Michelle, a middle school teacher in Atlanta, Georgia, says her students believe they’ve invented a new word for “an injury received from a fist bump or dap.” They say they created fistumba as a combination of fist and Zumba, the popular dance exercise. They’re wondering how to improve their chances of spreading this new word, and they’ve been discussing the children’s book Frindle, by Andrew Clements, which is about inventing and trying to popularize a new term. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Fistumba”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this must be Grant. This is Michelle Stein. I’m calling from the Davis Academy in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hi, Michelle. Wait, is that a school? You’re a teacher?
That is correct.
Wow. One of the noble ones.
Indeed. Middle school, no less.
Oh, terrible time.
Ooh.
What can we do for you, Michelle?
I have a particular group of students in one of my classes who have coined a new phrase.
Word actually is more accurate, we believe.
And we’re looking for the community to give us some feedback on whether there is any other word that has the same meaning or whether we can encourage the use of the one we’ve created.
Okay, very good.
All right, do tell.
Yes, please.
Let’s hear it.
The word that we have come up with is fistumba, F-I-S-T-U-M-B-A.
It has two uses as a noun and a verb.
And it is the occurrence whereby two people fist pump one another, and an injury occurs by accident.
They fist bump each other?
Yes.
Fist pump, fist bump, whatever the current term is, rather than hand slapping nowadays at the closed fist pump.
Okay, because I’ve never heard it called fist pump.
Oh, well, that’s interesting.
It’s common language from these parts.
It’s not fist bump with a B, it’s with a P?
Either works.
Oh, wow.
I mainly know it as a fist bump or a dap, a D-A-P.
Oh, I haven’t heard dap.
So what are they doing where this becomes violent?
How do you hurt somebody or yourself when you’re doing this?
Well, what occurred was a student got a correct response on something they were working on, and a student sitting next to them, instead of the high five, fist pumped or bumped or dapped them.
Very enthusiastically.
Correct.
So how did they come up with the word?
I mean, fistumba, it sort of sounds like something you might squeeze.
It sounds like a fistula to me.
Well, that actually occurred.
One of the two students involved looked in the dictionary and saw that fistula was a word.
He actually did that.
Andrew’s pointing to himself.
Yay, Andrew.
For Latin for flute, I believe.
Yeah, it means a hole between two parts of the body that shouldn’t have a hole.
Right.
Now, he had no prior knowledge of that word.
But I think what has occurred and what we’ve tossed around in our class is that Zumba is a current popular term being used for a form of dance exercise.
Oh, okay.
And I think that because that word is floating around very much in the current community, it popped into their heads and it seemed to flow well.
Fistumba for an injury received while fist bumping.
Correct.
Well, let me just say, your boldness in calling a national radio show to ask whether or not you can propagate it means your chances have improved.
Ooh.
Because it takes a lot of muscle to make a word stick.
You really have to be highly connected.
Yeah, we discussed that.
You almost need to be a marketing agent for your word.
Right, right.
What other strategies have they used to popularize the term?
At this point, it’s been mouth-to-mouth demonstrations, of course, within the school confines.
Lots of demonstrations.
No chaperones, I guess.
Yep, and it actually brought out a discussion of the book Friendle, which you may or may not deal with.
Yes, the other word for a pencil, right?
Correct.
A pen, yeah.
A pen.
Oh, it’s a pen, okay.
But other than that, we aren’t quite sure how to propagate it.
Okay, so here’s your strategy.
First, call a national radio show and tell them what about the word.
Great.
Here’s the second part of it.
The second thing that you have to do is all of your students need to get all of their friends to use it.
But they need to use it in a non-demonstrative kind of real way.
You can’t force a word on people if it sounds awkward or weird.
You’ve got to use it naturally and a lot.
And the cool kids have to be using it.
Oh, that’s easy.
If the cool kids just bail on this word, it’s never going to work.
No, the cool kids created it.
And then the third thing is you as the teacher need to teach it to your other classes.
Absolutely. It’s on the wall.
Oh, there we go.
And put it in the school newsletter, in the school newspaper.
Make sure she goes home to the parents and talk about it at the PTA meeting.
Yeah, rename the football team, the fighting festumbas.
You need to get a declaration from the mayor that says National Festumba Day here in Atlanta.
The lady festumbas.
Yes, we’re in the process of learning how to write formal letters.
We can do that too.
There you go.
So here’s what we’re going to do.
You’re going to do all this work, and we’re just going to wait five years.
We’re going to wait five years, and you call us back, and you let us know how it went, okay?
You got it.
Thanks for calling, Michelle.
Well, can I have my students give you one giant hello because they’re anxiously waiting?
Oh, please.
Yes, absolutely.
Hello, bright minds.
Now, I want to hear them say their new word.
It’s you, sir.
That’ll work.
That’s fantastic.
Thank you, Michelle.
They do sound cool.
Yeah, thank you to your students as well.
Thank you so much.
Good luck.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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