Only 10% Of Friends Fans Know What These Words Mean
- by Caitlyn Clancey
- – on
- in Movies and TV
According to IMDB, the television sitcom Friends aired from 1994 until 2004. In those 10 years, a simple cast made up of six ordinary characters was able to charm their way into audience's hearts everywhere and become one of the most successful shows ever to have aired on television. Even now, years later, a new generation of young people have discovered the classic show and been turned into mega Friends fans themselves!
As the show continues to delight its viewers well after it stopped airing new episodes, it's fun to take a look back and appreciate everything that Friends is. After all, it's not just a comedy - it's also got drama and lots of emotional moments. What more could someone want out of a TV show? Friends also gave us a cast of incredible characters who, in turn, provided some of the most memorable moments and quotes from the show possible. These are the words and phrases that have lasted the test of time and remain just as wonderful as they were when we first heard them!
This quiz takes all of those unique words and phrases from the show and challenges Friends fans to test their memory. What does the word "phalange" mean? What are "Thanksgiving pants" and who wears them? We encourage everyone to test their Friends knowledge and see if they can remember these iconic lines!
Bagels and donuts
Breakfast foods offer some of the simplest forms of comfort possible. What could be better than sitting down with a bowl of cereal or a plate of eggs and enjoying the morning in the right way? Two breakfast foods are some of New York’s staple items and can be enjoyed just about anywhere in the city!. After all, there are plenty of places to grab a delicious bagel anytime of day, not to mention more donut places than ever thought possible. In one episode of Friends, when Chandler began pursuing a job in marketing, he chose two of the best New Yorker-type foods possible to test out his advertising chops. But what did he have to say about bagels and donuts?
Lobster
Lobster is one of those dishes that seem to be universally enjoyed by all. This ocean-dweller is perhaps best enjoyed boiled with various seasonings and then served with lots of melted butter for dipping. Ideally, there will also be some sort of bib and/or serviettes available for when that delicious dish gets a little too messy to handle. As far as Phoebe Buffay is concerned, Lobster’s have one meaning. She happily shared this meaning with her friends who certainly doubted her. That is, until the end of the episode when everyone realized that, like in most things, Phoebe was right.
Transponster
Throughout the entire series of Friends, we have watched some of the characters as they begin and end various jobs. Sometimes these jobs can be as simple as serving coffee at Central Perk, like Rachel did for the first few seasons. These jobs can also be a bit more complex, like when Monica briefly worked as a chef for a company who tasked her with coming up with delicious Thanksgiving desserts using their curious product, “Mockolate.” But sometimes, someone’s job isn’t so easily defined. In one episode, Rachel and Monica are attempting to guess someone’s job and Rachel came up with Transponster. Definitely not a word, but just which of their friends did they assume was one?
Pivot
Anyone who loves the TV show Friends is fairly well-versed in all of its memorable quotes. We all know the phrase “We were on a break!” thanks to Ross and his incessant need to shout it all the time. We also know the word “Phalange” because Phoebe uses it in just about every episode possible. Of course, there are other words and phrases to have come out of the show and have become pop culture mainstays. But there is one that rises above them all, and that is the word “pivot.” Just what does this word mean when it comes to this television show?
Moo point
When we were in our early stages of development, animal sounds were used fairly commonly to help us identify various animals. Particularly, farm animals. We know horses say “neigh”, pigs say “oink”, and of course, cows say “moo.” For many of us, that’s about as much definition of “moo” that we need – it’s just what a cow says. For Joey, however, “moo” means something else entirely. In one episode, he casually drops the phrase “moo point” into a conversation, much to his friends’ confusion. His explanation certainly didn’t help clear things up much either. Poor Joey just can’t seem to get anything right!
Miss Chanandler Bong
For many of us, our names are our identity. It’s how we introduce ourselves to strangers, how our teachers addressed us in school, and how our parents showed the world that we are theirs. Some people can have only one name, like Madonna or Rihanna or Prince. Other people can have many times, like famous painter Pablo Picasso, whose full name is basically an entire paragraph of names. As for the characters on Friends, there is one name that stands out most prominently from the rest on the show: Miss Chanandler Bong. But what does this strange and unusual name mean come from?
Joey's apple
As we have already discussed, Joey has a pretty interesting way of looking at words. What else can you expect from someone who had a dream about a crossword puzzle and imagined the hint, “the opposite of dog” meant cat? We love Joey and his unique perspective, and we especially love it when he introduces random words and phrases onto the shower. We know he was the mastermind behind the phrase “moo point”. But he also came up with another phrase which he brought out during Monica’s surprise 30th birthday party. He mentioned “Joey’s apple” to Chandler, who didn’t find it as delightfully quirky as the rest of us.
Yemen
The group of friends on the show have done a fair bit of travelling throughout the series. With the exception of Phoebe, they all flew over to London to watch as Ross married Emily in quite the dramatic and surprising wedding. They’ve also all gone to Las Vegas to support Joey when they believed he was still shooting a movie there, and also went to Barbados to listen as Ross gave a speech about dinosaurs. Even Rachel flew to Greece once, though that wasn’t such a happy vacation as she had hoped it would be. While these guys have gone all over the place, there is one area of the world that got special mention on the show. But what is so special about a place like Yemen to these friends?
Smelly cat
Cats are quite the adorable house pets! While they may not all be loveable little creatures, there are some who absolutely soak up attention and become welcomed parts of many families. These animals can range in size, color, and of course, attitude, and each one is fairly unique. They can have vastly different behaviors from one another, as well as different moods and quirks. Some cats, as it turns out, can even be just a little bit smelly. When we look at the TV show Friends, where exactly did the phrase “smelly cat” come from, and what does it mean?
Seven
Seven is the number of days that we have in the week. It’s also how many dwarves roomed with Snow White in her fairy-tale, and the number of books in the spectacular Harry Potter series. There are a total of seven colors in the rainbow, seven wonders of the world, and seven continents on the planet. When someone is in grieving, they go through seven different stages, and most ladybugs have seven spots on their backs. Clearly, there are a lot of different ways the number seven shows up in the world. But, on the show Friends, the number seven makes one unforgettable appearance and has gone on to become a classic meme because of this! What does seven mean on Friends?
Unagi
As with many of the words pulled from the TV show Friends, Unagi is actually a real word. It’s actually a Japanese term meaning freshwater eel. However, like with the other words we know best from the show, it takes on a completely different meaning when our favorite characters use it. In one particularly episode appropriately titled “The One with Unagi”, Ross Geller treats fans to an explanation about the word which Rachel and Phoebe don’t entirely buy into, claiming he’s using the word wrong. However, that doesn’t stop Ross from spending the entire rest of the episode trying to prove to them just what exactly “Unagi” really is.
Holiday armadillo
When we think of the holidays, it is fairly safe to say that an armadillo would normally be the very last thing on our minds. However, thanks to Friends, we know automatically think about the armadillo. In this episode, we see Ross dress up as the animal and attempt to convince his friends that he is somehow a holiday-themed character. While the entire getup was pretty cute, it was still quite surprising to watch a 6-foot armadillo saunter around Monica’s apartment and carry on a conversation with the other characters. In any case, this was the first and only time we ever saw the holiday armadillo on the show.
Moist maker
What is it about the word “moist” that makes it hit our ears wrong? We don’t often hear it thrown around in our day-to-day conversations, but perhaps a little unfortunately, it does sometimes come up on TV. The word moist is just so wildly unappealing that when it made an appearance on Friends, a lot of us couldn’t help but feel a little grossed out. In this episode, Ross attempts to describe to a colleague what he calls the “moist maker.” He is quite passionate about this so-called “moist maker” – perhaps a little too passionate, if you ask us. If two words ever did not belong together, it would be moist and maker. But what was Ross talking about?
Koondis
There have been some pretty unusual words thrown around on the TV show Friends, but perhaps none have been so spectacularly strange as the word “koondis.” In one episode, Ross seeks out medical advice from his friends when he begins to worry about something he found on his body. When his friends can’t come up with any ideas as to what it might be, he visits Phoebe’s friend, a herbalist, who declares it is a “koondis.” When Ross implores for more information about this strange condition, he is told it will only go away if he learns to “love the koondis.”
Thanksgiving pants
There have been a number of excellent Thanksgiving episodes on Friends. We have watched as the title friends enjoy a friendly (and then not-so-friendly) game of football. We have met Ross and Monica’s high school pal and former heavyset man Will, played by Brad Pitt, show up for dinner and reveal the surprising rumor he and Ross once started about Rachel. We’ve also watched as Chandler admitted he loves Monica for the first time, while watching her dance with a turkey on her head. Throughout all of these episodes, there is one Thanksgiving special in which Joey dons what he calls his “Thanksgiving pants”, but just what are these maternity pants turned Thanksgiving pants used for?
Banana hammock
Bananas are a type of fruit that grow on trees and taste delicious, particularly when baked into such desserts as banana cream pies or banana cake. Hammocks are long pieces of fabric typically strung between two objects, like two trees, so that a person might lay on the fabric and sway freely above the ground. These are two very different words, yet somehow together they form one popular word from the TV show Friends. But just what exactly does such a bizarre and, admittedly hilarious, word like Banana Hammock have to do with a show about six people living in New York City?
Phalange
Phoebe Buffay is quite the creative person, as we have seen throughout the show. She has come up with a number of bizarrely quirky songs that she has used to serenade both her friends and the entire Central Perk café, not to mention all the random words she has come up with. One word in particular has been used by Phoebe time and time again in the show’s 10 season run. That word is “Phalange.” At first, Phoebe used this word as part of a fake title. When she was lying about her name she would call herself “Regina Phalange.” However, by the end of the series, she had used the word to describe something else entirely. What was it?
Mississippi-ly
Mississippi is a southern state, but apparently this word has some other meanings than just as a location. In fact, according to one character on Friends, it just be used as a way of doing one thing in particular. Ross has a lot of opinions about a lot of things, and a lot of time he is pretty vocal about these opinions. After a particularly frustrating day, he made it known to his friends that he thinks some things should be done “Mississippi-ly”. But just what exactly does this word even mean, and what does he so strongly believe should be done “Mississippi-ly”?
Traditional English Trifle
When we first met Rachel in the very first episode of the show, she was newly single (after running away from her own wedding) and became financially independent from her parents. It took a lot time to teach Rachel how to be her own person and become responsible – she had to learn how to do laundry, how to hold a job, and how to cook for herself. To say that her cooking skills still needed some fine-tuning is a bit of an understatement. In one Thanksgiving episode, Rachel was left in charge of dessert and came up with a Traditional English Trifle which she happily served to her friends. However, this trifle came with a few unusual ingredients.
Whoopah
When it comes to Chandler Bing, he’s all about the humor. He loves telling jokes, although perhaps not all of them land as hard as he would like them to, and he also loves teasing his friends to get a laugh out of everybody. When all is said and done, Chandler only means well and just wants everyone to have some fun during their time together. But sometimes he’s funny without even meaning to be. In one episode, Chandler attempts to demonstrate something and makes a sound that his friends are quick to point out isn’t exactly right. It’s a really funny scene that shows sometimes Chandler can be his funniest when he’s really not meaning to be.
The Routine
There are so many different kinds of routines that people can have or make for themselves. People could have a good morning routine, an elaborate dance routine, a spectacular gymnastics routine, or even a calorie-burning exercise routine, just to name a few. Basically anything could be a routine if it composed of sequential actions. On the TV show Friends, we saw one specific routine demonstrated for us in the appropriately titled episode, “The One with the Routine.” But just which character (or, perhaps, characters) performed this routine for us, the viewers, and what exactly did the so-called routine have them do?
Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E
In our opinion, there is truly nothing better than sitting down for a delicious meal of steaming macaroni and cheese. While sometimes served as a side dish, this gooey pasta can be eaten as a meal on its own. Some people put ketchup on it, some people add breadcrumbs, and some people like adding a little bit of spice, like with spicy sauce or chopped up jalapenos. The fantastic part about mac and cheese is that it can be customized anyone we want! However, this isn’t the same kind of Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E that appeared on an episode of Friends. What does Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E mean exactly?
Gleba
In the English dictionary, the word “Gleba” literally means the fleshy mass of spores found inside some types of fungi. While not exactly the most exciting word possible, Gleba actually appeared in an episode of Friends but meant something completely different to the characters. In this sense, it wasn’t simply some part of a mushroom or some scientific word that sounds rather boring when defined. It had much more meaning when it was spoken on the show. It has gone on to become one of those words that is simply synonymous with the hit TV sitcom, even years after the show had its finale.
Oh my GOD
There are lots of exclamations that we as humans use in our day-to-day lives. The same goes for the characters on Friends who each had their own particular catch-phrases that they liked to regularly use when they were on screen. For Joey, his go-to phrase and greeting (particularly when meeting beautiful women) is, “How you doin’?” For Chandler, he likes to begin a lot of his sentences with “Could I BE”, followed by some exaggerated question, such as “Could I BE more sorry?” For one character, the phrase “Oh my GOD” quickly became their catchphrase, but just what exactly did these words mean when the friends heard them?
Cheese
It’s fairly safe to say cheese can go with just about anything. It can be melted over chips, mixed with macaroni, and made into a delicious grilled cheese sandwich. It can come from a can, melted into a sauce, or simply served on a platter in a lovely little spread. On Friends, Chandler’s big venture into marketing included providing some ideas for how to advertise cheese to the people of the world. We already know what genius ideas Chandler had for marketing grapes, donuts, and bagels to various audiences. But what was his big slogan idea for various cheese products?
Crackers
Crackers are a pretty versatile food! Not only can they be enjoyed as a snack on their own, they can be paired with other foods to make for even better snacks, like spreads and various meats. Crackers can also be crumbled up and used as the base for cheesecakes, dessert squares, and even used as a coating for meat. In addition to his fantastic ideas about grapes, donuts, bagels, and cheese, Chandler also put his marketing skills to the test and attempted to come up with some sort of catchy slogan for crackers. But what sort of inventive phrase could he conjure up for this snack food?
Ichiban
Joey has a fairly well-known reputation of being a struggling actor. Throughout the series, we see him take on a lot of roles simply because he needs the work and because he needs the money. We’ve seen him fight through a hernia to play in a commercial and even belt out off-key tunes as Sigmund Freud on the stage. However, in one episode, we find out that Joey once took an acting job overseas which saw him advertise a bit of an unusual product in a commercial. He had been able to keep this commercial secret from his friends for awhile, but once it was unearthed, there was no living it down!
Scrud
In one Christmas episode, Ross accidentally knocked a little girl down a flight of stairs, resulting in her seriously hurting her leg. As if this wasn’t bad enough already, Ross learned that the girl was vying for a prize in her Brown Bird’s troop and he had successfully bumped her out of the contest, since she couldn’t sell cookies in her condition. Determined to help her win, Ross took her place in the contest and set out to sell the most cookies so he could send the girl to space camp. However, during one particular meeting, he found himself the subject of another little girl’s taunts and was repeatedly called the same confusing word: scrud. But what does this word even mean?
Apothecary table
While Rachel was living with Phoebe, there was a lot that she had to get used to. After all, this was the very first time she ever roomed with her best friend. Before that she had lived with Monica for years, but was forced to move out when Monica’s boyfriend Chandler moved in. Now that Phoebe and Rachel were living together, Rachel realized that Phoebe had some pretty strict rules about things for their apartment. Mainly, as it turns out, the furniture they put inside that apartment. When Rachel brought home an apothecary table she knew Phoebe wouldn’t approve of, she had to spice up the story a little bit and may even lie a little, just so she would be allowed to keep it.
Cheesecake
Cheesecake is an absolutely delectable treat. The base is a scrumptious graham cracker crumble that is then topped with smooth and creamy cream cheese, plus any other delicious ingredients people want to add. There can be fruit, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce – just about anything a person can imagine! Indeed, cheesecakes are a must-have for parties and celebrations because it is almost guaranteed that everyone there will want a piece. However, on Friends, cheesecake doesn’t simply mean a tasty dessert to be enjoyed with others. In fact, it takes on a whole new meaning after featuring in one special episode of the show.
Frienaissance
Phoebe and Joey are two really close friends. Of course, everyone on the show are friends, thus the title, but there is no denying the special relationship these two have together aside from the bigger group. They really understand each other and get along, rarely ever fighting or disagreeing. Phoebe enjoys Joey’s sense of humor and Joey enjoys Phoebe’s unique charm. If they weren’t such good friends, they would be the perfect couple. These two came up with a term to describe an act involving friends: Frienaissance. But just what exactly does this unusual word mean and what does it have to do with friendship?
Grapes
Grapes can be an absolutely delicious and healthy snack. In fact, not many people know this, but grapes are actually a kind of berry! Moreover, there are over 8,000 grape varieties available – that’s a lot of grapes! We enjoy our grapes in a variety of different ways. Sometimes we like to sit down with a box of raisins (dehydrated grapes), or crack open a hearty bottle of wine (fermented grapes), or maybe just relax with a bowl of the regular kind. When Chandler began working at a marketing company, he attempted to come up with the perfect slogan for this versatile fruit, but what did he say?
Oomchimawa
As we have already discussed, Joey’s signature catch phrase is, “How you doin’?” Not only is the line perfectly suited to such a charmer, like Joey, but it also seems to have quite an effect on women. After all, Joey has never seemed to have any problem finding a date, so he must be doing something right! In addition to this phrase, there is one other line from Joey that has become synonymous with his character, even if it wasn’t quite as cool as “How you doin’?” He also happens to own the word “Oomchimawa”, but why would he ever say just a strange word?
Pants
It’s hard to believe that there was once a point in time when no one wore pants. Of course, like with all things, time saw a huge change in people’s wardrobes. First men donned pants, and then later it became socially acceptable for women to dress comfortably in pants, too. Nowadays pants come in all different forms – dress pants, pajama pants, jeans, track pants, etc. We’ve definitely come a long way! To celebrate this fantastic clothing garment, Chandler decided to try out his marketing skills and give it a catchy slogan, too. But what exactly did he have to say about pants?
Telephone
We all know the story of the telephone and Alexander Graham Bell who first came up with some an unbelievably helpful invention. After all, what would we be without our phones? Although perhaps we don’t use them exactly how Alexander first imagined, we still wake up every day and immediately turn to our phones to catch up on the news, any drama that happened on social media over night, and just to reconnect with friends and family. Back during the time of Friends, phones were still fairly straight-forward without all the added uses we have today. So what did Chandler, the marketing wizard, have to say about the telephone?