Materteral

Yellowsail - Be There or Be Square

We have the word avuncular to mean like an uncle, but is there one word for describing someone or something aunt-like? Materteral is one option, though it’s rarely used. This is part of a complete episode.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

1 comment
  • Interesting question. I suggest “auntly” (an existing English word, albeit probably not much more common that materteral–though it’s at least in Webster’s Unabridged online, which materteral is not). Or maybe “auntily,” which in some pronunciations could echo “jauntily.” Or maybe “aunt-wise,” which could have nice undertones. “She was an auntly woman, and helped out at the reception very auntily; but when I jumped for the bouquet, she gave me an aunt-wise look.”
    Or maybe, since the original context is amongst Hispanic tias, “tiamente.”

More from this show

Use Ya Blinkah

Meg in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, gets why the state highway department encourages drivers to use their blinkers when changing lanes, but placing a digital sign at the Sagamore Bridge that reads Use Ya Blinkah is, well, a lexical bridge too far. Meg’s...

Recent posts