Valleyisms: Alma and... Coffee Shops?

If you had to get your CatchPhrase team to guess the phrase alma mater, what would you say?  How about: "The first word is the longest book in The Book of Mormon!"

That's how it went down at a game night I went to recently, the token Gentile in a circle of Latter-day Saint young adults.  And yes, it worked; Team 1 quickly guessed their teammate's word.

But I am proud to say my Team 2 won two out of three rounds, despite the challenge I had of hurriedly describing my phrase,"coffee shop", to people who have probably never been in one.  Oh, the irony of that!  Not unlike describing a cut of pork to an Orthodox Jew.  But my teammates were good sports and guessed the answer within a few tries.  Then: "Coffee shop?  What's a coffee shop?" one guy, nineteen days away from beginning his two-year mission, jokingly asked as I passed the game piece to the next player.  Kudos to those of us who can laugh good-naturedly at the quirks of our traditions.  Indeed, respectful humor is not a bad place to start a conversation between or about vastly different belief systems.  At least I'm pretty sure he was kidding.

Next time, maybe we can play a rousing game of Book of Mormon WHO?

Only in Utah Valley.