Notes Regarding Niffler Vocabulary

Mun Note: This is not a complete list; much of the way niffler thinks and defines things will likely occur to me as roleplay continues. When new definitions arise, they will be added to this and I will make a note that it has been updated. 

Kin vs Human
People is a human term, for humans. It isn’t a term that the niffler would make use of, until he has a better grasp of English and forming human words. Animals is the human way of grouping together everything that is not human and once the niffler has a better understanding, he will probably take offense to the term in general. 

Humans are just that – they are human. Groups of humans, to the niffler, are herds or packs. Humans in herds are usually just those going about daily tasks and walking down the street, while humans in packs are actively posing as threats. 

Pack means predator, which means danger, which means run and hide, or stand and fight. When niffler starts referring to people in terms like pack, hunter, sett robber, nest wrecker, he is either angry or scared and liable to run or to fight. When they are referred to as herd, big plodders, good pets it means he is comfortable, ultimately uninterested, or fond. 

Only one human is considered sett or family to niffler and that is of course Mummy. (As Newt consistently states mummy’s here it has lead to the niffler conclusion that Mummy is his human’s special name. It may be very hard to shake him of this belief.) 

Kin are any beast that are not human, while sett kin are fellow niffler. Referring to a human as kin is literally never done. Humans are not like kin – they are not as well understood or trusted. For a human to be like kin is truly the grandest compliment niffler can possibly give, outside of sett human. Sett humans are niffler’s humans, which makes him possessive of them as he is of his treasure and nest. He will defend them as though they were part of his sett and again, there is presently only one human with that honor, though there are some kin (such as Pickett) who are also considered to be sett. 

Other Animals
Niffler has different terms for most animals than we do, based mostly on what they do. The only exception being birds and fish – literally everything with wings is a bird-type while everything that lives primarily in water is a fish-type. Snake-types are slithers while bug-types are crawlers. Herd animals are plodders while pack animals are hunters, and lone predators are stalkers. Humanoid creatures are called little humans. 

So occamy are slither birds, while bowtruckle would be little human crawlers. If niffler is particularly familiar with one, then chances are he will use their special name, or their personal identifier. This is a way of individualizing them from the collective, indicating they have importance. Niffler using the name of someone means they matter; continued refusal to use a name means he either doesn’t like you, is bored by you, or you have done nothing of significance to make him remember. 

Fur vs Clothes

Niffler is unfamiliar with the term skin. He knows fur, feather, scale and flat fur which is what creatures like humans, pigs, cows, horses, deer and etc have. He learns hair eventually, though prior to this he simply called it head fur. 

Clothes are a damn alien concept to this little dude. He calls them false fur because it is, very much, fake fur over flat fur, which is wholly ineffectual which is obviously why humans need false fur. He understands the function in this sense – but he hates it. Shoes make him bitterly unhappy and he has a very hard time with them (much like a dog in booties, the lack of his own traction messes him up terribly.)  He is usually fine with pants – pants have a lot of uses, he rather likes pants. Shirts he can do without, and whenever he can get away with it – well. He sure tries.