40+ Weirdly Cute Habits Our Parents Have Picked Up That We Love & Hate

We will forgive Twitter user LooeyK’s mom for not knowing the proper meaning of the word “homophobe.” The poor lady thought it meant she loved being at home, rather than what it actually means.

With the LGBTQ+ community growing daily, there might be some confusion about what each letter represents. But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put in the effort to be respectful and inclusive, no matter your age.

Parents have so many different ways of showing their love for their children without saying the words “I Love You.” From cooking your favorite meal to giving you encouraging words when you need them most, loving parents are pretty awesome.

Lisa Guest’s mom showed her daughter love by saying the same thing every time she ended a phone call. This is more than just a habit and is another way that her mom expressed her love for her child.

Older people and technology generally don’t mix, which is pretty clear in this tweet by @LisforLia. Her nan is still stuck in the days before the internet and has some rather funny names for the internet, texts, and we’re guessing many other things too.

While some might find this rather annoying, we think it’s actually endearing and could even be called cute. You do you, Nan!

Dads typically think they’re funny and will crack the lamest jokes at every opportunity they get. This dad clearly thinks he’s hilarious. We’re not gonna lie; this is a pretty cute habit, even if it annoys his children.

We miss little things like this the most when the person is no longer with us, so our advice to this Twitter user is to treasure it while it lasts.

Moms are the ones who usually make up their own sayings and then insist they are correct. Twitter user TheMightyQuinn’s mom changed a very popular saying by switching between “brick” and “blank” and then insisting that both are adequate.

What funny changes has your mom made to some popular phrases? And does she, too, argue that her version is just as correct when you point it out? After all, mom is always right, isn’t she?

This is one thing that instantly annoys the younger generation or, as they are more commonly called, the Millenials. Growing up with technology, many millennials can’t understand why their parents can’t grasp the simplest thing, like an email address.

@Stevcomartin shared his mother’s hilarious tech bungle on Twitter for the world to see. It might seem weird to get something as simple as an email address wrong. But, it can all get a little confusing for those who were only introduced to it later in life.

Do your parents drive you insane by mispronouncing a word? For Twitter user Sydney Hogg, that word is picnic, which their mother confidently pronounces “pignig.”

We must admit that it’s a rather cute mispronunciation that will likely be passed down to the next generation. Picnic or pignig, it’s all the same to this momma, whether her kid likes it or not.

Do you remember the TV show Kids Say The Darndest Things? They should make another show called “Grannies Say The Darndest Things.” This poster’s granny could be up first with her hilarious naming of TV shows.

Referring to all crime-related shows as CSI, the poor dear needs to realize that there are many shows to choose from and that CSI is just one of them. You’ve got to love older people!

It would seem that all parents tend to mispronounce certain words, or maybe it’s just that they grew up in a different area or lived a different lifestyle. Whatever it is, certain mispronunciations are cute, while others are just bizarre.

In a tweet shared by @YPLAC, they share the many words their father says wrong, some of which are hilarious. Give your dad a break, @YPLAC; he’s used to saying things his way, and he’s probably not going to change now.

We bring you another tweet about good old dad jokes with this hilarious one from user Hannah, who shares what her dad calls salad dressing. Referring to it as lettuce lotion, we conjure up images of a head of lettuce slathering itself with some body cream.

This one definitely falls under the “weird” category. But, it’s also cute, as it’s something that he will always be remembered for. Now excuse us while we go lotion our salads.

It’s absolutely hilarious when parents try to use slang words that they hear their kids saying. From “hanging out” to “vibing,” there are many terms that today’s parents will just not know. For Becca’s Dad, that phrase is “chill pill.”

While this dad was trying to be hip and “with it” by attempting a slang word, he messed it up in such a cute way that Becca had to post it and share it with the world. Becca’s dad will probably never live this one down, especially now that everyone on the internet knows about it.

For those not familiar with the terms, “boomer” is someone who was born between 1945 and 1965, while a millennial is someone born between 1980 and 1995. A recent internet trend saw a war between millennials and boomers, where the term “OK Boomer” was coined.

Millennials would say this when reprimanded by someone from an older generation, which is why Twitter user Jdog was pretty confused when his parents said “Ok, Boomer” to him after a disagreement. Can someone explain it to them, or should we just let mom and dad live their best lives?

While we’re on the topic of boomers, please take a look at this tweet from Simon Wilder, who shared his mother’s cute name for any electronic gadget. If his profile picture is anything to go by, he isn’t that young, so his parents were likely retired and had no need for fancy technology.

These weird but cute habits are great to remember someone by. And those memories will come flooding back every time someone mentions those words.

Is it all moms that get movie titles wrong? Either they can’t remember the name completely, or they come up with their own titles for popular movies. In a hilarious tweet, Joshua O’Sullivan shares his mother’s rather unique title for the Fantastic Beasts movie franchise.

Joshua’s mom has probably seen it and can’t remember the title, or she just didn’t enjoy it and couldn’t care less about the proper name for it. Whatever the reason, her little mishap is now on the internet for everyone to see and enjoy.

This tweet is a bit different from the rest and is actually from a dad who purposefully calls mobile applications the wrong names to make his daughter mad. We’re sure that this poster knows the difference between WhatsApp and Snapchat. But, he “mistakenly” refers to them incorrectly to get a rise out of his daughter.

Embarrassing your kids or getting on their nerves is just a little payback for all those sleepless nights they put you through as a baby, so take a page out of Michael’s book and get some harmless revenge on your kids, too.

It seems to be a pretty common thing that moms tend to get the name of movies or popular TV shows completely wrong. For Charlie Salterr’s mom, that show is The Simpsons.

Now, considering how popular The Simpsons are, it’s baffling that Charlie’s mom couldn’t get the name right and referred to it as simply “Bart Simpson.” Sigh, we can only sympathize with poor Charlie as we, too, feel the frustration of this TV classic being mislabelled.

Did you have to teach your dad to text, or did it come naturally to him? While some parents handled the introduction of mobile phones rather well, others, like this poster’s dad, seemed to struggle with the idea of texting. Rather than sending proper, legible texts, his dad simply texts words to his son.

We can only imagine how confusing it must be to get a text with the word “plate” or “keys” from a parent. We would likely spend the rest of the day just trying to decipher what they were trying to say.

Reality TV wasn’t around when our parents were younger. With the wide variety of reality shows to choose from nowadays, it can get confusing to differentiate between them. This dad, however, completely missed the mark when he referred to the popular Kardashian family as the Pistachios.

Do you think he did this on purpose to get a rise out of his daughter, or is it simply that he couldn’t be bothered to remember the Kardashian name as he has no interest in the show? Either way, we think it’s adorable!

We can’t even begin to fathom why this poster’s mom would use this rather unusual phrase to express her shock or surprise. Younger generations probably know that Pimp My Ride was a show on MTV once-upon-a-time.

However, we doubt that Gabriella’s mother would have watched it and probably just read it somewhere. Hopefully, Gabriella can help her mom understand why her phrase makes no sense and help her coin another actually relevant catchphrase.

Parents and texting just do not go together, especially when they have no clue what “text language” is and when to use it when texting their friends or family. This tweet by @tom_mooro is a prime example of a pretty common texting mishap that shows his mother using “LOL” to send love to her family.

In the context of the text, we can see that it looks rather weird that she is using LOL, more so when she has just texted her son to tell him his cat has sadly passed away.

Moving away from mispronunciations and technology fails, we came across this tweet from Alex Heron, who shared a bit more than his mom would probably have liked when he said she screams when she sneezes.

While it may seem pretty bizarre to him, it’s apparently more common than you would think and has to do with your lung capacity. It’s weird for Alex… But, we can see the cute side of it and just had to include it on our list.

From restaurant bathrooms to coffee shop designs, dads tend to give reviews on places they have been or things they have seen, even when no one asked. But, this dad takes it one step further and uses one single word to describe absolutely everything — “stunning!”

This only irritates his kid more, as she shares that he first pauses as if he’s thinking of the correct word to use before using his favorite one to describe something. Dad jokes are the best and will always be a good way to inject some silly humor into any conversation.

As our parents get older, we notice that there tends to be a bit more confusion over the names of things. Sometimes, it can cause a bit of concern. But other times, we wonder if they purposefully mislabel things to get a rise out of us or if they’re trying to be funny.

It’s hard to know the reasoning behind Mel’s dad calling her car by the name of a supermarket chain. But, we’re guessing from her reaction that good old dad is just pulling her leg. What funny things have your parents said that made you cringe?

Older generations had their own way of pronouncing words. Nowadays, with languages advancing and changing quickly, you might find that how you pronounce a word might differ from how one of your parents pronounced it.

Twitter user Sopherea discovered this when she heard the unusual way her mother pronounced this word. Perhaps her mother is from another country or grew up in a different city, or maybe that’s just how she likes to say it. We guess we’ll never know.

Did your dad ever answer the landline by reciting the number? With landlines all but obsolete and mobile phones being the number one form of communication, it’s likely that only older people still use landline phones in their homes.

John’s dad clearly does and still answers his landline by reciting the number. While we do admit that we miss the freedom we had in the years before mobile phones were created, there is no denying these devices’ convenience.

A good way to highlight the generation gap is to see which Neeson the different generations know more. While younger generations know Liam Neeson from the Taken movie franchise, older generations would be more inclined to know who Leslie Nielsen is.

It seems that Twitter user Harry Kinsella’s dad knows both and has created his own actor, Lesley Nelson. We had a good laugh at this one and hope that no one ever bursts this dad’s bubble by explaining that they are two different actors.

Getting together with the guys to watch your favorite football team play is a common pastime for many. Sami and his Dad regularly watch the game together, which is when his dad feels the need to point out the obvious to his son.

We all get pretty heated when cheering our team on, and many enjoy being couch coaches. But, poor Sami has had enough of his dad’s rather obvious rantings. Enjoy it while it lasts, Sami, because these weird little things will form some of the greatest memories you have of your dad.

Do you have a parent or grandparent who tries their utmost to keep up with trends and technology? @sarpenney does and shared this sweet pic of her grandfather posing with his diabetic chain and an oversized hoodie like many of the rappers he sees on TV.

Thankfully, he has Sarah to help guide him. She teaches him about YouTube and a range of other newer technologies. It’s clear from this tweet that Sarah and her grandpa have a great relationship. Hopefully, she will teach him more cute things that help him stay hip.

When you lose a parent, the things that infuriated or irritated you most will be what you remember about them. For Twitter user Reilly, that would be their dad’s annoying habit of turning the TV off only after he had called.

As Reilly points out, we, too, are not sure why he didn’t just turn it off before he called. But, we love that this weird habit has become a treasured memory.

At school, we’re taught the names of the different states and how to pronounce them. For older generations, this was not necessarily taught in school, which is why Debby’s mom most likely has difficulty pronouncing Massachusetts.

We prefer her version, though, and we will definitely be referring to it by no other name but this one from this point forward. This is definitely a funny parental quirk.

Remember the days when our parents had to buy certain music CDs for us because they had a parental advisory sticker on them for strong language? All Kris Parker wanted was the new Puff Daddy (P-Diddy now) album.

But, he bolted out of the store when his mother asked for Puffing Billy. We have no idea who that is. But we love that his mom was able to embarrass her son in a rather cute way unintentionally.

Did your parents have a unique little catchphrase that they would repeat daily? For Twitter user Rebecca McHugh, it was her mother saying she would take her “eyes out” every night when she removed her contact lenses.

Just the thought of it has us rolling on the floor with laughter. We’re sure that it’s something that Rebecca will always remember when she sees a box of contact lenses.

If your mom is anything like Brian’s, she likes to tell you where to find the best items on sale. While Brian has never shopped at the British department store chain, Marks & Spencer, and has no intention of ever doing so, his aging mother still finds it necessary to tell him when the store is having a sale.

Brian, we sympathize with you but encourage you just to smile and say “thank you” the next time she tells you about a sale. After all, it sounds like this is just how she says “I love you.”

Twitter user Harry McNally shared this tweet about his mother’s unusual name for antihistamines. Calling them hysterectomies, we can only wonder how on earth she can think the two are even remotely related.

She sounds like a gem, though. This is one occasion when we say you should just role with. We would just hate to correct her weird but cute habit of getting names wrong.

What are some of the words that your parents pronounce incorrectly? Is there just one specific word that irks you when it’s mispronounced, or are there a few that you would love to correct your parents on?

Maffadeus’s dad has a cute and unique way of pronouncing some words and even has his own initialisms that only he would know for food items. We would hate to be the ones trying to figure these out.

In another tweet about moms getting the name of TV shows wrong, Twitter user Aidan shares his mom’s hilarious name for the British show I’m a Celeb, Get Me Out of Here. Her rather unique name for the show earns her a high-five, even though we’re sure Aidan has had quite enough of it and wishes their mom would just say the correct name.

Life is far too short to sit and worry about the right names for TV shows as long as your loved ones know what you’re actually talking about. Besides, she nailed the spirit of the show — where celebs are thrown into a jungle — that’s plenty!

@LessaVerybrave shared this hilarious tweet about her mother, saying she hates being around older people. This doesn’t seem at all unusual until she points out that her parents are in their 80s!

Leesa’s mother might just be on to something by trying to avoid getting old too quickly. Just keep in mind, while aging might be inevitable, being old in spirit is definitely a choice!

There is a very big difference between “ethereal” and “urethral.” While one refers to an angelic presence or feeling, the other has to do with our anatomy. This is why it came as a surprise for Tor when his mother described a woman’s singing at church as the latter.

However, we wonder if she knew exactly what she meant when she made this blunder and was actually trying to say that the woman’s singing voice belonged in the toilet. Sneaky move, mom!

Ever had someone tell you a long-winded story that never seems to have an ending? Tara Dublin shared her account of this happening when she tweeted that her mother regularly used the phrase “long story short” to end a very long retelling of an event.

This is a great example of people using a phrase just because of habit and not because it actually makes sense in context, because this clearly doesn’t.

You would think that after getting the name of a pizza topping wrong, Jamie’s dad would learn the right term for the next time he orders his favorite slice. But, fate has other ideas.

Poor Jamie has to sit and listen to his dad butcher the English language by ordering something that doesn’t exist. This tweet is good for a laugh and is a reminder that sometimes it helps to just go with the flow rather than change how someone is.

Twitter user Dave Robots shared the cute but weird way his mother refers to this over-the-counter medication. But, it had us thinking about how she pronounces other medications. Does Aspirin become Alpine?

There are times when all you want to do is correct your parents when they mispronounce a word. But, sometimes it becomes rather endearing, and you find yourself saying that exact word too. We hope it will be the latter in Dave’s case, as we like her name for the medication better.

This one is slightly different, but since it’s something we can definitely see our parents getting wrong, we decided it had to be added. Working in tech support has its disadvantages. One of the biggest is probably trying to help those with zero tech knowledge!

As Twitter user Jamie Pollock shared, older folk tend to get the names of common tech items completely wrong, leading to frustration on the support team’s side. While some situations can be cute and are good for a laugh, we wouldn’t want to work in tech support anytime soon. Maybe that’s just because we have very little patience. Probably not…

So, apparently, there’s actually a grammatical reason that some phrases need to be in a certain order, like “tick-tock” can’t be “tock-tick” or “mailbox” can never be “boxmail.” Do you see where we’re going with this?

We just want to make it absolutely clear to @SBSG_00’s dad that the phrase “pins and needles” should never, ever, be flipped around! That’s just wrong. But, it’s definitely adorable!

This is probably one of the cutest mistakes we’ve heard a parent make. There’s just something perfectly innocent about this mom’s complete belief that she’s saying this phrase correctly.

We just hope that now that @yoiain realized that this is what their mom was doing, they will absolutely never correct her! Also, we’re totally for everyone using it! Should we play it by year?

We all know that one of the sweetest and most frustrating things our parents can do is get into the habit of saying a certain phrase every single day. Yes, it can get on your nerves, but it also reminds you that you’re home when you hear that phrase.

this Twitter user’s mom has found the perfect way to tell her family she needs to go to sleep. Clearly, she’s very much a creature of habit. Good night!