Student Experience

‘Shoulder pants’ and ‘snoogerbutts’: You need to read these UVA ‘familects’

Do you know what “doot doots” are?

How about the meaning of “benext” or “obby dobby?”

Well, you’re about to find out.

“Doot doots” are armpits, according to Becky Davis. “It was the sound we made putting on deodorant,” she writes. Her children “were well into elementary school before they realized their friends didn’t call their armpits ‘doot doots.’”

“Benext” means sitting next to someone, reports Rebecca Kelly, whose son Jacob coined the word when he was little.

“Obby dobby” is toddler shorthand for Hobby Lobby, the craft chain store. And never forget “hanitizer,” little person code for hand sanitizer. Overalls are “shoulder pants.” And there was the time 2021 University of Virginia graduate Eleanor Bowen said her preschool teacher, Miss Barbara, was “a little bit dead” because she was out sick.

With Family Weekend upon us, UVA Today is getting sentimental. We put out a call on Facebook for examples of “familects,” quirky terms or phrases passed down within families. With more than 200 responses, our UVA family did not disappoint.

Here is our top 14 list, because we couldn’t stop at 10.

Mary Stupid(noun)

{source: Meredith Rivers Burkitt}

“My 2.5-year-old son couldn’t pronounce his baby sister’s name, Mary Stewart, correctly and called her Mary Stupid. Let’s say we just asked him to call her Mary, especially in public!”

UVA truck(noun)

{source: Jennifer McCain Thomas}

“My toddler announced that the brown truck making deliveries on our street was the ‘UVA’ truck. Actually, it’s ‘UPS,’ these double Hoos reluctantly corrected him.”

shree(noun)

{source: Dee Dee Beninghove Kent}

“My 2024 grad at age 3 would say ‘shree’ instead of tree, and that she watched ‘Schitty Schitty Bang Bang!’ She announced this movie name during (our) church children’s moments.”

good-jobber(noun)

{source: Judy Levine Garet}

“My youngest, when told he did a good job, said, ‘I’m a good-jobber!’”

scrubby scrubby truck(noun)

{source: Lisa Graham McCormack}

“When my first-year Hoo was little, she told me that something was ‘in the fridge next to the condoms.’ I was completely perplexed until I realized she meant condiments! We still use that one and laugh about it! She also called the street sweeper the ‘scrubby scrubby truck,’ which lives on to this day.”

snoogerbutts(noun)

{source: Rebecca Partington Layton}

“Our family loves Christmas ... and when we’d read ‘’Twas the Night Before Christmas,’ our son when he was little, who now is a second-year, would always say ‘snoogerbutts’ instead of ‘sugar plums.’ ... We still can’t read the story without saying ‘snoogerbutts danced in their heads.’”

confession stand(noun)

{source: Crystal Gorden}

“My youngest calls the concession stand the ‘confession stand.’ It stuck, and now we all call it that.”

blue babies(noun)

{source: Jen Davis London}

“My ’24 Hoo grad used to ask for a ‘pancake’ (instead of a Band-Aid) and called blueberries ‘blue babies.’”

hoo hee(verb)

{source: Maria Maloney}

“‘Hoo Hee’ – our toddler’s way of saying ‘excuse me’ whenever he tried to squeeze past something or someone. He’s now a first-year, and we still say it to each other.”

Mick-me-Mouse(noun)

{source: Chuck Riffee}

“Our now 39-year-old son, who did his chaplain residency at UVA, referred to Disney’s famous mouse as ‘Mick-me-Mouse’ when he was a toddler. We still do to this day.”

nano(noun)

{source: Suzi Yankosky Richardson}

“When he first started talking, my oldest son said ‘Nano’ instead of ‘Nonna’ when referring to my mom. Twenty-seven years and seven grandchildren later, everyone calls her ‘Nano.’”

pizza quiet(noun)

{source: Amy Shear Smith}

“We love when we get ‘pizza quiet’ (peace and quiet). A gem from my now almost 20-year-old!”

destructions(noun)

{source: Carol Poole Taylor}

“Because my son had a slight hearing problem when he was younger, he misheard some formative language. My favorite example of his missed pronunciations was when he would say, ‘Mom, please read me the destructions.’”

lasterday(noun)

{source: Lauren Brundage Wilson}

“When my daughter was about 3, she began using the word ‘lasterday’ to mean any moment from the past. Last week, yesterday, 5 minutes ago ... It stuck with our family, and I think it should be added to the dictionary!”

Lastly, we would like to thank Jean Burns Pudlo for her tongue-in-cheek comment.

“I just started following this page. Not the kind of topics I was expecting ...”

We understand, Jean. Sometimes being silly is good. Enjoy Family Weekend, UVA families!

Media Contacts

Jane Kelly

University News Senior Associate Office of University Communications

jak4g@virginia.edu (434) 243-9935