Every family has words that they commonly use that make no sense to others. Sure, the word or phrase has a commonly accepted definitions, but to quote Inigo Montoya, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”.

I’m not thinking the usual suspects that come with a native tongue, like Scottish people using ‘wee’ for ‘small’, referring to Achertermuchty as a place everyone knows, or McGonagall as a great poet. I’m thinking family words, often coupled with an accent, that are a whole new world to others.

An aunt may start to use the word(s) but not know what they actually mean because they married/partnered into a family when their sister married some guy from Australia and the word just became part of the family too. It may be that your son’s partner, attempting to be nice, just goes along with what is said and is afraid to ask in case they somehow offend. When your brother joins your wife’s family to help build a garage, and then sits and nods appreciatively as the strange words fly around the conversation. A friend may be part of a conversation amongst family members and later ask, “what was that?”, as if you personally know the complete etymology of every word used in the conversations. Heck, one might even use the word for years and not actually know what it means and no one seems to want to change that or ‘let you know’.

In one part of our family we have many such words, but three always come up, mostly said with authority and perceived expertise in the subject matter at hand, but completely incorrect. Grevillea, any flower you don’t know the name of when out for a walk or hike. Dicky bird, any bird you don’t know the name of when out for a walk or hike. Tiddlers, anything you point at in interest but don’t know the name of when out for a walk or hike. Get to know these types of words to avoid future confusion or embarrassment. NEVER used words until you know what is going on!. The improper use of these words is one thing, but the ribbing you get for any such errors will outlive you and always come up at dinner or in polite company.

*Everyone has more than one family, let’s face it. It’s like the pandemic where you have cohorts (A COVID-19 cohort, also referred to as a bubble, circle, or safe squad, is a small group whose members (always the same people) do not always keep 2 metres apart) or a Venn Diagram where you have logical relations between sets.