Where Are the Aunts?

Hasbro's dictionary¹ includes 134 entries. While it is likely that many more Furbish words will be identified over time, this base language already provides significant insight into Furbish society. This essay explores the language's two verified gendered words, dee-doh and oo-kah, and what they reveal about Furbish culture and social norms.

The Dude Problem

Given Furbys' origins on a cloud-island in the sky³, it is unlikely that dee-doh carries the American historical meaning of "dude." More likely, dee-doh is an informal slang term whose meaning more closely resembles the modern definition of "dude."

At the time of the original Furbish research in the late 1990s, "dude" had spread through the English-speaking world after steady growth in previous decades⁴. While the term was not entirely gender-neutral, its use had become more generalized as a greeting for a person or group of any gender, as a filler-word exclamation, or as a discourse marker that signals a casual, laid-back relationship between the speaker and their audience.

Based on this historic context, it is believed that dee-doh has roughly the same function, and that its translation to "dude" by the original researchers was as much a commercial decision to promote the newly arrived Furbys as it was a genuine attempt to accurately translate the word. It would not be the first time linguistic nuance has been lost to corporate interests.

This reading is supported by the fact that, as discussed above, gendered words are seemingly rare in the Furbish language. This essay therefore concludes that dee-doh is not a gendered term but a casual word for "friend" with no gender connotations.

This conclusion is further underscored by what we know about Furbys' life on their cloud-island homeland, A-loh May-lah⁵, where their survival depended upon bonding with creatures called Eons⁶. In a society where such close relations are paramount to survival, it follows that multiple terms for "friend" would proliferate. As such, dee-doh can be redefined as an informal term for "friend," a counterpart to the previously recorded term, noo-lah.

The Avuncular Question

Of course, an uncle is the brother of one's parent. Little research has been done on Furbish family systems, but given the large population of Furbys on Earth, it is reasonable to speculate that typical Furby families are large, with the potential for many siblings, and thus many aunts and uncles in subsequent generations.

As such, it is reasonable to conclude that oo-kah should be taken at face value, as a term for the male sibling of one's parent. However, this presents an obvious problem: where are the aunts?

Likewise, where are the other words for family relationships? Later Furbish research has proposed mama as a term for "mommy." However, it is the opinion of this researcher that this is simply an English loanword that some in the Furbish diaspora began using. After all, Furbys have been on Earth for nearly 30 years; it is reasonable to expect that some assimilation has occurred.

Thus, oo-kah remains the only known Furbish word for a family member. If we take the translation of uncle at face value, we are forced to consider the possibility that Furbys have an avuncular society; that is, a society with special emphasis on uncle relationships.

This is certainly a logical conclusion given the evidence. It also plays into what we know of Furbish culture: many Furbish terms are playful and congenial, much like the American stereotype of the fun uncle. However, there is one caveat: Furbys themselves are nonbinary, according to the 1999 Furby Trainer's Guide⁷. This is not an isolated claim. A commercial for Furby Babies⁸ confirms it when it introduces the birth of a Furby as follows: "Is it a girl? Is it a boy? No. Congratulations, it's a Furby baby."

Consequently, there is no reason for Furbish to contain gendered terms for family members. It must therefore be concluded that oo-kah refers neither to uncles nor to any other male-identifying person, relative or otherwise.

Some have speculated that oo-kah could refer to "mercy," a secondary meaning of uncle in English. Given the historic context at the time of translation, this is a plausible suggestion. In the late 1990s, "Say uncle" was a common expression uttered by people—particularly male relatives of the uncle variety—when playfully tormenting children.

However, this connotation is out of step with what we know about Furbish society. The known Furbish lexicon includes no words that directly connote violence, domination, or bullying.

This suggests a cultural norm of kindness and cooperation, a fact which is again supported by Furbys' harmonious interspecies relationships with both Eons and humans.

With other potential meanings exhausted, it becomes more plausible that oo-kah is a non-gendered term for a relative. When considered within the historic context of the original researchers, more nuance emerges. Influenced by the patriarchal gender assumptions of the United States in the late 1990s, they encountered a term meaning "older, respected relative" or "fun, congenial relative" and assigned it to the nearest male-coded family term: uncle.

As with dee-doh, it becomes clear that oo-kah is not a gendered term at all. Hasbro yet again filtered Furbish research through the gender assumptions of English-speaking culture.

Oo-kah must therefore be redefined as a term that refers to a beloved older family member, one essential to Furbish family life. Any other interpretation would be a deviation from what is known about Furbish culture and society.

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