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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 23, 2009 19:41:35 GMT
There was mention in the Grammar! thread about the word "Mémère" for grandmother.
What did you call your grandparents, and was it influenced by where you lived or your national background?
In Louisiana, Ma-Ma (pronounced and sometimes written Maw-Maw) and Pa-Pa (pronounced Paw-Paw) are probably the most common, at least in the southern half of the state. I actually know one family who called one set of the grandparents Big Mama and Big Daddy, a la Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Many Americans I know with an Italian background say Nonna and Nonno, but I never heard that growing up.
A side note, because I don't know anywhere else to put it -- in Louisiana the oldest child's godmother is almost always called Nan-Nan and the younger children will call her that as well, even though they have their own godmothers.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2009 19:49:02 GMT
My American grandmother (a dried up old bitch -- so all grandmothers are not warm and fuzzy) was called (guess what?) "Grandmother."
My American grandfather (who died rather quickly) was "Grandaddy." Strangely enough, since he had a more colloquial name, you should know that he was a severe old codger who scared the shit out of me. I would visit my grandmother to get an ice cream cone only when I knew he was out of the house.
Meanwhile, in France, besides Mémère, I had Pépère.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 23, 2009 20:02:09 GMT
My Irish grandmother I called Granny. The English one died way back.......
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 23, 2009 20:59:15 GMT
I called my dad's father (the non-Louisiana grandfather) "Grampa". My dad's mother died years before I was born.
I called his paternal grandmother "Nana" because that's what he called her.
My mother's parents were Mimi and Papa to the grandchildren.
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 23, 2009 22:07:42 GMT
We called my maternal grandmother MamawBabe because we couldn't say Grandmother Babe!!!!! Maternal grandfather, Grandpa Elliott ( he and she were divorced quickly). Paternal grandfather was Grandpa and paternal grandmother ; bitch!!!!! No just kidding, but nobody liked her, and besides she was a divorced one too.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2009 10:19:49 GMT
Our grandmothers were referred to as Babcia (pronounced Bopche) in Polish.
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Post by tillystar on Jul 24, 2009 10:56:25 GMT
My Grandmother who lived near us was Grandma and my Grandfather was Chas (his name, it suited him too well to change!). My other granny in NZ was Nanna, but we only met her a few times so I grew up imagining Grandmas and Nanas were totally different types of relations My Mum is also Grandma to her grandchildren, except the one whose mother is Czech – she calls her Babi (short for Babushka). Lil Star calls her Basque grandparents Amama (grandmother) and Aitite (grandfather).
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Post by bjd on Jul 24, 2009 12:09:50 GMT
My maternal grandmother was also Babcia, now my mother has been given the title. I didn't know any of my other grandparents.
My children called their French grandmother by her name, Nelly, because she always thought they were calling her when they said "Mummy" to me.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2009 13:50:00 GMT
BaiBai for grandmother.
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 27, 2009 8:28:43 GMT
Mother's side: Ah Kong, which means grandfather. God, I didn't like him! He used to pinch my ear whenever I came to visit and I was supposed to call his children from his third wife 'uncle' and 'aunt'. I never did and fortunately for me I was bigger than them although they were a couple of years older.
I never met my mother's mother. I did meet Ah Kong's first wife though, I called her Ah Por which means grandmother. She had a tough life and I liked speaking with her.
Father's side: I never met the grandfather but I would have called him Opa, which is more familiar than Grossvater but less than Opi. I called his wife Oma. She was a good one.
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Post by bazfaz on Jul 27, 2009 9:38:22 GMT
My two grandsons call me Papi (which is French though none of us is). My stepgrandchildren call me by my given name.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 27, 2009 11:30:00 GMT
My bicycle is definitely of the Omafahrrad family, or opafiets in Dutch, though she does have some speeds. www.omafahrrad.de
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2014 16:01:16 GMT
I googled this subject for France and was surprised that there was no serious study available about regional variations or whatever. The closest was a Yahoo! answers thread where people presented most of the names commonly used here. In any case, Papy and Mamie remain the most common for current generations, but I know that in Lorraine, it is still Pépère and Mémère because whenever I visit family friends there, who are all rather old now, that is what all of the little ones call them.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2014 12:53:17 GMT
I see in reply #10 where Papi is referred to as being French. My understanding is that it is Hispanic.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2014 13:28:44 GMT
It probably is as well -- quite a few languages share the same terms.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2014 15:25:36 GMT
Yes, well, so I thought, but looked it up and saw absolutely no reference to a French derivation or usage of "Papi".
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2014 16:28:35 GMT
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Post by mossie on Sept 2, 2014 19:37:43 GMT
To us whose grandfathers were long gone, grandmothers were always Granny, followed by their surname if necessary.
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Post by fgrsk8r1970 on Sept 3, 2014 13:51:21 GMT
We called my mom's parents "Omi" and "Opi" (they weren't warm and fuzzy and although cordial never like the Grandparents my friends seemed to have) - I never knew my paternal grandparents as they had passed away before I was born but we lived in an apartment we rented from an older lady I called "Oma" - which is traditionally how we say Grandma in German (Opa for Grandpa).
The official words would be "Großvater" and "Großmutter" (ß = ss) (Grandmother and Grandfather)
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Post by amboseli on Sept 7, 2014 12:33:10 GMT
I called my paternal grandparents bomma and bompa, (derived from bonne maman and bon papa) ; my maternal grandparents moemoe and vava. The latter are very old fashioned and I don't know any actual grandparent that is called like this. Oma and opa are very popular nowadays. I still find it too Dutch and too 'old' for my taste. If we will ever have grandchildren we'd rather be called mammy and pappy.
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