POLL: Names for relatives

by | Jan 7, 2021 | Family, Poll | 296 comments

I called my mother “Mom” and I call my father “Dad.”

Both sets of grandparents were “Grandma” and “Grandpa.” My paternal grandmother referred to her husband (when speaking to the grandkids) as Granddad.

My kids called my Mom “Grannie Annie,” often shortened to just “Gran” as they got older, and they call my Dad “Pa” or “Gramps” (or “Wrinkles”).

I have a good friend who calls her father “Dad,” but her mother is ALWAYS “Mother.”

A friend from South Carolina calls her mother “Mama” and her father “Daddy.”

What was the norm in your family for parental or grand-parental figures?

About The Author

SP

SP

I've got an idea! How about we just stick to the Constitution as written and then the government can leave me the fuck alone.

296 Comments

  1. Yusef drives a Kia

    Mom and Dad,
    I’m Poppa or just Pops
    Wendy was Grammy,

  2. westernsloper

    Mom and Dad. Dad’s parents Grandma and Grandpa, Moms parents, Grahm, and that drunk guy whats his name? Give me a minute I will think of it.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      “drunk guy whats his name? ”
      Uncle Charlie

    • SP

      That drunk, racist, antisemitic asshole: Grandpa Mom’sMaidenName

      • westernsloper

        I never heard him utter such things. He did verbally hammer grahm when she left the lid loose on a bottle of ranch dressing so when he went to shake it to dress his salad the cap came off and it went all over the place. The table erupted in laughter but he was not pleased which made us laugh more.We made fun of him for that for a long time. Now that I am later in life and wise I am pretty sure the presence of ranch dressing is racist. Antisemitic, I am going to have to work on.

    • westernsloper

      Grahm remarried years after my moms dad died when mom was 14. And honestly I can not remember his name I am having a Biden moment. Later I learned he had an interesting life and his drunken anger might have been legit. WW2 Marine and stormed beaches at Ewo Jima and other craziness. The dude was a trip. We just called him John, the synapses just snapped. John was a jeweler/jewelry maker with a small shop and spent the latter years of life looking for rocks in the deserts outside of Bakersfield CA. He called himself a rock hound.

      • db

        A family member was a fighter pilot in WWII. Came back a changed man, abused his kids badly. When he died, his one daughter’s response was “Finally.”

        War must be hell.

      • Tundra

        My great-uncle was a Scottish/Canadian bomber pilot for the RAF. When he retired he decided to raise sheep on his farm. It took him a couple seasons before he was comfortable with slaughtering them.

        People are weird.

      • hayeksplosives

        My own fathers war experiences were in Vietnam.

        He was a lifelong firearms enthusiast, from history to competition shooting.

        He’d grown up hunting critters for food, but after he retired from the Army, he didn’t go hunting anymore.

        He wasn’t against hunting and in fact let certain trusted friends hunt on his property outside of town. Even with them to help with deer stands, duck ponds etc.

        One day I heard one of his friends trying AGAIN to get him to join on the actual hunt. Dad said (without knowing I could hear it) “Nah, I saw enough killing in Nam.”

        And that was the end of that line of questioning.

      • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

        War must be hell.

        It is, but Grandpere fought in the trenches in WWI, and he overcame the horrors he saw and had to inflict on others.

        But he never talked about it, ‘cept tangentially, or to tell me the story of how he met Grandmere (she was a corporal in the French Army, he was a private).

        War is a forge.

      • db

        Indeed. My own maternal grandfather was in the Po Valley in WWII. Never talked about it at all. I did some sort of school assignment interview with him, and still didn’t get much of substance out of him. He was one of the jolliest, kindest men I have ever met, but never referred to his service in the war.

        Others let it dominate them.

      • db

        My paternal grandfather was too old to fight in WWII, so no idea what effect it would have had on him, but all indications from other men in my family is that they were gentle and well adjusted in life after the wars even if they had to fight.

      • Viking1865

        My dad’s dad was in WWII. I did a similar school project, asked him about the war. He wrote down a letter. It was just a list of places. As a young kid, they were just funny sounding names. Then you plot them out on a map and match them up with history books and you realize he wasn’t quite in Easy of the 506th, but he was certainly not in the rear with the gear. He was in what was called a chemical mortar battalion, which is a neat bit of interwar chicanery to dodge arms control agreements. A 4.2 inch rifled mortar ostensibly designed for dropping smoke shells. Smoke shells in which the smoke is produced by blazing hot, unquenchable white phosphorous.

      • Bobarian LMD

        My Wife’s Dad (who passed away in March) was in Korea and VN. For years he’d tell me stories about stealing a trailer full of booze on it’s way to the officer’s mess and brag about getting promoted six time in a 7 month stretch, but he never talked about combat.

        He was initially in a Recon Bn and then an Infantry Company. He told me his Recon Bn got over-run and being stuck behind lines for 7 days.

        Then he had a stroke and for periods of time he thought he was back there… Dug in and hiding behind piles of Chinese bodies that he put there, him and the “black fella, can’t quite recall his name” hiding and sneaking for 7 days, the only ones out of their section to make it back.

        He was an 18 yo Master Sergeant after 10 months in the Army.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Oh, and to my kids, him and his wife were Mamaw and Pap.

        I used to call him by his name, or Pap, or Jake, or Sergeant-Major, or Grumpy ole’ Fuck.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        I don’t know the whole story, but apparently one of my dad’s uncles was stuck behind Japanese lines in the Philippines for like 6-7 months.

        Another of his uncles went island hopping through the Pacific with a flamethrower. On his deathbed he said something like, “I just hope God forgives me for killing all those Japanese boys.”

      • I'm Here To Help

        My wife’s grandfather was in the German army in WWII. He loved to tell me stories about the war, but unfortunately he was in early stages of dementia, had suffered several strokes, and spoke a very thick Sudetenland accent (when he was actually speaking German at all – he mixed in a lot of Russian), so I didn’t understand any of what he was telling me. He seemed to come out of the whole ordeal pretty well, even though he spent the majority of the war locked up in a Russian POW camp.

  3. Count Potato

    This is a not so subtle way of telling us to finish our damn articles, isn’t it?

    • SP

      Feeling guilty?

      • Count Potato

        No, but I should make more time for it, maybe spend less time commenting.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Ahem..

  4. Ownbestenemy

    For me and brothers, it was mom, dad, grandma — I was denied a grandfather. Aunts and uncles were always addressed as such.

    For the kids (mine and my sisters), their grandparents are papas and grandmas.

  5. KOVIDKristen

    Mom/Dad when young, Ma/Pa as an adult
    Grandma
    Grandpa

    When my Ma would talk to my dog, she would call herself “Gammy”, and she would refer to my Pa as “Boompa” (again, she was talking to a dog FFS LOL)

    • SP

      LOL

    • KOVIDKristen

      My parents each called their respective in-laws Mom/Dad as well.

      • SP

        I call my mother-in-law Mom, but she has absolutely no idea at all who I am. “I’m your daughter-in-law. I’m married to your son.”

        “I have a SON???”

      • KOVIDKristen

        🙁

      • Fourscore

        “I have another SON? Hold on there, just a second”

        Mom/Dad. Didn’t have any living grandparents.

        My son calls me “Big Dad”, daughter says Dad. They call their step mother by her name, they really don’t remember their own mother.

        My grand kids call us Grandpa/Grandma

  6. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Me – Mom, Dad, Grandma

    Kids – Nana, Papa Tom, Grandmom, Grandpop

    Sometimes I call dad “crotchety old fucker”, I think he likes it.

  7. Shpip

    Mom, Grandma, Grandpa.

    Grandparents’ friends (when I was a yute) were always “Aunt ______” or “Uncle _______.”

    Wife’s paternal grandmother was “Grandma,” but her maternal was always addressed as “Grandmother” (or “Granny Evelyn” when she wasn’t around).

  8. rhywun

    What was the norm in your family for parental or grand-parental figures?

    Same as yours – standard issue Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa.

    The one I always wondered about was “Nana” – who says that?! Except everyone on television?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      My kids use Nana for my mother

    • SP

      Scruffy’s kids.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I noticed.

        But where does it come from? Like… I never heard that until I guess it was all over 90’s sitcoms. Still have never heard it in real life.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        No idea really. Maybe because my mother’s name is Anna

      • rhywun

        TBH, I always thought it was a (((thing))).

      • Raven Nation

        See me below.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Lol. My wife likes to think she’s ((())), but my family is decidedly not. Although we have been given the surname Nerfherderstein by a few disgruntled customers in the past.

      • SP

        Variation of the Italian Nonna? Maybe? What Grandma sounds like from some 13 month olds?

        /SP clearly has no idea

    • Tundra

      My in-laws use the German Oma and Opa.

      But we are fucking ‘Mericans, so fuck that!

      • Ted S.

        My nieces called my mom and dad that, to distinguish from their father’s parents.

      • SP

        My stepmom uses that with her children and their kids. Well, last time anyone in her family set foot in Germany was around 1840, so WTF?

      • Tundra

        Affectation. Even my Italian grandmother was grandma.

      • The Other Kevin

        Nazis confirmed.

      • westernsloper

        My niece and nephew call my parents that. Fucking krauts.

      • rhywun

        As an exchange student in Germany I was encouraged to call the host mother and father Mutti and Vati which felt really strange.

        Fun fact: Germans are more divided on this than Americans. It’s roughly half Mutti/Vati versus Mama/Papa.

    • Viking1865

      Mine is Nana, she was married to Pop Pop for 60 years. Dads mom died before I was born, we called him Pa FirstName and he had a long term lady friend we just called by her name.

    • Cannoli

      “Nana” – who says that?!

      *raises hand*

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Wife’s grandmother is Nanna. Nanna’s first husband was Jim-daddy. Second husband is Dur (interesting fellow, internationally famous for some bad luck).

    • J. Frank Parnell

      My wife called her paternal grandmother ‘Nana”

  9. Tundra

    Same as you. Standard stuff.

    My kids do the same.

    We are apparently boring as hell.

  10. kinnath

    mom, dad, granma, granpa

    My kids do the roughly the same.

    The grandkids as well.

  11. Spudalicious

    Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa. Two sons call me Dad, one calls me Pops. My grandkids calls me Papa Jim Jerry.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Papa Jim

      Which is hilarious because your name is Jerry.

      • Fourscore

        LOL, I was thinking the same thing. Dangerfield?

      • Old Man With Candy

        Nope, I’ve just been giving Jerry shit for like 27 years now.

  12. Vacuous

    I call my parents mom and dad when talking to them and mother and father when talking about them.

  13. Raven Nation

    Mum & dad; grandma and granddad on my mother’s side; nana on my father’s side.

  14. Old Man With Candy

    When I was a young kid, my paternal grandparents were Bubbie and Zaydie. My maternal grandmother was Dubbie. Maternal grandfather was long dead. When I got a bit older and switched to principally English, gps were Grandma and Pop.

    My sister was Cuntface. Now that’s my daughter’s nickname.

    • SP

      Why did you kill your maternal grandfather?

      • Old Man With Candy

        So my parents would name me after him. (((We))) are very strict about that “never name a kid after someone who’s still alive” deal.

  15. The Other Kevin

    Same as SP. My kids use Grandma and Papa. My brothers step son calls my parents Auntie Grandma and Uncle Papa, which I think is hilarious. For some reason my wife’s side of the family uses “tee tee” for aunt. And I’m just “uncle”. I never got the “meemaw “ thing.

    • pistoffnick

      No really. My maternal grandpa was a carpenter at the Mayo Clinic.

      He died at 80-something with a full head of salt and pepper hair. I obviously did not inherit that gene.

      My paternal grandpa like to feel up my cousin’s titties.

      My other grandpa (my mom, ahh, got around) got his hand caught in a cornpicker. He sawed it off with a handsaw. He used to roll his own cigarettes on the stump (I was amazed). He was later killed by the same tractor that was pulling the cornpicker that took his hand.

      My other grandparents (I said my mom got around!) were drunks. They spent all their money at the bar in town.

      • Fourscore

        Those guys were a lot tougher than some us. If I get caught with my hand in the corn picker I only hope it isn’t by Mrs Fourscore. Seriously, if you see me stuck like that, Nick, grab the skill saw, if it doesn’t start shake it because the wires are loose in the plug.

      • pistoffnick

        Can you imagine cutting your own hand off?

        He could still throw hay bales with precision using his stump. I was always stuck in the trailer stacking them, but he’d throw them nearly where they needed to be (while smoking a hand stump rolled cigarette) to help me out. His wife (Grandma) was a spherical lady who loved country music and baked a divine German chocolate cake. He was a Jack Sprat, wiry, lean. I admired him.

  16. AlexinCT

    I was a jackass and called my parents by their names from the age of 12 on out. The only times I would call them dad or mom was when my kid was around and I wanted to show respect. I suck.

    • The Other Kevin

      Ok Greg Brady.

  17. Ted S.

    My grandparents were Grandpa/Grandma S**** (Dad’s side) and Grandma/Grandpa D**** (Mom’s side). Grandma S.’s mother died when I was about 8, and she was “Mama K****”.

    Actually, Grandma S. was Dad’s ststepmom, his biological mother having died before Dad got married.

    • westernsloper

      What? You don’t have a bad music link to explain that?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Shits, Dicks, Kunts

      Pretty fun family you got there.

    • Tundra

      “Mama K****”.

      Nice!

      • rhywun

        My mind went here.

  18. But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

    My maternal grandparents were French, and I had the privilege of knowing them for many years; I always referred to them as Grandpapa and Grandmama, although as I got older it was Grandmere and Grandpere. My paternal grandmother was Welsh, and I called her Grandma. My paternal grandfather was just Granddad when it wasn’t “Senator [blank]”. (He was a Canadian Liberal Senator and insisted on propriety outside of private familial circumstances.)

    And it was just Mom and Dad.

    • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

      Actually, Rhywun triggered an old memory in me — we also referred to my paternal grandmother as “Nana [family name]”!

      Huh. I’d forgotten that. Thanks, Rhy.

    • rhywun

      My paternal grandmother was Welsh, and I called her Grandma. 

      I was expecting Ffyldwchyddan or something.

      • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

        I was expecting Ffyldwchyddan or something.

        Hell, no. They fled the old country gladly, and had no use for any of the trappings thereof.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Lol

        I laugh because I had a friend with a Welsh mother who would start cursing in her native tongue when he pissed her off. She always had a mean streak and a leather strop handy.

      • pistoffnick

        My Grandma used to curse at us in Dutch.

      • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

        Spousal Unit’s Dutch (first-gen Canuck). Her Dad used to go on a tear in Frisian some days.

        I learned that the word “Klunk!” is not a compliment.

      • Fourscore

        My Dad spoke profanity quite well in English. He was also prolific.

      • I'm Here To Help

        My wife is a quite amazing profanitist. She speaks a number of languages fluently, and a number more if you only limit it to the cursing in that language. She prefers to cuss people out in their own tongue, especially the French and Belgians that don’t know how to drive on the Autobahns. She is convinced that they drive slowly in the left lane to get even for the wars…

  19. KOVIDKristen

    Here’s a question: who decided what to call the grandparents – mom/dad, grandparents, or kids?

    I don’t have kids, but my Ma decided that if I did have them, they would call her Gammy.

    I don’t remember who taught me to call my grandparents grandma/grandpa.

    • westernsloper

      It’s brain washing. Like you working for the government.

      • KOVIDKristen

        OK, Air America

      • westernsloper

        ?

      • KOVIDKristen

        ?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Hell if I know. I only had one grandparent and she wasn’t a particularly warm person.

      I think my wife influenced how my kids refers to their grandparents. Otherwise they would probably call my father “crotchety old fucker” like I do.

    • Viking1865

      Probably depends. My cousin got pregnant pretty young, and my aunt was absolutely not ready to be called Grandma or anything like it, so she pushed really really hard to be GG and her daughter and SIL went along with it.

      • Gadfly

        so she pushed really really hard to be GG and her daughter and SIL went along with it

        This amuses me, because my (much older) cousin’s son calls my grandma “GG”, since she’s his Great Grandma.

    • SP

      We asked my mother what she wanted her grandchildren to call her, and she said, “I don’t care, JUST NOT GRANNY.” Her best friend laughed and said, “No, it needs to be GRANNIE ANNIE” and it stuck.

      My mother was christened Anna (after her mother), but it was changed to Anne sometime in her early childhood to avoid confusion in the extended family. She DESPISED being called Annie, but somehow after the kids started calling her Grannie Annie, she was OK with both.

    • rhywun

      I don’t remember who taught me to call my grandparents grandma/grandpa.

      Probably your parents. Can’t imagine a grandparent butting in and demanding to be called something else.

    • DEG

      Here’s a question: who decided what to call the grandparents – mom/dad, grandparents, or kids?

      I have no memories of how I came about to use what I used.

      It was probably “monkey see/monkey do”.

    • Gender Traitor

      Unless some adult is proactive, it is the privilege of the oldest grandchild to name the grandparents. My oldest cousin on my mom’s side dubbed our maternal grandfather Geep, and he remained Geep for the rest of his life and will continue to be so at least for the rest of his grandchildren’s lives. (My maternal grandmother died when my older cousins were quite young and before my sisters and I were born, so she escaped this ignominious fate.)

  20. blackjack

    Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma.

    I missed the last post, about the car. This is my go-to and the world’s greatest buying a car song.

  21. pistoffnick

    My kids (and their cousins) call their grandparents Moe-nie and Papa. My eldest daughter couldn’t pronounce Grandma or Grandpa and it stuck.

  22. DEG

    Mom/Dad
    Grandmom/Grandpop

    Paternal grandfather was actually a step-grandfather, but since he was around and filled that role, he was always “Grandpop”.

  23. zwak

    Mom and dad. Grandparents were just Grandpa and Grandma. Never really noticed that my dad called my grandmother Helen until I realized she wasn’t his mother, and that my father’s mother died young and my grandfather remarried.

    So, I kinda had three grandmothers.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Heather has two mommies.

      Which is really hot.

  24. trshmnstr the terrible

    Mom and Dad
    Grandma and Grandpa [insert last name] for both sets of grandparents. Beverly for my dad’s stepmom.

    Wife’s family is all about the pet names, so daughter calls my dad Grandpa Mike, and everybody else got a 2 syllable nickname that was a play on their name. Either initials or portions of their name.

  25. OBJ FRANKELSON

    This is actually a bone of contention between Mrs. Frankelson and me. I am from the midwest and she is from N. Lousiana, just to provide some context. We have two girls that are of marrying age so the issue is particularly prescient at the moment. I am on the Grandfather/Grandmother or, if you must, Gramma/Grandpa, side and she is on the random collection of sounds that begin with ‘M’ or ‘P’ side (e.g. Mamaw, Mimaw, Mimi, Papaw, Pop-pop, and on and on). To me, her choices are undignified, to her they are affectionate.

    Help Dear Zardoz!

    • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

      CLEANSE HER.

      ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        That would be… expensive.

    • SP

      LOLOL

    • rhywun

      To me, her choices are undignified, to her they are affectionate.

      On your side here.

      /nawtherner

      • DEG

        #metoo

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        #methree

        Took awhile to get used to the pet names down here in the south.

    • Old Man With Candy

      We have two girls that are of marrying age

      Which Glib are you breeding them with?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I get the impression he has better standards than that.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Imagine having grandkids stuffed with SugarFree’s DNA.

      • Fourscore

        No, just no and don’t ever mention it again.

      • zwak

        I wouldn’t call them grandKIDS if that was the case.

        Maybe grandSLIMEMOULD?

      • Spudalicious

        “Wannafud?”

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I am torn between morbid curiosity and a desire to form a posse.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        One that can provide a dowry of at least twenty horses and three talents of gold,

    • Mojeaux

      I am from the midwest. I am on your side.

    • db

      I am in the “Grandma/Grandpa” camp, being from the northeast, however, my FIL (from the Philly area) is called “Pup-pup” by his grandchildren. Not sure how that came to pass.

  26. mikey

    Thanksgiving dinner. Big family gathering at our son’s house. Son, DIL, brand new grand daughter, semi-new grandson (2.5), wife, my parents, MIL and me.
    Grandson wonders who all these strange people are. DIL tries to explain -“This is your Daddy’s Daddy, this is his Daddy..” Kid obvioiusly isn’t getting it and asks my wife “Who you?’ “I’m your Daddy’s Mommy.”
    And with the wonderful certainty a small child can muster he says “NO! You’re Pinky!!”
    No one had a clue where this came from but my son and I weren’t about to let this get away. We spent the rest of the visit re-enforcing it.
    The grandchildren now have children and she’s still Pinky.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      *chuckle*

      That’s funny.

  27. Tundra

    I’m getting nostalgic. Grandpa #1 died in 1974 (I was 8). Grandpa 2 died in 1998. Grandma 1 (wife of GP1) died in 2001. Grandma 2 died in 2016.

    I loved them all.

    FUCK THIS POLL!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Three of mine were dead before I was born.

      The only one I knew pretty much ignored me and I was the oldest grandkid. She doted on my cousin though, who sucked it up and let us all know she was the favorite.

    • DEG

      All my grandparents are dead too.

    • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

      I loved them all.

      Yeah, me too. But I didn’t know them all equally well. The Senator died in the mid-60s (he had *eight* strokes from being a dawn-to-dusk chain smoker of Black Cat ciggies; the first stroke took away his ability to speak and write, ‘cept he could write his name and sing lyrics, and the next seven were just insult added to injury). I was only seven years old. I knew my maternal grandparents the longest, and really liked them, including their many quirks. Grandmere died in 1976 at 88 years of age, Grandpere in ’82 at 95 years of age. Theirs was a fascinating story of war and immigration to western Canada.

      • Tundra

        Yep. Grandpa #1 died at 60. A diet of whiskey and Chesterfield straights will do that to a guy. He was great to me. Grandpa 2 is in my top 5 men of all time. He died at 79 from complications of liver cancer, although given the fact he was an easy 3 bills, there is no way he should have made it that far. He taught me a ton and gave me a nice shotgun. What more could a kid ask? I still make his BBQ chicken to this day.

        Grandma 1 was obviously on her own for a long time. She was beast-mode all the time. She died about 12 hours after a decent stroke. Her friend found her on the floor of the kitchen as she was in the process of repairing the vent hood over her range. Awesome chick. After her funeral I got drunk with her pals at the local VFW.

        Grandma 2 was a beautiful Italian. Best cook evah. I’m not sure that a better human being ever walked the planet. I’m gonna make her Crostoli for Easter just beacuse.

        OK, I take it back. Great poll!

    • westernsloper

      I don’t remember the year but grandpa 1 died around 74. The man was 80. He went to work, worked all morning then had chest pains. His sons (one being my dad) took him to the hospital. He died later that day after every member of his family from sons, daughter, and grand kids came in and told him they loved him and they appreciated him. End of story. He was a logger in his younger years and was contracted to clear many a ski run in western CO back in the day. He died at a hospital with family at his side.

      Let me take this sideways…………the fucks who do not let a dieing elderly family member have their family at their side in this new normal need to be keelhauled.

      • Chipwooder

        I am so grateful that my grandpa died last January rather than later in the year, so he slipped out of this life surrounded by the people who loved him, and had a proper funeral where so many who knew him could pay their respects. A few months later and we would have had none of that.

    • Ownbestenemy

      SP did say we were not going to like the poll…I think. I can’t remember anymore

    • KOVIDKristen

      I loved my Ma more than anyone past & future. I looooove talking about her. I have a video of her on Youtube. It’s my only recording of her. (can’t share it here cause it has our full names)

      I had 3 grandparents for a good chunk of my life. My Pa’s mother was a sociopath. The other two were awesome. Especially Ma’s mom.

      • Tundra

        OK. I love your Ma, too. If you love her, I love her.

    • SP

      But wasn’t it a nice break from politics?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Yes it was/is, thanks!

      • Tundra

        Totally.

        Thank you.

      • db

        yep! good call.

      • westernsloper

        On my going to work 40 min drive I always switch between NPR and the local hate station that runs Hugh Hewit at that time. (I hate that fuck more than NPR) This morning is the first time in years I stopped switching and went to music. I had this running through my brain half the day. I am not sure what is worse.

      • westernsloper

        I blame Trump.

      • Sensei

        Amen

      • pistoffnick

        Awoman

      • Sensei

        Have you considered running for Congress? Never mind, politics free thread…

      • pistoffnick

        Yes. I was a Senate page in high school. That experience cured of wanting to be a politician.

      • pistoffnick

        *cured me

      • Sensei

        Now I’m thinking of the US Senate page scandal.

    • Chipwooder

      Wow, you had grandparents for a loooooong time.

      Grandpa Bob left us in 1984 – I too was 8. His lungs were damaged when a kamikaze hit his LST off Okinawa in 1945 and he was trapped in a smoke-filled compartment, and eventually developed into emphysema. He also almost died after being shot by a guy who broke into his house in 1980. Recovered and hung on for a while because he was harder than a coffin nail, but was never right after that. They lived in Florida and I can still remember him taking me to the beach on his moped. For an Irish-German guy, he got tan, like George Hamilton tan.

      Grandma Rose went next in 1990. She had what we now are pretty sure was a clotting disorder, because multiple relatives on that side including Mom have been diagnosed with it. She slipped and fractured her ankle at work, and a clot apparently formed at the break and ended up breaking off, traveling to her heart, and caused a cardiac arrest. That one was a bitch because it was so sudden. Neither of Mom’s parents lived to be 60.

      Grandma Marie, the sweet southern lady who was literally the nicest, kindest person I’ve ever known, battled lymphoma for several years before succumbing in 1991. I like to think I was close to all of my grandparents – I was the oldest grandchild on Dad’s side and second oldest on Mom’s, so I got a LOT of attention from all of them – but losing her affected me the most. Never heard an unkind word from her about anyone, and she had an infectious laugh and loved to play games, Taught me to play Chinese checkers, which was actually how she met my grandfather at a USO dance in Georgia in 1944, and gin rummy. and we played every time I saw her.

      And for the next 29 years, it was just Grandpa Al. He was a jolly guy before Grandma died, always cracking jokes and laughing. Part of him died with her, he was so much more serious and somber afterwards, but he did manage to become sunnier as time passed, and when he became a great-grandfather he was great with my kids. They loved our visits up to Long Island. I will always cherish the memory of how proud he was of me at my Marine Corps graduation. He lived to be 96 before passing away almost exactly a year ago.

  28. Vacuous

    We referred to my grandfathers as grandpa surname and grandmother’s as grandma first name. I asked my mother as a child why we do that and was told it was a coincidence and she hadn’t noticed that pattern.

  29. Cannoli

    We called my parents Mommy and Daddy growing up, now it’s Mom and Dad.

    My maternal grandparents are Grammie and Gramps, and my paternal grandparents are Nana and Papa. They picked the names for themselves, but I can’t remember the story about why.

    My sister’s and I don’t have kids yet, but my next oldest sister over-anthropomorphizes her dog and has started calling my Mom “Granny Anne” in relation to the dog, which she hates.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Our dog knows my mom as Grandma. I guess we’re just as guilty.

      • Cannoli

        My dog knows her as “The Treat Lady”, so I’m not sure I’m any better

  30. commodious spittoon

    We called mom’s mom granny, and their relationship was fraught at best… which makes me wonder whether she has my sister’s kids calling her granny or if that’s something my sister contrived.

  31. db

    “Mom”
    “Dad”
    “Grandpa [surname]”
    “Grandma [surname]”

    [brackets] used for third person, omitted in the first.

  32. hayeksplosives

    My parents were Mom and Dad. When we were little, they called each other “mom” and “dad” so we’d learn their “names”. They called each other by their first names increasingly as we aged.

    My siblings I called by their first names or a diminutive version.

    My only grandfather living when I was young was Grandpa. His wife was Grandma Helen. My Dads mom was Grandma Bess.

    Funny thing about Grandma Bess was that her adult children and their spouses called her Wife because that’s what her late husband called her.

    Now that their generation are grandparents now too, there are lots of Mimi’s and Nana’s, plus some granddads. I think Ma and Pa are now judged to be too uncouth for modern grandparents.

    My stepsons call me by my first name. We call each other “honey.”

    Uncles and aunts were paired with their uncle/aunt title plus first name.

  33. db

    also, from the previous thread, I was going to post “Bitchin’ Camaro” but found this homemade video and had to use it instead. kids these days can be all right.

    • pistoffnick

      Nice!

      Also the Dead Milkmen rock.

  34. violent_k

    I have a unique situation. My kids work for me. In front of customers they call me by my first name. When we are alone in the office they use my first name. All the grandkids call me “Grandpa” except for the 2 year old. I’m “Poppa” to her. Sometimes the 2 year old comes to work with her dad. She has a t-shirt with the company logo on the front and “Boss” in big sparkly letters on the back.

    • Mojeaux

      I only call my mother by her first name or nickname when in a crowd and I need to get her attention.

      I knew a family where all the kids called their mom and dad by their first names.

      • Lackadaisical

        Anarchy and sin if you ask me.

      • Lackadaisical

        The second paragraph, of course.

    • Fourscore

      Same when my kids used to work for me when dealing with customers.

    • Tundra

      Forgive me violent, but have I welcomed you yet?

      If not – fuck off, Tulpa!

      I would love it if my kids and (future) grandkids worked for me.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Good Catch!

  35. Lackadaisical

    Same as you SP. Though my great grandma was called ‘nana’.

  36. Animal

    Mrs. Animal and I have always been “Mom” and “Dad” to our kids, as our parents were/are to us.

    My grandparents and my folks were always “Grandma and Grandpa” to their grandchildren, as are Mrs. Animal’s folks and, now, us.

    My folks were “Nana and Papa” to their great-grandchildren. I suppose one day we’ll be “Nana and Papa” to ours. Mrs. A’s folks are “Mom-mom and Pop-pop” to their great-grandchildren, in accordance with their family’s traditional usages.

  37. Bobarian LMD

    As a kid, they were Mom and Dad. My Dad’s parents were Grandma and Grandpa.

    My Mom’s folks were Bone and Mother-dear. To everybody. Mostly because all the high-school kids would come down and hang-out at his bodyshop when my Uncle was that age.

    As I got a little older, my Mom became Roseanne (not her name) because she’d fly off on tangents by misunderstanding something and make a deal of it, ala Roseanne Roseanna Danna.

    At around the same time I became known as Bag-Boy, later shortened to Bag. 40+ years later and I’m still called that by my Mom, my brother and even his high-school friends.

    All because we went fishing in the rain and put on garbage bags as rain-gear. so, Bag family… Bag Dad, Bag Mom, Bag Boy, Bag Brother… A week later, I was still Bag-Boy.

    Dad is still Dad, or Big Bob by my kids.

  38. westernsloper

    Dinners done have a great night all.

  39. Dr. Chipping Pioneer

    Xim/Xer

  40. creech

    Somehow two grandkids call me Grandpop, one Grandad, and one Grandpa. It seems to have depended on what they call the other Grandwhatever.

    • Crusty Juggler

      Pooba?

    • Urthona

      I tell you what the problem with Georgia is. Too many poor urban tall people.

    • Rebel Scum

      That all may be true (especially GA GOP being spineless cuntes) but electioneering helps the D’s as well.

  41. Urthona

    I refer to my mother as “Spawn Point” and my father as “seed of doom”.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      You should call him, ‘spawn camper.’

      • Urthona

        You’re right. That’s funnier. I’ll remember that next time.

  42. The Bearded Hobbit

    “Mom and Dad” like most of the replies.

    However, it was “Grammie and Grampie” for us and our kids. I think that it is a far Northeast thing as it is used by my cousins in Maine (Mom is from Maine).
    It seems to have broken down among the yutes in the family. I’m “Grandpa” and the wife is “Grandma” to our grandkids.

    Never liked the “Grandmama” or “Nana”, although my sister was a Nana. (shrugs) not a big deal.

    • rhywun

      I think I recall several Grammies in Stephen King’s oeuvre.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Does he write songs too?

  43. creech

    The rumor is that Joe Biden’s grandkids call Jill “Doctor Grandma.”

    • rhywun

      Frau Doktor Großmutter

      • pistoffnick

        *horses neigh and rear*

      • rhywun

        LOL

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Does that include Hunter’s kids, the ones with the with webbed feet?

      • db

        I thought they had gills?

  44. Sensei

    Both grandfathers were PopPop one grandmother was Nana the other MomMom. I’ll let you guess which one came from a Jewish family.

    Your Japanese (and other Asian languages) trivia is that you use different words for your own family relationships than you do outside the family. It was easy enough to figure out although annoying to have to learn twice the vocabulary. But it seems to confuse the hell out of people for some reason.

  45. Stillhunter

    Like many mom/dad and grandma/grandpa, but rather than surnames we said first names or nicknames. E.g., maternal grandpa was Grandpa “Hummer”. And no hummer is not what you think. He used to say, “That’s a hummer!”

  46. straffinrun

    Dad.

    • Sensei

      Was expecting a cigarette.

      Other answer acceptable answer is oyaji and ofukuro. Love the second expression.

  47. slumbrew
    • db

      Let me tell you about my Mother.

      • Sensei

        Blade Runner?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Imagine your in the desert,

      • db

        What’s a tortoise?

      • J. Frank Parnell

        You know what a turtle is? Same thing.

      • Mojeaux

        It has no name.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Your what is in the desert?

      • slumbrew

        I was really expecting this one.

      • db

        I have no idea what that argument was even about.

      • db

        That is quite tiresome. The rapidity with which the article turns toward bullying and the question about “did your fist hurt so much it made it hard to play music after punching Danzig” was just icing

      • Chipwooder

        I mean, I’m an enormous Misfits fan, but Glenn is absolutely an asshole. Still, the thing I kept thinking while reading that was “pal, if you hadn’t punched Danzig, absolutely no one would know who you are”

      • db

        “Now you fucking listen to me as *hard* as you *fucking* can.”

  48. zwak

    Since we are having nice memories about our grandparents and such, well, I always knew my grandfather was good at math, he had been a machinist and later a gear estimator for the ship construction industry (a pre-computer job) but it wasn’t until recently that I realized how good at math his brother was. Here is his official biography:
    https://baas.aas.org/pub/daniel-m-popper-1913-1999/release/1

    The most interesting point is what he did during the war years “.. back to Berkeley to the Radiation Laboratory (Rad Lab) for war work (1943-45)”.

    • Tundra

      Damn.

      A graduate student who had sneaked through the UCLA language requirement by acquiring no more than a passing knowledge of French and German soon found himself assigned one paper in each to review for the department’s journal club. No one would ever have supposed that Dan held the Pan American chair in astrophysical travel, but colleagues remembered pleasant and informative encounters in Moscow, Hamburg, Korea, Denmark, Argentina, Italy, Toronto, and many other places.

      Was everyone more interesting back then?

  49. Dr. Chipping Pioneer

    The real question is: what do you call Winston’s Mom?

    • pistoffnick

      Baby?

    • Rebel Scum

      She doesn’t care as long as you call her.

      • db

        867-5309

    • pistoffnick

      *Nelson laugh*
      Ha-ha

  50. slumbrew

    Mom is “Mom”, dad was “Dad”.

    Maternal grandmother was “Mimi” (given name: Alice), fraternal grandmother was “Nani” (given name: Doris, known as Dot).

    Both grandfathers passed before I was born (my fraternal grandfather died when my father was 6 or so).

    For the next generation:

    My (gently kooky) mother wanted to be called “Gigi” by her grandchildren, and so she is.

    I believe my younger brother’s kids call their maternal grandfather Pops; not sure about the other nieces and nephews.

    • slumbrew

      Correction, I believe it’s “Grampy” for my brother’s kids. Maybe “Granmy” to match?

      Hobbit jogged my memory; the grandparents in question are Vermonsters, so that’d fit.

    • rhywun

      Where you from?

      As I mentioned, nothing but bog-standard names for all of my family. I am convinced it’s a Northern Protestant thing.

      • slumbrew

        Northern (MA & NY) but Catholic.

  51. one true athena

    My mother, for whatever reason, absolutely did not want to be known as “grandma” to my kids. But “Grammy” was acceptable, so that’s what it is.

  52. Shpip

    Only a freshman congresschick, but her troll game is on point.

    • Rebel Scum

      Noyce.

      I hope we get more of this.

      • db

        I’m not a huge fan of trolling and “owning the libs” but something has to be done to counter the completely humorless overbearing sincerity of the totalitarian PC master class.

      • db

        All that to say I support people expressing their opinions unapologetically. And it’s nice to see some push-back.

  53. egould310

    My cousins and I inherited the naming scheme my older brother devised. My grandfather, Jack Kelly was called “Pimpom”. Jack Kelly was a good man, and a great grandfather. Taught me how to cuss, properly.

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      Missed the opportunity to call him Bart

      • egould310

        Ha! My grandfather was no actor. But he was the best procurement analyst Bendix ever saw.

      • Mojeaux

        Hey, my grandfather worked at Bendix, too!

  54. Aloysious

    When I’m old and wrinkly like a raisin I want to be called a Gaffer.

    • egould310

      Ok gaffer.

      • slumbrew

        I read enough Brit stuff that “gaffer” means “boss” to me. As in “let me check with the gaffer”.

      • slumbrew

        See, also, “geezer”.

        (which is basically “dude bro” / “dude”)

      • zwak

        So Jeeves would be Geezer Butler?

      • Aloysious

        NOT YET!

        I have… a little way to g yet, dammit.

  55. Shpip

    My old man (seen here fighting fires with me — he was a fireman in Bridgeport, CT from 1937-73, rising to the rank of Deputy Chief back when promotions were given based on civil service exam results) was Grandpa or Gramps when I addressed him, and “the old man” when I was speaking of him to my peers.

    • egould310

      Your dad looks like your grandfather. Nice photo. ?

      • Shpip

        I should’ve clarified. My old man was my grandfather. My mother either had the worst taste in men in human history, or was a bit of a handful; her two marriages lasted a total of two years. Hence, I have no memories of my father, just a few old photos I found in Mom’s house after her passing.

      • slumbrew

        That was headed down a Chinatown path for a moment there…

      • Bobarian LMD

        Uncle Grandpa used be on Cartoon Channel.

  56. J. Frank Parnell

    My parents were Mom and Dad.
    My maternal grandparents were Grandma and Pop-Pop. Not sure where pop-pop came from or why it stuck.
    Paternal grandparents were Grandma and Grampa.

    My wife’s maternal grandmother was Nana, I think her other grandmother was just Grandma, and her grandfathers were both Grandpa.

    My kids call us Mama and Dada most of the time, although my 10yo is starting to shift to Mom and Dad.
    They call their maternal grandparents (who live nearby and who they see all the time) Grandma and Papa, and their paternal grandparents (who do not live nearby) Grandma Carol and Grampa Jim.

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      Dad always referred to his father as “Pop”, probably from Papa.

      D2 calls me Pop, Papa, or Pops. Just to be different, I guess.

      BTW, fun post SP!

  57. straffinrun

    Assistant college football coach fired for offensive tweet directed at Stacey Abrams

    “Congratulations to the state GA and Fat Albert @staceyabrams because you have truly shown America the true works of cheating in an election, again!!! Enjoy the buffet Big Girl! You earned it!!! Hope the money was good, still not governor!” Chris Malone tweeted, as reported by USA Today.

    Hey! Hey! Hey!

    • Gdragon

      I wish Walter Williams were still alive so that he could say “I knew Fat Albert. Fat Albert was a friend of mine. Wannabe Governor, you’re no Fat Albert”

  58. Ozymandias

    Dad’s parents were the Canuck standard: Meme and Pepe (I can’t do the necessary accent marks) but it’s short for mere mere (mother’s mother) and the male equivalent. My mother’s mother was from England and she was Gran or Granny (mostly Gran).
    My great grandmother was “Chubby Meme” for, well, obvious reasons. Great Aunts and Uncles just got “Aunt” or “Uncle.”
    Right now I’m “Poppa D__” to my two grandsons, first name to my stepkids, and Dad to my own. (Or “Old Man” reasonably often).
    My dad is Dad and occasionally “Pops.” I call my stepdad by his first name. My mother is a saint, so it’s “Ma” or “Mom” and in respectful tones. I love that woman.

  59. db

    I always have thought of other names than “Grandpa” and “Grandma” as odd, simply because that’s what we used, but on reflection now, I’m pretty sure my Mom’s family used other terms in different generations. For instance, to my mom and her sisters, their parents were “Mother” and “Daddy” and their grandparents were something else (I can’t quite recall what).

    I guess it’s the bias of primacy that sets our expectations here?

    • slumbrew

      *clicks*
      *see “PBS NewsHour”*
      *closes tab*

      • straffinrun

        Hope you heard the opening at least.

        “The fallout from a day of fury in Washington is still very much in the air tonight.”

        FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURY!

    • hayeksplosives

      The Sign protects us. We cannot hear the machine!

      (Captured and reprogrammed telepath in Babylon 5)

      • hayeksplosives

        Derp. “The sign hurts us. We cannot hear the machine!”

  60. dbleagle

    Parents were and are Mom and Dad. Ex’s parents were by their first names, and vice versa for her and my parents

    Grandparents were Grandma and Grandma X or Y.

    Ex is first name by kids spouses and mom by the kids.

    She is Mutti to one set of grandkids and MeeMee to the other.

    I am Quazi (or Q) to the ex andthe kids and Grandpa Q to the grandkids.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Ex’s parents were by their first names, and vice versa for her and my parents

      Same here. I get why other folks call the in-laws mom and dad, but it’s just not something that is natural to me. I don’t see them as parental figures. That said, I usually call them what the grandkids call them.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      Damn you, I had completely forgotten about that asshole’s existence.

    • hayeksplosives

      What a piece of filth.

      I can’t wait for Biden/Harris to start healing the nation. I’m sure they mean it sincerely.

      • rhywun

        Sigh. It’s gonna get ugly, isn’t it?

      • straffinrun

        They start by disagreeing, then move to disgust and end with pure hatred. Make no mistake, the end result is your eradication, but they will extend it a bit if you allow yourself to be completely humiliated.

    • Chipwooder

      I don’t know who this obese turd is but I’m really hoping someone beats the ever loving shit outta him.

  61. J. Frank Parnell

    Oh yeah, my older son once asked if he could call me “Daddy-O”, and of course I said yes, but he only called me that once and then forgot about it.

    • Tundra

      Lol. My son calls me that. I dig it.

      • whahappan

        Ha! I forgot I would call my dad that sometimes.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Your son is Charlie Brown?

  62. Ownbestenemy

    My oldest son likes to retort with father when I call him son. I almost want to punch him in the face when he does but he is my kid afterall.

    • Bobarian LMD

      ???

    • db

      Does he tell you he knows there is still good in you, that he can feel it?

      • Ownbestenemy

        It has that feel too it. He says it in a very dry way though.

    • hayeksplosives

      I must have stumbled into the wrong multiverse because in the one I came from, the social platforms did NOT help spread non-proggie messages.

      Seriously though—they are signaling that what Twitter/Facebook/instaface/GoFundMe did not do ENOUGH to hurt conservatives, independents, and libertarians.

      WIRED are advocating Zero Tolerance next.

      That is truly a scary thought.

      • Plinker762

        I think I’m in the wrong multiverse too. Almost every comment here is on topic.

      • Ownbestenemy

        A collective understanding and a much needed distraction in the real?

    • Chafed

      Wired is more or less the opposite of what it once was.

    • Ownbestenemy

      We are gonna get it good and hard aren’t we?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Axe body spray is a crime against humanity.

  63. Chipwooder

    We were boring. Mom and dad, grandma and grandpa. My sister does call my dad “dode” sometimes, which goes back many years to a story that isn’t interesting. My dad called his grandparents nonna and nonnu, though, them being Italian and all.

    • Chipwooder

      Oh and dad also called his father Pop and Dad interchangeably

  64. whahappan

    Mommy when young, mom later (or Mothra 😉 ), daddy or dad. Grandparents were ( maternal) grandpa or baba, paternal baba and didi.

    • slumbrew

      BTW, I caught the edge of your comment as I was signing off – if I heard it right: I have a half-dozen half-zip sweaters in soothing tones, it’s not the same sweater every time.

      But I’ll switch up my look next Zoom 😉

  65. straffinrun

    I’m gonna spend all day flattening the brims of my baseball caps. Don’t wanna get lumped in with you seditionists.

  66. straffinrun

    Last one. Itsa gooda one.

    https://twitter.com/ChineseEmbinUS/status/1347247602094534658


    Chinese Embassy in US
    @ChineseEmbinUS

    China government account
    Study shows that in the process of eradicating extremism, the minds of Uygur women in Xinjiang were emancipated and gender equality and reproductive health were promoted, making them no longer baby-making machines. They are more confident and independent.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Wait, that’s a real Chinese government account? Holy shit, I wonder which gulag that media account manager is going to end up after the backlash.

  67. Ownbestenemy

    I guess the only thing we got from our Swedish/Norwegian great grandparents were tack så mycket and varsågod.

    No cool names for them, no passed on names for grandma or grandpa or mom or dad. I feel cheated.

  68. DenverJ

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

  69. I'm Here To Help

    Parents: Mom and Dad
    Maternal Grandparents: Grandma and Grandy
    Paternal Grandparents: Granny and grandpa

    I found it kinda funny that we split up granny and grandy. But we were the only paternal grand children, so we got to do whatever we wanted.

    My wife (German) called her grandparents Oma and Opa. Not sure what she calls her parents, other than a string of profanity in various languages. Her biological father, who she only met in adulthood, she calls by his first name.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Depends on how thick you order the walls I guess.

      • Not an Economist

        Or what is in them.

  70. limey

    Uncle Grandpa
    Daddy Cindy
    Mr. Mom
    Mrs. Mom
    Comrade Snuffles

    We’re a pan-amorous petting collective. I wanted to watch John Dillermand but Mr. Mom makes us watch Cuties over and over. Sometimes Daddy Cindy lets me stay up late and watch some guy called Cole Bear say naughty words.

  71. Tres Cool

    suh’ fam

    • Sean

      Mornin

  72. Not Adahn

    My parents were a mixed marriage (yokel/cosmo)

    The cosmo side was “Grandma/Grandpa lastnmame”

    The yokel side was Ma and Pa.

    • Not Adahn

      Oh, and forever what hierarchical tradition this indicates:

      Grandpa Lastname ran off with his much younger secretary and divorced Grandma Lastname. Grandma Lastname retained her style, and when younger secretary married Grandpa Lastname, she was styled “Firstname.” So Christmas cards, birthday gifts and the like came from “Grandpa Lastname and Firstname.”

  73. Pine_Tree

    Late to the party. Pretty standard (to me) Southern answers, I think…
    – As a child it was always “Mama” and “Daddy”. Nowadays “Mom” and “Dad” are more common.
    – Grandfathers were always “Granddaddy”. Grandmothers were always “Ma’mma” or “Na’mother”.
    – My wife’s family use the other common ones of “Maw maw” and “Paw paw”.