Slow it down, my friends.

This is an episode to listen to at one point next, because I’m going to be sharing songs with you.

And you know you don’t want to hear the songs all sped up.

That’ll be weird.

Your Daily Lex.

I have known Mignon Fogarty from Grammar Girl for many, many years, like 15 years or something, because Grammar Girl and other shows from the Quick and Dirty Tips Network were shows that we sold ads for.

I had to keep doing deals with the Quick and Dirty Tips parent, which was Macmillan Publishing.

And then I was selling ads for all those shows.

Plus, I’m a grammar fan and a linguistics major, so I have always enjoyed that show and Mignon herself.

I was a guest on that show not too long ago, talking about LexNotGamed.

And then right after that, Mignon had reached out to me being like, do you know anybody who could write songs for podcasts?

I was like, I do know somebody.

It’s me.

So one of the words that I believe Mignon has coined on her show is a term called familect.

And familect is the word that she uses to describe words that families concoct for themselves and then that their family uses going forward.

But it’s a word unique to that family.

Not every family uses it.

That family uses it, because it’s a term that their family has devised and then uses.

So Mignon had this idea of, what if we made songs about those words, those familects, and included them in the episodes where those stories come in from listeners, where listeners say, hey, here’s a word that my family uses, blah, blah, blah.

So she told me about the first one.

And you should listen to today’s episode of Grammar Girl to hear more about it.

But I believe it’s episode 1,061.

But so this family was once at a ghost town theme park in North Carolina.

And they saw some family in the parking lot, husband and wife, having a huge argument.

Because the husband wanted to go see some other thing.

And the wife was like, our kid’s not going to see that.

No.

And they had this vicious, angry fight.

And so from then on, the family who observed all this was like, are you mad or are you ghost town mad?

And so Mignon had reached out to me about the term ghost town mad.

Could I write a song about it?

So I did.

And I sent it to Mignon.

She’s like, wow, I was not expecting you to write a song that fast and record it.

But that’s not what I want.

She was very kind about it.

But I had written a song that was about being ghost town mad.

And she wanted a song about the origin of the familect ghost town mad.

That’s a different thing.

One is being that angry.

And one is how we came up with that term for being angry.

So first, I’m going to play you my song, Ghost Town Mad, about being ghost town mad.

And then I’ll also share the song that’s in today’s episode of the Grammar Girl podcast as well.

The song about the origins of ghost town mad.

So enjoy.

First, the song I wrote that was not what Mignon wanted.

Whoops.

It’s not a tiff.

It’s not a spat.

The frustration that I’m feeling, no, it’s nothing like that.

It’s not a petty disagreement.

It’s pretty bad.

I gotta be honest.

I’m ghost town mad.

Mad, ghost town mad.

I’m ghost town mad.

Mad, ghost town mad.

I’m not irked, not seeing red.

The anger that I’m feeling, something different instead.

It’s not a case of being grumpy.

Go on, dad.

I gotta be honest.

I’m ghost town mad.

Mad, ghost town mad.

I’m ghost town mad.

Mad, ghost town mad.

Don’t tempt fate.

Don’t escalate.

I’m ghost town mad.

Mad, ghost town mad.

I’m ghost town mad.

Mad, ghost town mad.

So look, I like that song.

I think that’s a fun song.

I think it captures the feeling of being ghost town mad.

But again, it’s not what Mignon wanted.

Mignon wanted a song about the origin story of how that term came to be.

So here’s the song that’s in today’s episode of Grammar Girl that’s about the origins of the term ghost town mad.

Way back in North Carolina, a brand new term began.

A fight so monumental between a woman and her man.

Dad wanted to visit the Scottish Museum, but mom said, oh, no way.

Our four-year-old wouldn’t care for that.

And so we remember to this day.

Are you mad, or are you ghost town mad?

It’s the kind of mad that lingers.

Are you mad, or are you ghost town mad?

Like your brain’s full of middle fingers.

Some fights fade like denim, but some are strong as steel.

And on that North Carolina day, we learned a whole new way to feel.

So darn angry in the parking lot, they’re a ghost town in the sky.

Yelling and screaming and carrying on.

And thanks to them, that’s why we gotta ask.

Are you mad, or are you ghost town mad?

It’s the kind of mad that endures.

Are you mad, or are you ghost town mad?

Like anger, sweat, and rife out of your pores.

We’re all mad.

We’re all ghost town mad.

We’re all mad.

We’re all mad.

Yeah, we’re ghost town mad.

Lex.