Meaniac
Meaniac - combination of meanie and maniac. Invented by my late, great Nonna to describe her kids and grandkids. It's a lighthearted word.
To an outsider, especially one without a big, loud and proud family, visiting the Lombardi household for Sunday dinner must have been a strange experience. The children were allowed to, almost encouraged to run riot around the place. They would run around their Nonna's home and treat it like their own assualt course. Jumping over and onto couches, rolling and crawling under tables and sneaking up on unsuspecting family members to attack-cuddle and scare them. Really, they were doing anything they could to be little menaces, without actually hurting anyone or damaging anything deliberately.
"They're only young once". "God, they've got a little of energy" and "They'll sleep well tonight" were commonly used phrases. To an outsider, the little meaniacs must have seemed unruly and undisciplined. When really, they were just children who loved and given the freedom to be children. As much as their Nonna would call them meaniacs, she meant it with a deep adoration and love.
The crazy beasts were just kids and whether an outsider was able to accept that or not, despite their opposing view of how a childhood should be, played a huge part on how well they would be accepted into the Lombardi fold.
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Thanks for reading!
Author's Notes: This challenge is perfect because I use quite a few made-up words and have inherited a few from my family. This is an entry for the Neolomicro challenge which you can read more about here:
The credit for "meaniac" should go squarely to my late, great Nonna, though, as it was her that first coined it. As far as I know, anyway.
The above is more or less based on a true story.
Let me know what you think in the comments, please! I appreciate feedback and love engaging with my readers and fellow writers.
If you enjoyed this, you might like these:
You can also check out the rest of my work here.
About the Creator
Paul Stewart
Scottish-Italian poet/writer from Glasgow.
Overflowing in English language torture and word abuse.
"Every man has a sane spot somewhere" R.L Stevenson
The Accidental Poet - Poetry Collection is now available!
https://paulspoeticprints.etsy.com
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Comments (11)
Fun and warm imagery here even if I don’t much like children for these reasons - hah, I still was one. Tried to find something I’d not read of yours! I think I might have to start from the beginning next time..any skeletons back there I should be wary of? 😄
Meaniac! Brilliant! I loved the way you describe the energy of the children in this!
The way I've always thought church should be.
The title made me smile as soon as I saw it, because I remembered your wonderful story about your Nonna and this word. I loved the last paragraph! As you know, I’ve worked as a nanny for several years now. Recently, I’ve started babysitting various children on the weekends. I couldn’t agree more with these sentiments. This was beautifully done.
Oh I was definitely a meaniac kid, lol. Loved your story Sir Paul! 🍩🥐
Many thanks to your late Nonna for coining this term. I intend to use it often. Also, I believe that's the way every Nonna's house should be. Thoroughly enjoyed this one!
Great story Paul!
Meaniac goes with Mugly kinda
Sofas have definitely been somewhat multipurpose in this household!
Oh this is just perfect! Your Nonna is amazing! And love the word! 🤍
Your Nonna is so adorable for creating the word , nice family story 🙂