We are a small store, three designers/salespeople at most, often two. The team we have now has been together for several years. Because one of my coworkers is going off to run a new store, we are trying out new employees.

Yesterday, this conversation took place:

John: "Is this Don's, uh...?
Genevive: "Yeah."

And we three veterans all knew that John was asking if this was Don's (a great artist and regular customer who we've seen evolve from the beginning - and a really nice guy) flier for his current gallery show; from that little bit. We also had all of the above associations with Don. The new guy, as would be expected, was clueless. Other shorthand conversations like that have been noticed too.

These sorts of things happen all of the time with close friends and couples. But it just shows how close we get to the people we work with. We don't even have to finish sentences any more.

So my question for everyone is:

Do you use this sort of familiarity when you write your characters that have known each other for a long time? Or have you used it to show just how outside of a group someone is? How often do you do this with people in your own life?

Just curious to see what you think.