Just for the record, I coined "avauntcular" in August 2009 after a friend at Testy Copy Editors chat room asked what would be a good word for the feminine form of avuncular? Avauntular is good, above, but hard to pronounce, and I thought of that, but i went for "avauntcular" because it's easier to say and easier to hear and get it and understand the reference to avuncular and it's now on Uban Dictionary

Mameish

My wife has used the word AUNTICULAR for 22 years with our nieces. It is an excellent and fluid word for the feminine of avuncular!!

I just got to my computer and see that others have thought of the same word for 'aunt like' as I did --

AVAUNTCULAR

makes a nice match with avuncular ...

I thought of "avauntular" (w/either the "ant" or "awnt" pronunciation), but the "l" (& the "c") in "avuncular" both come from the "un*cle*" root, so they don't belong in a word that comes from "aunt." I don't think "avauntar" would work, so how about "avauntal"?

Years ago I took a shot at learning the Gaelic language. There was a brief introduction to the nuances of the language. The one that stayed with me was that Gaelic didn't have a yes or no but rather degrees of affirmative and negative. The idea being that humans couldn't know anything absolutely. It explained a lot about Irish interactions with the English where the English were often frustrated by the "evasive" way the Irish tended to answer them. I've often thought the humility of this approach is something that might be more appropriate than the Anglo-Saxon absolutes of yes or no.

Actually I guess you need the "u" in there so it doesn't look contrary. So: auntimamian.
Auntimamianism is my aspiration.

Antimamian (like Auntie Mame, a colorful, free-spirited and eccentric woman)

If Avuncular refers to an Uncle, Auntaggular refers to an Aunt, as in "Aunt Aggie" !

How about 'autuncular'...?

No - some modern variants:

"your call is important to us"
"thank you for your comments"
"your business is important to us"
"our staff will respond to you within 1 business day"

auntlike = tantular or amitary

I live in Park Slope and I can tell you that no is not the first word that kids learn here. It's a word they never learn. As for a word for aunt- if she is a sweet caring aunt she would be an auntiedote. or an auntiedoter.

Aunticular

Ethelian, like Ethel

Antumnal

auntiesocial

[5] I could be wrong, but I think that "not so much" came (as did so many other great expressions) from Seinfeld.

RE: A female equivalent to avuncular

According to Wiktionary:
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/materteral)

Adjective: materteral (comparative more materteral, superlative most materteral)
Pertaining to, or in the manner of, an aunt; feminine version of avuncular

Uses in Print:
1990 (US), Peter Van Inwagen, Material Beings, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0801483069, p. 9,
It may be that stipulations about parts and wholes are, in some way that undermines my materteral analogies, unlike stipulations about aunts and legacies.
2004 (UK), Saif Rahman, Archipelago, Twenty First Century Publishers Ltd, ISBN 1904433227, p. 150,
Only some insistent pleading (materteral rather than avuncular) had changed their mind.

Avauntular of course.

Counterpart for Avuncular: Formicidine

Let's be symmetrical... Avauntular!

The most logical femine form of avuncular would be
avauntular but if we were ok with riffing on uncle we could try:
avunculette, avunculess avunculady

I'm working on variants without the uncle part.....

How about "auntler".

There's no more famous aunt than Auntie Em. I'm the aunt of two. So the female equivalent of avuncular is, of course, emily!

Like an aunt = tantular or amitary

Uncles are Avuncular.

Aunts are Avauntular.

avauntular

The aunt version of avuncular? How about avantular (pron. ay-vant-yoo-ler)?

One of my least favorite new political words is "The Homeland." It reeks of Bush-era doublespeak.

avauntcular, of course!

auntlike = TANTULAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should do a piece about the language of baseball. Duck snort, bleeder, texas leaguer, chin music, etc. The colloquial language of baseball is fascinating. It is ever-changing and shifting like Cockney rhyming slang.

Where did "not so much" come from and what was behind its ascendancy?
I hear and read this expression every day nowadays, but rarely heard it used a decade ago.

how about "yes, but"
this is a great variation

i wear this button often

http://www.tnellen.com/pics/yes_but.jpg

How about 'no worries,' I can't stand when people say that. And it only sprouted up recently in corporate talk.

When does "no" really mean "no"? For instance, in question sentences, the word "no" may not make the sentence negative.

Example:

1. Will you shut the door?

2. Won't you shut the door?

Assuming the request is granted, the response to both would be "Sure". Opposite question, same answer. What is the linguistic reasoning for this?

I have a four year old who doesn't understand my native language now. I spoke to him Albanian until he turned two but switched to English then. Quite often I have doubts whether that was the right decision. He is very eloquent in English.