Messing Up On Purpose

Why say or sing something correctly when you can say it incorrectly for fun?

For instance, Kris and I have a little game we play when we're out and about--which isn't right now. Sigh. The game is to say the store or restaurant name that we're passing without actually saying the name.

• Applebee's becomes any combination of a fruit and insect: Pearants; Bananabeetle, etc.

• Texas Roadhouse is Texas Outhouse or Texas Roadkill. (Nothing against them; we are just equal-opportunity pokers of fun.)

• Outback Steakhouse... Outhouse Steakback. (From my dad.)

• JoAnn Fabrics is Ojann's. (From my friend, Becky.)

• Menard's is SpendBigMoneyAtMenard's or Benard's. (Benard's is what my brother called it when he was little and thought Dad worked there because he was at that store all the time.)

• Papa John's is Papa Johann's, Father Johann's, or Papa Jn's because the lights on the local sign were burnt out in spots.

• Bob Evan's is Robert E-vonne's said with a very important flair.

• IHOP... IRUN, ISPRINT, IJUMP, IROLL...

• Golden Corral... well, we have lots of unflattering names for this germ pit that start with "Golden" and end with words that ladies don't say. I let Kris handle the variations of this restaurant name.

Words in daily life are fun to twist:

• Hamburgers becomes hangurbers. (That's also from my dad, but we use it all the time.)

• Lettuce is le-TOOS. (Thank you, Nicole, for that one.)

• Food is fud. (Also from Nicole)

• Ridiculous is ridiclious. (Thanks to a mispronunciation from my children.)

Songs are the most fun to mess up:

• "I hear the secrets that you keep when you're talking to your sheep."

• "Whoa, part-way there; whoa, messing up my hair!" (This one is a great for playing: "...tripping down the stairs;" "...falling off a chair!")

• Safety Dance works well as Safety Pants.

• Yesterday from the Beatles easily becomes any point in time: Last Saturday...

Try it for yourself! You might be just as crazy as we are. And it's a fun road game.