Acting like a mug

Last Sunday our old pals Simon and Mary and daughter Miranda came over for lunch, and an afternoon of board games. They love a board game, whereas we do have some board games but only get them out in desperate situations. Anyway, we all had fun (although Michael refused to participate), and one of the games we played was a charades card game, suitable for all ages. You pick up a card, with four different words on it, and then throw a dice to tell you which one you have to try to silently convey.

Elf was so impressed that she bought us a copy of the game. We had Mum and Dad staying with us again this week, so one evening we got it out and played a game with them, plus Marcus - Michael again refused to participate.

The funniest part of it was my Dad, deciding that no matter what the word was, the best way to get it across was to try to personify the thing. To begin with, he crouched down, crossed his arms over his head, and stayed still for about 20 seconds, while we all shouted squat! lump! crouch! dwarf! rock! shrub! etc. Then he stood up and tried plan B - which looked a little like what the late James Brown called "mashing potatoes". Time ran out. It was bin.

Next word - Dad crouched down, crossed his arms over his head, and stayed still for about 15 seconds, while we all shouted Squat! Squeeze! Crouch! Bin! Hide! To help, Dad started indicating with some sort of curving motion that he had a tail, or possibly an electrical cord. Mouse! Squirrel! Toaster! This one was mug.

My best effort was when I conveyed, simply through two wafts of my hands and a very vacant expression, the concept of jellyfish.