💬From @Nigella_Lawson's 'mee-cro-wah-vay' to the Guillain family's 'horse water', every family has their own secret language.
@tomough explores why and how these hilarious 'familects' arise.
Thread 👇🧵
telegraph.co.uk/family/life/ev…
@tomough explores why and how these hilarious 'familects' arise.
Thread 👇🧵
telegraph.co.uk/family/life/ev…
🧠Earlier this week, the team behind QI chose 'Familect' as their word of the day:
"FAMILECT: the distinct dialect you develop with your family...the inside jokes, the deliberately mispronounced words."
➡️Twitter became awash with users sharing their own familial neologisms
"FAMILECT: the distinct dialect you develop with your family...the inside jokes, the deliberately mispronounced words."
➡️Twitter became awash with users sharing their own familial neologisms
💬The Hartley family, of the South-East, has a word to describe the uttering of a non-sequitur.
“When ‘fnord’ is declared,” says Julien, a 59-year-old retired management consultant, “the utterer is obliged to explain the link.”
“When ‘fnord’ is declared,” says Julien, a 59-year-old retired management consultant, “the utterer is obliged to explain the link.”
🗣️In Devon, the Sturges family has given to the language “several words based on gross dog behaviour.”
🐶Fiona Sturges credits her forebears with the coinage of “yachting” (the act of a dog dragging its undercarriage across the floor in order to relieve an itch)
🐶Fiona Sturges credits her forebears with the coinage of “yachting” (the act of a dog dragging its undercarriage across the floor in order to relieve an itch)
🐎For the Guillain family of Oxfordshire, the musty water left in a reusable bottle has a name: “Horse water.”
Charlotte Guillain, a writer of children’s books, has no idea how the name arose, “but it makes total sense to us”
Charlotte Guillain, a writer of children’s books, has no idea how the name arose, “but it makes total sense to us”
❓Why are families all so prone to these quirky neologisms?
Bill Lucas, co-author of 'Kitchen Table Lingo' explains that these words often refer to familiar items, such as the TV remote control, a phrase so boring that it practically invites improvement
Bill Lucas, co-author of 'Kitchen Table Lingo' explains that these words often refer to familiar items, such as the TV remote control, a phrase so boring that it practically invites improvement
According to Countdown's resident lexicographer @susie_dent, our 'familects' are "the talk of our tribe, our history, our comfort language”
💬For @Nigella_Lawson "it’s about cementing community, and making your own space – your own family, your own further family, making them have special words which give them the key to your community"
🗣️When people share their familects, we get a glimpse into the best of their relationships – and at the same time, a glimpse into the best of our own
Read more from @tomough here 👇
telegraph.co.uk/family/life/ev…
Read more from @tomough here 👇
telegraph.co.uk/family/life/ev…
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