28 replies to this topic

[caperberry]

In the '70s when playing LEGO with my sister, we'd naturally have names for the parts as we asked each other for help finding things. But nowadays, with those same discussions happening at a global level, we all know the official LEGO names, the 'official' unofficial ones, as well as many great nicknames we all love to use.
I want to know what cute names you had for parts as a kid! I remember calling tiles "soft things" for a while. We always called round 1x1 bricks "milk bottles" - as for years we only had them in trans and white! - and I still call them that today regardless of colour.

[AndyC]

For reasons I cannot even begin to explain, in my house a 1x2 brick was called a "nitter".



I'm not sure any explanation of why would ever make sense.

[Sinner]

I remember one of the rare times I was building with my sister and she kept asking for a "chick-chick thing". This I couldn't work out, but then she found one...





I rarely make names, normally I go by mental pictures, but I used to call "plates" flats, and tiles "smooth flats". (Smooth flats were rare for me then.)

[caperberry]

AndyC, on 26 February 2012 - 03:35 PM, said:

For reasons I cannot even begin to explain, in my house a 1x2 brick was called a "nitter".
I'm not sure any explanation of why would ever make sense.

Awww please do! It's a great name. The less sense the better :O)

[brickmack]

Bricks were bricks, tiles and plates were both thins, and for a while I was naming parts by measurements other than studs (mainly mm), but I decided stud count was easier because my estimating skills are not particularly great in "real" units (Though I do naturally seem to estimate sizes by my own unit, which doesn't seem to correspond to any regular units used...) Any part that fits into the general category of greebles/detail bits was termed something along the lines of "thingy" or "doohickey" or similar words. I only rarely used any of these terms though, because I rarely talk to people in real life about LEGO, and just use mental images for identification. Still, I've adapted my own vocabulary to the terms used in the fan community, so communication is a bit easier.

[soccerkid6]

Usually I would just have to try and describe the part I was looking for (to my siblings). But we did call these up and downers.
Makes sense I guess.....

Edited by soccerkid6, 26 February 2012 - 08:30 PM.

[Hrw-Amen]

I did not really have any names as such. My father and I used to build stuff together and we just called them bricks or plates that were defined by the number studs in much the same way that we would today. For example a 2X4 Brick or whatever. The only thing I recall other than that was the tiles which we also called smooth plates because of the lack of studs. But as we did not have that many back then it did not really matter.

[Brickdoctor]

As a child I never really liked building with other people (competing for bricks and trying to prevent other kids from destroying my MOCs and my plans too all the fun away ), so I never really named them. Mentally, it was always, "I need this brick", and I'd have a mental picture of the brick, and I'd just think of it as "that brick". I do know that I always called slopes "ramps", though.

[-zenn]

My sister and I named bricks according to its length/studs.

For example; 'een viertje' (dutch), 'a four'.



Same went for other brick sizes.  
Like a 1x4 plate was called a 'plat viertje' (dutch), a 'flat four'.

Edited by -zenn, 26 February 2012 - 09:45 PM.

[Scorpiox]

Bricks (e.g. 8 stud brick), flat bricks and smooth bricks, cones and tubes. Becaues I had no idea until joining  the interwebs how to identify them by measurements (e.g. 2x4 brick).

[woolie]

My names weren't too far off "today's" names. I did refer to "plates" as "flats," though, and think it's a bit softer word than "plate." So, I still tend to use it.

[Redhead1982]

We had a similar system back then when I was younger. The bricks were named by their length, such as fours or twos or sixes, but then there we also distinguished between 2xsomething and 1xsomething bricks by using 'double' or 'single', respectively. The plates were 'plates', and tiles we had none. The slopes and inverted slopes were uniformly called 'roofs' or 'inverted roofs'. But most often, the bricks were simply named by their use, so inverted slopes were sometimes named 'toilet' as well. We didn't have so many different types of bricks, so some of the bricks had multiple names, depending on the usage.

-zenn, on 26 February 2012 - 09:45 PM, said:

My sister and I named bricks according to its length/studs.

For example; 'een viertje' (dutch), 'a four'.

[rriggs]

Fascinating topic!

My brothers and I did most dimensions pretty sensibly (eg 4x2, 1x8, etc) but did have different names for many items:

Legoman = Minifig
Plate = Baseplate
Flat = Plate
Flat-Flat = Tile
Slope = Sloped Brick
Roundie = Rounded Brick
Twirler = Small Turntable

I'm sure there were more but I'm getting old and forget....    A lot of the rest were fairly normal descriptions I think.

Cheers

Rog

[caperberry]

rriggs, on 27 February 2012 - 08:12 PM, said:

Flat-Flat = Tile

Like.

[BrickBox]

-zenn, on 26 February 2012 - 09:45 PM, said:

My sister and I named bricks according to its length/studs.

For example; 'een viertje' (dutch), 'a four'.

Same went for other brick sizes.  
Like a 1x4 plate was called a 'plat viertje' (dutch), a 'flat four'.

Same here! We called them exactly the same, only there was no distinction between bricks with different width. So a 'four' could either be or , though I remember the latter was sometimes called an 'eight' (which of course could also mean this )
However, that problem was solved for plates, because any plate with a width of 1 stud (and longer than 2 studs) was called a 'bar' ('Stange' in German).

I still catch myself sometimes using those names, then I realize they are so ambiguous and switch over to the offical naming pattern.

[Tragic Banjo]

I still think of 1x1 round plates as "nurdles." I called studs "bumps," so bricks had names like "four-bumper." My partner refers to Erling bricks as cameras. I'm sure there are plenty more, but none I can remember at the moment.

[WhiteFang]

Not to ridicule, but when I was a child playing with my LEGO. I just called all of the LEGO parts as 'bricks'. And, if I asked my brother for any parts, I will say, "Pass me the whole bucket of bricks and I will search from that messy pile."  

[Clone O'Patra]

I can't recall any other than calling minifigures 'Lego guys.'  I remember that the first time I read the word minifigure, which was in relation to the sets of three minifigures in the early 00's, I was supremely confused and wondered if the Lego guys in these sets were normal or if they were smaller (because of the 'mini').

[Palathadric]

Minifigs were always legomen. If they were girls they were "girl legomen".
Slopes were "slanted pieces".
Small plates were "flats"
Big plates were "platforms"
Baseplates were "big platforms"
Tiles were "slidy pieces"
I'm sure i can think of more...
Trans bricks were always "see through bricks."
The <insert that tiresome argument> wall pieces were "castle pieces"
and the corners were "corner castle pieces."

Edited by palathadric, 28 February 2012 - 01:37 PM.

[Cwertle]

My sister called the tiles "Soft" pieces    
I don't recall naming any pieces though.

[rriggs]

palathadric, on 28 February 2012 - 01:31 PM, said:

Trans bricks were always "see through bricks."

I forgot that one on my list!!  We called them them same.

Trans plates and tiles were called "lights".  I guess because we only had 1x1s and we only used them as lights on cars, etc.

Cheers

Rog

[caperberry]

BrickBox, on 28 February 2012 - 12:05 AM, said:

Same here! We called them exactly the same, only there was no distinction between bricks with different width. So a 'four' could either be or , though I remember the latter was sometimes called an 'eight' (which of course could also mean this )

We had that issue too! We called bricks 'one-ers', 'two-ers', 'four-ers' and never thought to call a 2x4 differently from a 1x4... we just complained when the sibling passed the wrong piece!


There was that very exciting day in about 1979 I think when we got our first ... a three-er! Coincidentally I now have a friend whose name is Threeya and I always think of that LEGO piece when I see her.

[splatman]

Thinking about this since seeing this topic yesterday, and I could not recall anything besides these:
Minifigs = People.
Trans-clear pieces = Clear pieces.
Slopes = Roof Bricks.
Inverted Slopes = Upside Down Roof bricks.
Corner bricks and plates = L bricks and plates.
I don't think I had any names for anything else, though, I did think of 2xn bricks and plates as "Double-Wide", like in double wide mobile home, otherwise, I referred them only by their length. I never had my own name for plates or baseplates, however.
I went almost only my mental imagery, since other family members rarely touched my bricks. My Mom probably built 2 or 3 MOCs, my Dad, maybe 6, and my sister, a dozen or 3.
Over the years, I picked up the official names from catalogs, in the "Essential Extras" section (TLG's name for it, not mine.), and from the LEGO Builders Club magazines since I joined in '89 or so.
I'll use the edit function if I recall more.

[BrickBox]

caperberry, on 29 February 2012 - 02:11 AM, said:

There was that very exciting day in about 1979 I think when we got our first ... a three-er! Coincidentally I now have a friend whose name is Threeya and I always think of that LEGO piece when I see her.

Did you ever try to tell her that? The reaction would be interesting I think

[sharky]

What a great topic.

As a kid I always called tiles with no studs a "smoothie" because they are smooth on top.  Actually, I still kind of use that term with my daughter when I help her build stuff.

Round 1x1 tiles were called a "roundy"

If you can already guess, clear bricks and tiles was called a "cleary".  If the color was translucent red, for example, I would call it a "red cleary."

I called studs "bumps".

I would also describe a tile or brick based on how many studs it had.  A 1x3 was called a "three-be".  A 2x3 was called a "six-be".  So on and so forth.  

Edited by sharky, 29 February 2012 - 04:21 PM.