Jewish Man Invents Word for 'Nieces and Nephews'

Mother and father? Parents.

Brother and sister? Siblings.

Niece and nephew? Um. ...

Attorney Rabbi Schneur Stephen Polter has figured out a solution. The 44-year-old Oak Park Jewish resident has created a term and is now working to spread, um, the word.

It's sofralia — "so" from the Latin word for sister, "fra" from the Latin word for brother and "lia" from the end of the Latin word for "child."

Polter has been using "sofralia" (soe-FRAIL-yah) for years, but the public push comes as a footnote in his fourth self-published book, which came out last fall.

His dream is to get the word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which assesses usage when determining what new terms to add. No joke; think "selfie."