16 Words You'll Only Understand If You're Obsessed With Friends
Most television shows come with their own language. Sure, technically, they may be speaking English - but if you were to share a bunch of common inside jokes and vocabulary from the show with someone who had never seen it, they'd likely be totally puzzled. For example, to someone who had never watched Game of Thrones (and managed to stay out of pop culture enough to never hear its key phrases), the words “winter is coming” would just mean, well, that the season of winter was approaching. Whether comedies or dramas, most shows have their own language - and Friends is no different.
Over the ten seasons that the popular sitcom focused on six pals living in New York City was on the air, there were countless new words introduced to viewers, and no matter how much time has passed since the episodes originally aired, there are a few words that true Friends fanatics will always understand just a little bit differently than your average person.
Here are 16 words you'll only understand if you're obsessed with Friends. Forget about the dictionary definitions or what most people might interpret these words as - you know what they really mean, thanks to all that time spent hanging with Joey, Chandler, Monica, Phoebe, Ross and Rachel.
16 Phalange
To someone who knows a lot about anatomy, a phalange is a fairly straightforward term - it's simply another word for phalanx, which is a bone in the finger or toe. Pretty boring, right? Well, to Friends fanatics, the word “phalange” has an entirely different meaning - and a dual meaning, nonetheless. First of all, it could be a last name of an enchanting blonde women you might meet on your international travels, someone who you just can't forget. Second, it could also refer to a very important component of a plane - one without which air travel would be totally unsafe. Trust us - you don't want to be soaring through the air on a giant machine if the phalanges are malfunctioning, right? The phalange might not be as important as the wings or the pilot, but it's still a pretty integral component of a plane, and if you have a bad feeling about the phalange, you should probably just get off the plane.
15 Unagi
To fans of Japanese food, the word unagi is very familiar - it's the term for freshwater eel, and may be something you incorporate into your order when it's time to chow down on some sushi. For fans of Friends, however, unagi isn't something you serve up on the dinner table - it's something a lot more serious. As Ross describes it, unagi is actually “a state of total awareness,” and you can only reach the state of unagi if you've managed to prepare yourself for literally any danger that might enter your life. If you want to have unagi, you have to be prepared for things like men jumping out at you from behind the curtains of your apartment, or someone attacking you randomly on the street. Or, you know, just be prepared for Ross Gellar. While countless women opt to take a self-defense class for their own protection, there are none quite like Ross trying to teach the girls unagi.
14 Pivot
I mean, this word is so simple it's not even worth discussing right? To pivot is simply an action that means to rotate or turn, whether you're referring to a human body or an object you're trying to move. However, to someone obsessed with Friends, it's a term guaranteed to spark a lot of laughter - and something you absolutely must bust out on moving day. You see, as Ross Gellar fans know, yelling the word “pivot” is a crucial step in the moving process. After all, how else will your friends know when to lift the corner of a couch or rotate it so it can squeeze down a tiny stairwell? Sure, you could use a whole phrase like “you should lift the left back corner up and move it towards the inner wall,” but why on earth would you waste so many words when you can simply yell “PIVOT.”
13 Holiday Armadillo
To most, an armadillo is a slightly intriguing mammal with a signature armor shell, something you're likely to run into in warmer climates. And, unless you live in a specific region where they flourish, it's probably a creature you've never encountered in person, but it's something most people know about. Until Friends. Ever since that beloved holiday episode where Ross couldn't find a Santa costume in time aired, the armadillo has forever become associated with the Christmas season. After all, Santa isn't going to melt in his big suit and beard in the hotter states on Christmas day - instead, he's just going to send his representative, the holiday armadillo! While Santa is busy zooming around the world, the holiday armadillo is doing his part to make the Christmas season special for every boy and girl in his designated region - or, at least, that's what the guy who forgot to arrange a Santa costume rental would like you to think.
12 Break
Oh, boy, true Friends fans likely winced the moment they read that word. To the average person, the word break is fairly innocuous - it just means to separate something, to take an item and rip or shatter it until it's in a few smaller pieces. To Friends fans, on the other hand, it's basically a fighting word. A break is a tricky step in a relationship where both individuals involved may not exactly be on the same page - so while one things they're just doing what's permissible on a break, the other views it as a huge betrayal. A break is something you really, really don't want to talk about unless you want to open up that supersized can of worms and deal with all the mess that will almost certainly ensue. I mean, honestly - has hollering “we were on a break!” ever fixed anything? No, but bless his heart did Ross Gellar ever try to make that a thing.
11 Nestle Toulouse
If you're a real Friends fan, we guarantee that you just read that in Phoebe's silly French accent. If you're a fan of the show, Nestle Toulouse is Phoebe's lovely grandmother who makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the entire world and passes on the recipe only to family members - it's a closely guarded Buffay family secret. To the average person, though, Nestle Toulouse when pronounced in its Americanized version is, well, plain old Nestle Tollhouse, the company that produces the chocolate chips which star in so many chocolate chip cookies. While Phoebe's touching family story of a recipe being passed down through the generations was cute, let's be honest - if you made dozens and dozens of chocolate chip cookies in an attempt to figure out the secret recipe before finally discovering the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip package? You'd be seriously cursing Miss Nestle Toulouse.
10 Mississippi-lessly
To someone who has never watched Friends, the word “Mississippi-lessly” is, well, not a word at all - it's just a weird suffix added to a state that makes no sense. To a Friends fan, though, it's something that could very well stand between you looking like a bronzed goddess and you looking like you were just vacationing on the sun. As Ross claims, there's really only one way to count to three - by counting it out with the full time marker, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, to measure the seconds. However, for most people, there's a slightly simpler way to count - you just go one, two, three. While you may fall into the same camp as the other Friends, who knows - maybe you've always been in Ross Gellar's camp and feel like you just can't count Mississippi-lessly. We sort of get it (although, for your own safety, please make someone else count if you go to a tanning booth).
9 The moist maker
If this term seems like something baffling or even vaguely explicit, well, you must not be a Friends fan - because fans of the iconic sitcom immediately get one thing in their mind when they hear this term, and it has everything to do with sandwiches. According to the show, the moist maker is the secret to a sublime thanksgiving day sandwich - it's a gravy-soaked piece of bread that you put in the middle of your sandwich to ensure all the other ingredients stay moist and give you a delectable sandwich. And when someone has gone to the trouble of preparing a sandwich complete with moist maker and you throw all caution to the wind and decide to eat it? There are no telling what type of consequences might arise, and trust us, you probably don't want to know. You simply do not get between a man and his moist maker on a bad day.
8 Vafanapoli
To someone who speaks Italian, this phrase is fairly straightforward - it means simply “go to Naples.” However, the phrase is rarely used in situations where you are literally bidding farewell to someone about to head towards Naples - instead, it's generally used as a curse. Friends fans know this very well, as it was one of Joey's favourite ways to curse out anyone who was frustrating him - after all, why use boring old curses when you could tap into your Italian heritage instead? Though it had its fair share of risqué material, Friends didn't really feature a lot of cursing, so this was a nice way to add in that bit of salty language without getting too R rated. Plus, come on - yelling out “vafanapoli!” complete with exaggerated hand gestures is almost more therapeutic than releasing a regular curse. Joey was definitely onto something with this one, and we're betting Friends fans have used it during road rage bouts before.
7 Nubbin
A nubbin, to the average person, is a fairly banal term - it refers simply to a little lump of bone or cartilage somewhere on your body. I mean, it sort of fits perfectly - what else would you call a random little lump on your body? It's a cute way to name something. However, for fans of Friends, the term nubbin refers to something entirely different - instead of referring to a small, hard lump of bone or cartilage, it refers to a much more delicate (and extraneous) part of one's anatomy - their third nipple. On the show, because he doesn't feel comfortable referring to it as what it actually is, a third nipple, Chandler deems his physical quirk a nubbin. And thus, a term was born. Now, even if you know you should just call it a third nipple if you come across one, let's be honest - you call it a nubbin.
6 Lobster
For most people, a lobster is just another source of protein - it's a crustacean creature that dwells in the sea and is often consumed at luxurious dinners. I mean, what could be more high class than perfectly cooked lobster dipped in rich butter, all washed down with an expensive glass of wine? We're literally already salivating. To fans of Friends, though, a lobster has nothing to do with the sea-dwelling creature - well, not really. You see, according to Phoebe, a lobster is a creature that mates for life (not really factual, but hey, who said you'd be getting cold hard facts from a sitcom?). So, in Friends terminology, a lobster is what you call your true love, the person you think you're meant to be with for the rest of your life, the one you'd want to be holding claws with in the tank of life. Everyone's just trying to find their lobster.
5 Moo
Moo isn't really a word you use once you're past the stage of vocalizing the sounds that barnyard animals make, right? Well, that is, unless you're Joey Tribbiani - in which case, you develop an entire phrase around the word. According to the Italian cutie, when you're talking about a moo point, you're talking about something that is the equivalent to a cow's opinion - it's just not something you should concern yourself with, not something that matters. Sure, the actual phrase - a “moot point” - may be more correct, but in the opinion of every Friends fan out there, it's a whole lot more fun to call something a moo point. In fact, it's a pity that Joey didn't craft phrases for every adorable animal in the barnyard - we have a feeling that Tribbiani's Truths would have made for a killer children's book (perhaps with musical accompaniment by the talented Phoebe Buffay).
4 Transpondster
To the average person, a transpondster isn't even a legitimate word - it's simply a made up word for a made up occupation. To a Friends fan, though, it's a very real thing - it's what Rachel swore that Chandler did for a living when asked what his occupation was in a high stakes game of trivia. And yes, you're likely not going to be in the same type of situation where you're wagering your apartment over a game of trivia, but trust us - you could get a lot of use out of this word. You know that person you know whose job you just can never really remember because it's weirdly specific but also has a weirdly vague title? Problem solved - they're a transpondster. You never have to dig through your brain for the proper job title for that random acquaintance again, because the blanket occupation of transpondster covers it all.
3 Mockolate
Everyone knows exactly what chocolate is - a sweet treat beloved by many that can be tough to resist. From delectable dark chocolate bars to decadent truffles, cakes, creamy beverages and more, there's a lot you can do with chocolate, and most people will be well acquainted with the food. However, only a true Friends fan will know what mockolate is. Depending on who you ask, mockolate is either even better than legitimate chocolate, or has a very strange aftertaste and texture (you know, if you're asking an actual chef). While there are healthier ways to enjoy the indulgent treat on the market (looking at you, cacao nibs), mockolate just isn't the best solution to anyone's problems - unless you problem is that chocolate is just too delicious and you want a less pleasant alternative. I mean, if Monica Gellar couldn't make mockolate taste amazing, there's really no hope for it, right?
2 Gleba
According to the dictionary, a gleba is a solid mass of spores - and it's a word that you probably wouldn't get around to using unless you were a scientist who, well, dealt in the spore world. However, if you're a Friends fan, you know exactly what this word means - it may very well be the alternative to mama and dada for your child's first word. At least, it was for Emma. While Rachel was holding out hope that she'd have a mini shopaholic to take through New York City's finest department stores, Ross was hoping that his baby girl would end up becoming a scientist more at home in the lab than the mall - and, according to her first word, he may have gotten his wish. Sure, gleba could just be a random combination of sounds that a child utters, but where's the fun in that? It's more fun to look it up in the dictionary and realize it's a real word.
1 Seven
If you ask the average person what the word seven means, they'd probably look at you like you were an absolute moron - it's obviously the number that comes before eight and after six. I mean, how dense can you be? Well, that's the average person, at least. For the true Friends fanatic, the number seven has an entirely difference significance. In the scene where Monica is trying to point Chandler in the right direction when it comes to pleasing a woman in bed, she shows the various erogenous zones on a woman's body that he should be attentive towards - and there are seven. While the show never totally spells it out, Monica's reaction clearly indicates just which zone the number seven might refer to - and it's kind of an important one. The number seven was never the same again after that scene - and no matter how hard you try to forget it, you likely remember Monica's hilarious reaction whenever you think of that particular digit.