'hilarity ensued'. You have too much fun, and yes, I am jealous because my husband isn't into games, even though he IS into fun! Taboo is a blast!
ReplyDeleteGreat post-- you crack me up!
Try Balderdash. That will totally eff up your family dynamic.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to play Taboo but I have watched the films... wait those are XXX....
ReplyDeleteI love Taboo....we usually play it with my IL's every Christmas. Although our games are nowhere as fun as yours!!!
ReplyDeletei want to be part of your family.
ReplyDeletemy family enjoys taboo, but our true game is Trivial Pursuit. we are the random knowledge champions of the world. and if we DON'T know an answer, we just say Buffy Saint Marie and move on to the next question LOL
Your family sounds so funny, kinda like an olympic sport with games huh!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, it was so funny you put 'is all well', I thought how do you know ... cause it kinda isn't. Thanks for asking though, your a doll.
xoxo
This game brings out the laughter and wit in my family everytime we play it.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried Madgab?
That's a great game! We also play pictionary which is very hard when everyone is artistically challenged, lol.
ReplyDeleteLOVE LOVE LOVE the condoms blurt out! That's great!
Taboo is the BEST game ever!!! Always a good time!
ReplyDeleteWhat would the main word be if the words not to be used were flat and condoms?
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention - try charades when you make up each others' lists. It is really fun to watch the guys act out the word "tampon."
ReplyDeleteI want my family to be like this. I plan on instituting a game night for sure. I just hope I can make it through CandyLand and Old Maid until they are old enough to play fun games...
ReplyDeleteOoohhhh I LOVE games, and TABOO tops the list!
ReplyDeleteTaboo is the BEST! I love that game. We always play charades. We keep a charades jar in the house and take it out at dinner parties. So much fun.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Taboo!! We don't play a (sort of) homemade version called the Celebrity Game from time to time, but Apples to Apples reigns supreme in our house.
ReplyDeleteBoard game nights are AWESOME.
There should be a filter on parents to prevent just this sort of foolishness.
ReplyDeleteHaha, this was hilarious! I definitely recommend the game "Balderdash" for your next family get-together!
ReplyDeleteYour family reminds me very much of my family. (Except the part about the divorced parents and the dad yelling about condoms.)
ReplyDeleteTaboo is my all time favorite! I like to think that my friends and I could beat anyone, purely because we know way to much about each other and can always rely on our experiences!
ReplyDeleteI love New York, have been there many many times, I am just sad that my best friend won't be down the street anymore! I have already booked my ticket for October!
Where are your favorite places to go?
Great post! We LOVE Taboo! So glad I found your blog, it's terrific! :)
ReplyDelete