So, What The Heck Is “Hounie”?

If you’re a frequenter of Sophistishe.Org (Mommy’s personal blog), heard of our store Hounie’s Haven (currently on hiatus), or know us in real life, you’ve probably seen/heard us use the word “Hounie” quite a few times. So, what the heck is “Hounie”? Since Mommy and I frequently use the word “Hounie”, it will most likely pop up here on Mommy Daddy Blog a few times. So I thought I’d create a post explaining what “Hounie” is so I won’t have to explain it every time I say it in the future (like I did in this post). So, without further ado…

So, what the heck is “Hounie”?

“Hounie” dates back to the days when Mommy was in college and I was in high school. I would visit Mommy whenever I had the chance. I didn’t have a car back then and we hated walking, so we’d typically spend the days together in Mommy’s dorm room. I also didn’t have a laptop, but Mommy did. So we’d share Mommy’s laptop between the two of us. At that time, I had a little stint going in internet marketing, so I constantly wanted to check to see if I had made any money (I never did). And since it was Mommy’s laptop, and she had papers and other college stuff to work on, she had priority over it. But occasionally, I’d a get a little impatient, and I’d start nagging her to let me on the laptop. Now some time a few months before, I had started calling her “Honey”, which stemmed from me calling her “Honey Buns” (I won’t explain why I called her that, I’d like to keep this blog G rated!). So whenever I started to get impatient, I’d say, “Hoooooooneeeeeeey! Let me on the laaaaaaptoooooooop!” Yes, it was as annoying as it sounds! I’ll admit! And I didn’t pronounce the word “honey” how it’s usually pronounced. I threw in some different sounds to add to the annoying factor (I’m such a cool guy!), and thus spawned the word “Hounie”! For odd some reason, somewhere down the line, we took that word I used to annoy the hell out of Mommy with, and we turned it into the complete opposite. We now use the word as a gesture for love for each other. Just as other couples use “sweetie”, “dear”, and of course, “honey”, we use “Hounie”!

So, how the heck is “Hounie” pronounced?

It is very difficult to explain how “Hounie” is pronounced and you’ll probably still be in the same boat even after I try my best to explain it. The difficulty falls within the first syllable, “Hou”. The best way that I can explain how “Hou” is pronounced is by comparing it to the name, “Noah”. The “Hou” in “Hounie” sounds a little like the “oah” in “Noah”. But where “oah” would be pronounced as two syllables (oh-uh), they are blended into one syllable (ouh) in “Hou”. Just try saying Ho-uh or Hoah really, really fast. That’s how “Hou” is pronounced. Get my drift? Yep, like I said, still in the same boat as before. As for the “nie” in “Hounie”, it’s not as difficult to pronounce. It’s pronounced “nee”, exactly like the word “knee”. That part was pretty simple, right?

So, why the heck can’t we just use “honey”?

We’re unique. We’re special. We’re different. I don’t know! Someone call Robert Stack, we’re an unsolved mystery! I do know one thing though, I’ve discovered that whenever I’ve done something wrong, Mommy calls me by my name instead of “Hounie”. Remember when you were a kid and your mom would call you by your full name whenever you were in trouble? “Christopher Cornelius Harrison the third! Get your butt here now!” That’s how it is with Mommy and I. Whenever I hear “Greg!”, I know that I’ve either left the toilet seat up, or I accidentally fed those nasty green beans she made for dinner to our dog. I swear they fell off my plate!

So, what the heck do you use?

I know Mommy and I aren’t the only weird ones that use made-up words to call each other. So how about you? Do you and your spouse/fiance/boyfriend/girlfriend/whatever have any special made-up names for each other?

Tagged as: hounie, made up names, nicknames