Familect

But now when I'm losing steam on a project, like I don't want to finish planting all the plants I bought, Pat will look at me and say, is it chapter four? So, Chapter 4 has become a familect, a shortcut for wanting to give up.

When Pat asks if it's Chapter 4, he's pointing back to an experience I shared with him, and it's gentle teasing that's become a shared memory.

Over the years, people have sent me a lot of familects, and I've noticed that they tend to fall into a few categories.

If you've ever studied how new words are formed in English, some of these will sound familiar.

because of the same ways new words get into the language as a whole.

Thanks for all your work on the podcast, Grammar Girl.

Bye.

To build up familects, people usually have to spend a lot of time together.