Angela Kinsey Says Grandparents Need Decoders

Elizabeth Messina for use on CBB

Babies aren’t the only ones who speak their own language, Angela Kinsey recently learned. Her “awesome, small-town” Texas-based parents spent the holidays in California with Angela and her new baby Isabel Ruby, 8 months, leading to more than one confusing — if not humorous! — exchange. “My dad kind of sounds like Boomhauer on King of the Hill, so he’d just kind of wander around the house telling me that my daughter is a button pusher,” Angela explained during a recent appearance on Last Call with Carson Daly. “And my mom would get up in the morning and be like, ‘Don’t be a fuss bucket; I need some foot sugar!”

“I was like, ‘Mom…what is foot sugar?’ So I look and she’s got my baby’s feet and she’s, like [chewing on them]. It’s kind of cute. And fuss bucket is for when my daughter was fussy.”

Telling the audience that they should “use [the phrases]…you’ll love them!” and “work them into your lives,” the 37-year-old The Office star says. Nonetheless, “I kind of need a decoder for my folks.”

Isabel is the first child for Angela and her husband Warren Lieberstein, whom she married in 2000.

Source: Last Call with Carson Daly

Comments

Foot Sugar!!! LOL, I thought my Mom was the only one that said that. Alabama’s finest.

- Amber on January 12th, 2009

Fuss bucket, eh? I grew up saying “fuss pot” and my husband always looks at me like I’m crazy when I say it.

- Kerri on January 12th, 2009

Omg she has my name and her lil girl has my lil girl’s name. how strange.

- angela on January 12th, 2009

I’m from Oklahoma and I knew EXACTLY what they were saying! Guess its a Southern thing!

- Ashley on January 12th, 2009

My mom used to call me a “fussy budget”…no idea where that variation comes from! And she calls little pieces of paper on the floor from art projects “fetzens.” She swears it’s German but every German person I know says there is no such word. I guess I need a bilingual decoder!

- UggaMugga.com on January 12th, 2009

@UggaMugga: Your mom is correct. Fetzen is a German word. Some people would say “Papierfetzen”, some just say “Fetzen” but it definately is a word that we use here in Germany for little pieces of paper on the floor from art projects.

As for the story: very cute. I need to ask my Texan hostparents if they ever heard of foot sugar.

- Leni on January 12th, 2009

I’ve never heard of foot sugar, but fuss pot and fuss bucket are common sayings in England. I’m not sure if they originate from here, but they are common.

- phoebe on January 12th, 2009

I am English, and I always call my kids fuss-pots/fussy pants when they are grizzly!! Another thing that we say here is slop-pot for when the kids are in kissing moods!! (my fave kind of mood!!)

- Morgan on January 13th, 2009

We use fussbucket all the time and we’re in Brooklyn! I thought that was a common phrase. Foot sugar is new to me though, I might have to start using it.

- Brandi on January 13th, 2009

Leni, thanks for finally putting the fetzens debate to rest for my family! My mother will be thrilled…and now I’m less crazy for using the same word to my children over and over lately. With all of the snow and cold here in Wisconsin our house is fetzen crazy trying to pass time creatively! -35 degrees tonight…wish us luck!

- UggaMugga.com on January 13th, 2009

It’s ‘fuss-budget’ in our family! That ‘foot sugar’ phrase is more precious than words! It beats ‘toe jam’ anyday!

- grannypants on January 17th, 2009