Emily from Madison, Wisconsin, has three nieces and a nephew, and wonders if there’s a gender-neutral term for the group of them, in the same way cousins can designate one or two genders. German has the single word Geschwisterkind, meaning “a child...
A San Diego, California, listener bemoans the lack of a specific term for the person who is married to one’s brother or sister. The best we can do in English is brother-in-law or sister-in-law, but often that needs further clarification. This is...
Gibberish and its variants aren’t just for goofy teens in the wayback of the station wagon. As Jessica Weiss notes in Schwa Fire, the online magazine about language, people all over the world speak various forms of it. Her article features sound...
A listener shares a family expression to quiet kids down so the parents can speak. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Irish Miser Saying” Here’s another one of the Irish proverbs from 1813. This is about somebody who’s cheap, a miser...
A caller who grew up with 10 brothers and sisters recalls that whenever sibling squabbles erupted, her parents would intervene with a cheery, “Do you think the rain will hurt the rhubarb?” The children were expected to respond with: “Not if it’s in...
nosybody n.— «Which leaves one as a pretty lonely number for some here at Fuddruckers, who complain that they face ever more pressure—from relatives, nosybodies, and their own children—to produce siblings.» —“Company for an Only Child, and for...
