Family words

Knucklehead- This is a phrase my grandfather (on my father's side) uses frequently. It can take on two different meanings. Half the time, he uses knucklehead when he disagrees with a person. He usually mutters it under his breath, but loud enough that everyone hears it. For example, he uses it when we discuss a politician he doesn't like. Or, when he (a huge Yankee fan) is watching a baseball game and a player makes a mistake. I don't follow the baseball season closely, so when I see him I often ask: "How are the Yanks doing so far?" He always tells me that their pitching is lousy and refers to whoever ruined their last game as a knucklehead. On the other hand, my grandfather sometimes uses this word to talk about our immediate family. When someone's asked a silly question, or asked for something he finds unnecessary, he affectionately calls that person is a knucklehead. We can easily tell though, based on his tone, whether he's being affectionate or not.

Let there be light!- This is a phrase constantly used when with my mom's side of the family. It comes from the story of Creation and how on the 2nd day (or whichever, I have no idea) God said "Let there be light!" Whenever anyone turns a light on, someone will say "Let there be light!" Just a few weeks ago I was in Florida with this whole extended bunch and we were all sitting in the den without the lights on. Uncle Sid got up and walked into the kitchen for a moment. J.D. then walked into the den and turned on the light. The first thing he said was "Let there be light!" Uncle Sid came back a minute later and, noticing that the lights had been turned on, repeated the expression. I think it was around the 5th time I'd heard it just that day. Most of my family is not really religious (with a few exceptions), but we do have plenty of Jewish jokes/wisecracks that are repeated a little too often. This is one of them.