"In the family way" used to be a euphemism for being pregnant when the p-word was taboo. It was more often than not used to refer to a young unmarried girl, who had got herself "up the duff".
In Ireland the girl would have been forced to give the baby up for adoption, it has since been revealed to the eternal shame of the Roman Catholic Church.
Older readers will remember the 1966 British film "The Family Way" starring Hayley Mills.
Our family way
We were visited by family recently; my daughter and her two young sons - my grandsons - came for a short stay during half-term. And, boy, did we have a fun time!
It didn't start well, though - they missed their flight!
They had an early start and my daughter didn't have her contact lenses in.
She mis-read the gate number for their flight. She read 5B, when it was actually 58! Both gates exist but at different ends of the airport, London Stansted, which is now huge.
What to do? She felt she couldn't disappoint the boys, aged six and three, who had been so looking forward to seeing Grandad and Oma (German for Gran - my wife Rita is German).
We all went online to search for flights later in the day: my daughter, her mother (my ex-wife), Rita and me.
We found one with easyJet, but when we tried to book, the last seats had been sold five minutes before!
We found another with Vueling from and to different airports: Gatwick to Sevilla instead of Stansted to Malaga, but that was no problem.
She booked at a staggering cost of 700 pounds Sterling for the three of them! Well, last-minute, half-term week .....
Next - how to get from Stansted in Essex to Gatwick in Sussex? Mum's taxi to the rescue!
So, instead of arriving in the middle of the day, they got to us late at night and 700 quid poorer!
Holiday with Grandad and Oma
Over the next few days, we packed in loads, chocolate con churros, ice creams, children's playgrounds, the beach, Belgian tapas, playing in my garden (Felix even helped me plant some seeds).
At the end, my daughter and grandsons had a lovely, if expensive, holiday.
The family way .....