Me Dad’s A Muggle; Mum’s A Witch

(My whole family is made up of geeks. My mom and sister “pass” as normal unless you find just the right topic, but the geekiness is still there. Mom doesn’t seem to see it that way, though, and insists she just indulges the rest of us. I’m talking to my mom about a convention a friend of mine and her brother went to that weekend.)

Me: “It’s the first time [Brother] has ever done a full weekend at a con because his wife just doesn’t get the appeal and begrudges the cost, but [Friend] brought him as a combination birthday/Christmas gift. [Brother]’s wife is, apparently, a total… well, [Friend] and I call them ‘muggles.’ — people with no connection or interest in nerd things at all who just don’t get it.”

Mom: *brightly* “Like me!”

Me: *after a pause* “Mom, you spend all year putting together your costume for your weekend-long Steampunk murder mystery LARP. You are not a muggle; you’re just niche.”

(Yes, I’m aware that the usage of “muggle” is common online and in my generation. My friend and I didn’t invent it. However, opening that can of worms with my mother would have derailed the conversation into speculation about linguistic shift, as it has done in the past. And I stand by my assessment. Mom used to pick situationally appropriate songs for her D&D bard to be singing and was the reason we used to get so many story modifiers on our bluff checks. No one who has proper opinions on the point in time when it becomes more effective to Aid Another rather than to try and hit the monster themselves should really be calling themselves a “muggle.”)