Make a Family Dictionary: Give Your Household Words a Meaning

Choose a word you still use at home

Pick a household nickname or phrase you would like to explain to someone else. Before recording who said it and when, describe what you do or think of on hearing it. An ordinary word can deserve an entry if it carries a different meaning within your family.

You do not need to collect the entire family's vocabulary at once. Start with one term you understand and feel comfortable writing down. Before including an unwanted nickname or a phrase that teases someone's mistake, ask whether the person wants it recorded. Even a memory other people laugh about can be left out if they do not want to keep it.

Write an entry with a definition and a full sentence

The term and family scene below are original fictional examples created by the editorial team. "Window time: a short pause after dinner, before we finish clearing the table, when we gather by the window to rest and look outside. Example: Before we wash up, let's have window time and see where the clouds have gone today." Including an action and situation in the definition helps a reader understand when to use the phrase.

A usage note could add: "We were carrying plates into the kitchen after dinner when my younger brother called for window time. We took just our cups and stood by the window." The example sentence shows the phrase working inside a complete sentence; the usage note gives the surrounding scene. In your own entry, distinguish words someone actually said from a sentence you created to explain the term.

Keep two meanings when the family has two uses

Imagine that another person in the same fictional family also uses "window time" for standing by the window on a rainy morning. You could add a second meaning, "a pause in getting ready to look outside," with the example "Our bags are packed, so let's have window time before we go." Listen to how each person uses the phrase before deciding that only one meaning is right.

If people remember its beginnings differently, start with the meanings you can confirm now. You can write, "We don't remember when we started saying this." Ask before copying someone's exact words, and avoid presenting a line reconstructed from memory as a precise quotation. The family's past does not need to become a single agreed account.

Make one dictionary entry in four steps

1. 1

   Write a household term as the entry's heading, and check that it is something people are comfortable keeping.

2. 2

   Briefly explain its meaning and the situation in which it is used, so someone outside the family could understand.

3. 3

   Write a complete sentence using the term. Say whether it records actual speech or is a new example you made up.

4. 4

   Add the usage scene and read the entry again. Keep different meanings as separate uses, then decide whether to save it privately or share it.

An entry can have no photo, or describe a retired word

You can save the definition and example in words alone. A photograph of the window or table where you gathered can add background if you have one. Unless you know the term was spoken in that pictured scene, avoid treating the photograph as direct evidence of its use. Say if you took the photograph later.

You may want to keep a word you used in the past but no longer say. Note that it is no longer in use, and agree with the family how much to explain about why. Making a dictionary entry does not require bringing the word back into conversation. You can leave uncomfortable memories out of the collection.

Decide what to write yourself and what to add together

In a Pogaem personal calendar, record the meanings you know and the example sentences you write yourself. A title and body text can be saved without a photograph. If you later confirm a meaning, add the date in the body so you can tell which explanation is new. You create the dictionary format in your own writing.

To contribute together, use a shared calendar online where each person actually has permission to write. Viewing or comment access does not grant permission to edit someone else's entry. Someone who cannot edit the body can contribute a usage in comments, if comments are allowed, or ask the writer to change it. Note whose meaning you have included where appropriate.