Swans on Tea

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 and determines a common nomenclature.

Back when I was a youngster, many of these pieces did not exist in our LEGO™ collection. (Can I have my curmudgeon certificate now?) Mainly it was the single- and double-wide pieces, of standard thickness and the thin plate pieces, and 4×4 roof pieces: angled, and interior and exterior corners. Not much more than that. I think I noticed the explosion of newer pieces with the introduction of the spaceship sets my brother got: hinged and rotating pieces, non-rectangular plates and real windows.