Before I moved into my dorm room a few months ago, I thought living with three other girls wouldn’t be much different from living at home with my family. Boy, was I wrong. While there are some similarities between living with my suite-mates and living at home, the things I frequently say or ask at home are most definitely not the same things I frequently say or ask my suite-mates. Here are nine of the most common phrases my suite-mates and I say to each other.

1. “Whose turn is it to buy toilet paper?”

Four girls go through toilet paper MUCH faster than one would think.

2. “CHANGE THE TOILET PAPER!”

Like I said, four girls go through a LOT of toilet paper. However, just because we use a lot of toilet paper doesn’t mean we always remember to replace the empty roll with a new one.

3. “What did I miss in class today?”

Two of my roommates and I have at least one class together. Whenever one of us misses a class, who better to get notes from than a roommate?

4. “Can I use your (insert random item here)?”

Be it a vacuum cleaner, a waterproof shower speaker, or anything in between, my roommates and I share a lot of things.

5. “Who’s home?”

With four girls who have four very different schedules, we never know who is home at any given time. “Who’s home?” is a very common text message in our roommate group chat.

6. “Did someone feed the fish?”

Another common question in the group chat. We have two fish, Amelia "Mia" Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, named after the Genovian royal in The Princess Diaries, and Aurora, named after Sleeping Beauty. We should probably have reminders in our phones to feed the fish, but instead we just ask each other all the time.

7. “Will you kill the spider?”

This phrase can be uttered at any time of the day or night, and at any decibel. It can also be phrased as a question or as a command. However, it is never uttered without some sense of urgency.

8. “Let’s play cards.”

We frequently play the card game BS in our living room. Playing cards is a low-cost activity, but it’s so much fun to interact with each other!

9. “You’d better not get me sick!”

This phrase is usually followed by, “Disinfect everything you’ve touched!” When one roommate gets sick, it’s usually only a matter of time before the other roommates get sick, too. Lysol, cold medicine, cough drops, and staying away from the sick roommate are our weapons against getting sick.

What are your common phrases?