Any of you have those funny statements that say one thing and mean another?
Word play has always been a part of my family's humor. My father taught it to my mother. At least I assume he did, since my mother's mother was often puzzled by it, in a good-natured sort of way.
My mother once came home from a meeting and was laughing so hard it took her half an hour to make us understand what was so funny. The very respectable and knowledgeable speaker had said that Paul Revere hung two lanterns (he didn't) in the tower of Old South Church (it was Old North Church) to signal one if by night and two if by day (really? Did Longfellow get it wrong?). That was fifty years ago and my family still uses "one if by night and two if by day" to mean a grievous historical error.
My daughter and I have adopted the phrase "Because the cat is wicked depressed" as a reason for doing or not doing something. As in: "Why didn't you do the dishes?"
It is a line from a sitcom that we didn't much enjoy. The guy calls his friend to give him an excuse to walk out on a girl in the bar, and the friend offers "You gotta come home because the cat is wicked depressed." We were laughing so hard we missed the rest of the poorly written dialog.
My daughter has never forgiven me for telling her that popcorn is called POP corn because when the kernel is heated enough, the tiny bit of gun powder in it explodes and tears open the casing. Hey, that's what my father told me so it must be true.
Word play is what writing is all about. Putting words together is a way no one else though of doing it before. And in ways that please the reader. A family history of such goings on may contribute greatly to a writer's skill.
As for our own cats, they think the whole thing is pretty silly.