During her official royal visit to Northern Ireland, Kate Middleton delivered a very British message to a man named Alan and his 5-month-old baby, James: “He’s a very sweet little boy … He’s so diddy. Makes me very broody.”
The first part of the duchess’s message (as reported by the Daily Mail) is quite easy to understand; Kate is presumably referring to the baby, whom she calls “sweet” and a “little boy.” But the rest — “so diddy …. makes me very broody” — was much more difficult for our Canadian-American brains to comprehend. So, what is she trying to say?
To find out, I asked British person Dora Fung, the Cut’s fashion editor-at-large and a native of London. When I handed her Kate’s code to decipher, she very quickly explained: “It means, he’s so small, he makes me want a baby. Literally.” This makes sense, but in order to do my due diligence I felt I must fact-check Dora’s claim. Per Merriam-Webster, “broody” is defined as:
1: being in a state of readiness to brood eggs that is characterized by cessation of laying and by marked changes in behavior and physiologya broody hen
2: given or conducive to introspection : CONTEMPLATIVE, MOODY
Merriam-Webster also taught me that “diddy” is classified as “dialectal, England” and means “teat,” which it turns out means “a small projection or a nib (as on a mechanical part)” and also “nipple.” So Dora was right: Kate Middleton has entered a state of readiness to brood eggs because a baby is a small projection (or a nipple).
But does this mean she is ready for a fourth child with Prince William? Well, as Kate told Alan, “I think William might be slightly worried.”
Mystery solved.