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Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

A Way with Words, a radio show and podcast about language and linguistics.

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Of Framily and pumpkins
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1
2008/05/03 - 8:20am

I'd like to share a couple of words with my fellow word nerds.
It is "Framily". This term was brought to my attention by a member of my own framily through a blog post of hers. Basically, Framily is "the group of friends that become your core social group. The people you spend holidays with. The people you celebrate your birthday with. The people to whom you send mass emails when anything of any significance in your life happens. The people who make you feel better no matter what. These are friends who are family."
I love this word. Unlike biological family, Framily are people you choose for your family.

The other part of my post is regarding a slang term. My framily has been using this for over 10 years, and I believe it was my friend Rachel who first used it. The term is "To pumpkinize". Basically, when it's getting late and/or you're tired and ready to head home, you say, "Time to pumpkinize." or "I'm pumpkinizing.", or even, "That's it, I'm a pumpkin." Like in Cinderella, where she has to be home by midnight or her carriage turns back into a pumpkin because the magic fizzles out, you need to get home before your remaining energy fizzles out.

PDXPaul
2
2008/05/09 - 12:54pm

I use pumpkin in the same context, too. Just a couple weeks ago at a friend's intimate b-day celebration, my lovely toddler daughter ran out of steam, somewhere around 9:30 or so. She laid her head on my shoulder and was fast asleep.

I declared, "baby turned into a pumpkin" and we said our adieus and made our way home. Other variations I have used are "I'm going to turn into a pumpkin" or "my car already turned into a pumpkin" (when I used to drive an orange VW).

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