Opinions

A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families

Thousands of different Lego exist, yet when your seven-year-old asks for “a clippy bit,” you know exactly what to hand him. GILES TURNBULL surveys a caucus of children.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TMN Contributing Writer Giles Turnbull finds it hard to write a meaningful bio, despite being a professional writer for some 15 years now. That’s horrifying. It’s frightening. You can visit him online at gilest.org.

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A selection of various Lego bricks

Catch us on a rainy weekend afternoon, and you’ll probably find my son and me busy spreading Lego over the living room floor. It’s easier to see it that way.

Typically, we will build spaceships. I’ll commence work on a solid chassis on which to hang all the fancy bits—the wings, superfluous for space flight but essential for seven-year-olds—and the greebles that make everything look, you know, more spaceship-y. My son will cast around for people-bits, with which to fabricate a spaceship pilot and perhaps a co-pilot. They will all need light sabers, of course. And control panels that move.

So each of us has a clear idea of which pieces we’re after, and two enormous plastic crates full of Lego from which to extract them.

It’s a scene that is replayed by kids and parents everywhere. And it’s the starting point for a unique quirk of language: Lego nomenclature.

Every family, it seems, has its own set of words for describing particular Lego pieces. No one uses the official names. “Dad, please could you pass me that Brick 2x2?” No. In our house, it’ll always be: “Dad, please could you pass me that four-er?”

And I’ll pass it, because I know exactly which piece he means. Lego nomenclature is essential for family Lego building.

“Dad, I’m building a roof for the medical pod, but I need a hinge-y bit to make it open up. You know, one of those four-er flat hinge-y bits.”

Raimi often builds spaceships but has never referred to the pieces by name, until prompted by his father—at which point he reveals that he possesses names for all of them in his head.Yes I do know. I’ll keep my eye out for one, I say. And do you want this flat groovy piece to go on the top there, behind your lasers?

“Oh, thanks Dad.”

Then, when another seven-year-old came round for tea after school one day, I overheard the two of them, busy in the spaceship construction yard that used to be our living room, get into a linguistic thicket.

“Can you see any clippy bits?” my son asked his friend. The friend was flummoxed. “Do you mean handy bits?” he asked, pointing.

“Yes,” replied my boy. “Clippy bits.”

Of course! This language of Lego isn’t just something our family has invented; every Lego-building family must have its own vocabulary. And the words they use (mostly invented by the children, not the adults) are likely to be different every time. But how different? And what sort of words?

Hence, a survey. I asked fellow parents to donate their children for a few minutes, and name a selection of Lego pieces culled from the Lego parts store.

Our small, international cast (half Brits, half Americans) is made up of four children. First, my seven-year-old son Barney, who surveyed the list as if it was another piece of homework. His friend, Jem, also seven, went through the list and then wanted to do it again. Five-and-a-half-year-old Max didn’t hesitate to name every piece. Six-year-old Raimi often builds spaceships, but has never referred to the pieces by name, until prompted by his father—at which point he revealed that he possessed names for all of them in his head.

So that’s how we discovered that a “cylinder one-er” can also be known as “Coke bottles” or a “golden wiper.” Or that an “upper” is also a “bow” or a “cannon,” or a “four-studded upward slope.” And that a “light saber” is a “light saber” no matter where you live or how much Lego you have.

And most of the time it, it all works fine. Within families, the communication is clear, and a clippy bit is most clearly a clippy bit. Even if there are three different kinds of clippy bit in one model, we’ll know exactly which one we’re all talking about at the time. Lego, like language, benefits from context.

A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families

Lego Piece	Barney	Raimi	Max	Jem
Angle Plate 2x2	A bent four-er	Ladder without steps, because it’s like air vents	Silver ramp	Six-studded clippy piece
Round Plate 1x1	Round flat one-er	Rounds, because they’re round	The bronze jewel	Stud
Plate 1x1 W. Up Right Holder	A flat clippy piece	Claws	Golden snapper	Clippy piece
Plate 1x2 W. 1 Knob	A two-er with only one bobble	Eye	Gold board	A two-pieced one stud
Plate 1x1 W. Holder	A flat clippy bit	Claws	Blue snapper	Hand piece
Brick 1x1	A rectangular one-er	One-piece	Redder	One-brick piece
Plate 1x1	Flat square one-er	Squares	A green stander	Squared stud
Round Brick 1x1	Cylinder one-er	Coke bottles	Golder wiper	Round one-brick
Connector Peg W. Knob	A joining bit	Eye	Blue tunnel	One-sided clippy bit
Turn Plate 2x2, Lower Part	Spinny bit	Fan	Target	Spinny piece
Flat Tile 1x1	Flat one-er with no bobble	Gold, because they look like gold	Flatpot	One-stud flat piece
Lamp Holder	Flat clippy piece	Rollers	Silver roller	Car mirror piece
Radiator Grille 1x2	Groovy bit	Air vents	Jail snail	Grill piece
T-piece	T-shaped joiney thing	T-space	Small ships—they have wings, you know	Three-poled piece
Light Sword Shaft	Light saber handle	Light saber—we have them	Light saber	Gray light saber handle
Turn Plate 2x2, Upper Part	The piece that goes on top of the spinny piece to make it spin	Burger bottom, because I have SpongeBob Legos and those were the bottoms of the crabby patties	Surrounder	Spinny piece that goes on the square bit
Roof Tile 2x2 Inv	An upper piece	Bow—that’s what they call the front of a boat	The cannon	Four-studded upward slope
Brick 1x2 M 2 Holes	Two-er hole-y bit	Connectors	Double cannon	Two-studded slotty piece
Diamond With Stick	Lego crystal	Gems	The jaguar’s jewel	Diamond piece, yellow
Brick 2x2	Four-er	Four-dot square	Lego piece	Four-studded brick
Butt	Microphone	Hose two, because we have a different hose	The gun	Blaster piece
Roof Tile 1x2x3	Upper piece	Mountain ledge	The slide	One-studded thin slopey piece
Brick 1x3	Three-er	Rectangle	The blocker	Three-studded thin piece
Light Sword Blade	Light saber blade	Other light saber part	Saber stick	Pink light saber blade
Bearing Element 2x2, Double	A piece you clip wheels on	Wheel connector	Twister	Small wheel axle
Right Plate 3x8 W. Angle	Wing piece	Wing	The ground	Aeroplane wing piece
Dragon’s Fire	Fire piece	Flame	Fire coral	Fire piece
Plate 2x2 Angle	L-shape	Slug, because it looks like a slug	The seat	Four-studded book piece
Brick 2x3	Six-er	Six-piece rectangle	Blue stander	Six-studded piece
Rudder 2x3x2	Wing piece	Tail rudder	The sword	Aeroplane tail piece
Roof Tile 2X2 45° No. 2	Control set	Computer; I have the same piece	The control	Aeroplane control panel
Brick 1x1 W. 4 Knobs	An attach-any-side piece	Fire hydrant	Four blaster	Five-studded single piece
Angular Brick 1x1	A piece that you can clip something on the side	One-hole fire hydrant	First cannon	Two-studded side piece