Gary in Denton, Texas, is looking for a word for the pout that precedes a baby’s wail. The Germans have a word for that: schippchen, which means “little shovel” and refers to the shape of that wet, protruding lower lip. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Schippen, the Pout Face”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, my name is Gary Kaki. I’m calling from Denton, Texas.
Hi, Gary. Welcome to the show.
Hi, Gary.
The reason why I’m calling is I was hoping y’all could clarify a family colloquialism that I discovered.
So I recently had a son, and he has that face that is a powerful frown, which inevitably leads to a wail, and he starts crying afterwards.
And when my parents were in town, my father mentioned that his mom referred to that face as a shipshire, and he said he had never heard anybody else say it, and that got us thinking, where did that come from?
And I’ve done a little research, and I haven’t been able to find any answers myself, and I was hoping y’all could help shed some light on that.
We certainly can.
And that’s such a terrible moment, isn’t it, when you see that little lower lip coming out and you know it’s about to happen?
Yes, I find it so interesting that I didn’t find a word for it because everybody that I’ve described that face to knows exactly what I’m talking about.
And it’s not a frown and it’s not a cry, but it’s something completely distinct.
It’s a kind of pout, right?
Correct.
It’s a pout, or I’ve been calling it a frown with momentum.
That’s good.
Yeah, yeah.
It’s on its way to being a whale, right?
Correct.
Yes, and the Germans do have a term for this, and it’s schipchen.
And you spell that S-C-H-I-P-P-C-H-E-N, schipchen.
And it means little shovel, which I think is so adorable.
It’s like this little shovel of a lip coming out right before they start crying.
That’s interesting.
Yeah.
And that makes a lot of sense given my family history.
My grandmother was a German immigrant.
So it would make a lot of sense that she used that word, especially considering that there doesn’t seem to be an English equivalent to it that I found.
That is incredibly interesting.
Well, we’re glad to help you.
Thanks, Gary.
Really appreciate it.
Y’all have a great day.
Okay.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
What’s the word or phrase that’s bouncing around in your family conversations?
Give us a call about it.
