Dear Dad –

My brothers and I decided to capture a list of some of the quirky, memorable, and downright goofy Dad-isms you treated us to over the years.

Dad, you may not have often regaled us with what are now called Dad Jokes (and for that we are grateful!), but you nevertheless kept us entertained.

This collection of Dad-isms fell naturally into the following five themes:

Music to our ears

Hippie Music! As rock and roll music took over the 1960s, and we pre-teens adjusted the volume level on our radios and record players accordingly, Dad took to hollering “hippie music” over the sounds of the Beatles, The Doors, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Cream, etc.

Bay-beh! When yelling “hippie music!” and even the occasional “damn hippie music!” did not have the desired effect, Dad decided to torture us by singing along. Just one song, though: “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You” by The Foundations. He didn’t really know the words, but would heartily bellow, “bay-BEH” and “may-BEH” at intervals that only made sense to him.

Life Could Be a Dream Dad’s increasingly lethal arsenal also contained this song from back in his day: a little something we referred to as “The Shaboom Song.” In sync with his other weapons of mass annoyment, Dad only sang half of the lyrics. Something like: Life could be a dream … heavenly up above … only one that I love …

Tasty toasties

Dad and Mom grew up listening to what we now call “classic radio” programs. Decades later, they still remembered (and taught us) jingles and slogans such as:

“It tastes good and it’s good for you. Din din din de-de din de-din” We don’t know what that little song may have advertised long ago, but Dad sang it to encourage us to eat a new vegetable dish or, in Harry’s case, scrambled eggs. Also, “J-e-l-l-OH!” and Carter’s Liver Pills get a Dad-isms Honorable Mention as Dad could tell us, “You’ve got more excuses than Carter’s has pills!” Oh, and “Tums for the tummy” would come up occasionally. (Pun intended.)

Disgustingly good, but an aesthetic disaster! Ah, how many times I heard that growing up, as Mom taught me how to cook. Baking, especially, with cakes that fell, pies with unevenly browned crust, and fudge that never got past the soup stage. Sigh. Nothing ever went to waste, though. There was always encouragement from Dad, though, to try for a more pleasing presentation next time.

Mommy & Daddy Soda Store To protect our innocence growing up, any sort of cocktail was referred to as Mommy & Daddy Soda. The package store (only a few states call liquor stores by this name) was the Mommy & Daddy Soda Store.

Felix Unger

The Odd Couple TV show brought Dad’s doppelganger to life: He was fussy Felix Unger! He always liked a tidy, clean house and made sure we knew when standards slipped. It wasn’t the clean part that was the problem, Mom made sure of that. It was toys. Everywhere.

Junk! Junk! Junk! Our house in Pittsfield, during the ’60s didn’t have a playroom or family room, so toys were kept in the dining room and often spilled over into the living room. When it was time to pick up toys, we knew immediately, as Felix walked from room to room, declaring our playthings to be, “Junk! Junk! Junk!”

Pick up the floor! This was another phrase that we heard when Felix took over our otherwise fairly mellow father. It was too tempting not to take it literally, as we asked how to physically lift up the floor. That never led to much laughter, but we found it satisfying nonetheless.

Dad-isms that made us go “ooo”

As the brothers and I assembled our list of Dad-isms this week, one oddity that jumped out, was Dad’s use of words containing emphasized “oo” sounds.

McDonald’s hamboo-goos – best boo-goos in the woooold I’m pretty sure this wasn’t an actual commercial jingle, but Dad sure sang it like it was. I remembered the tune, but couldn’t quite place it. Bill came to the rescue: it was from Victory at Sea, one of Dad’s favorites.

I’ve got this cued up at start of the melody Dad used for his hamboo-goo jingle, but the entire piece is very much worth a listen:

Doctoo Doody-sace and Poodybodies both came back to life from Dave’s memory banks. I think the former is what Dad would call us when we had a dirty “mush” (Mom’s word) and needed to give our face a good washing. Poodybodies? Why, ants of course!

Too pooped to pop Dad just said this to me the other evening while on the phone. He and Bill had spent the day together and Dad was worn out!

Leftovers

With four kids in the family, we didn’t have leftovers very often – especially when it came to desserts. But here is an assortment of Dad-isms that we just couldn’t leave out:

Goose grease is what Dad called Oil of Olay. Mom had very soft skin, so no matter what you choose to call it, Oil of Olay works!

See these shoes? They’re older than you are! As a child of the Depression, Dad always appreciated a good deal and well-cared-for clothes and shoes. As I recall, he had a blue blazer with shiny brass buttons that was older than me, too. He probably still wears it …

Joan, I can be just as reasonable a woman as you are This is another one Bill suggested. I’d never heard it before, but I think it’s my new favorite.

Squirrel! We’ve talked about Dad’s obsession with squirrels in an earlier post. It’s worth adding, though, that Dad would be sure everyone in house knew when a dastardly squirrel invaded one of our bird feeders.

Mach schnell, Hubba Hubba! When we heard that, it was time to pick up the pace. What a character.

This last Dad-ism was a bit controversial

Once in a while, Dad would declare “I’m worth more dead than alive.” Mom would counter with, “Oh, Hap! You know better than that!”

As I sit here in my study with a picture of Mom smiling down at me, I can say without reservation: Dad, you are worth more than all the riches on earth. Happy Father’s Day, Dad – we love you dearly. – Harry, Dave, Paula, and Bill

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