Words for grandparents: was: Pittsburgh Dialect

[Beverly Flanigan]

Yes, that is the source, I think; many "core" Appalachian forms spread
outward through our areas.  But even people who have "moved upward" out of
the rural and lower SEC groups may keep the forms, since they're emotive
and familial terms that are fondly passed on.  Public citation of them may
vary with the "audience," of course.

At 11:54 AM 10/19/00 -0500, you wrote:
>We get "mamaw" and "papaw" here in Central Indiana, but it seems
>to be more rural and lower SEC.  Since it's also in SE Ohio and
>the Central Indiana lower SEC has a strong Appalachian influence,
>I wonder if that is not the source.
>
>Herb Stahlke
>
> >>> lynnem at COGS.SUSX.AC.UK 10/19/00 02:49AM >>>
> >At 03:17 PM 10/18/00 -0400, Douglas Wilson wrote:
> >
> >>Another lexical item (I don't know how widespread, but I've
>heard it only
> >>in Pittsburgh): commonly "pap" (rhymes with "cap") =
>"grandfather" (and
> >>absolutely not "father"). This apparently is a contraction of
>"grandpap",
> >>which is heard also (but less often). Much less frequently,
>I've heard
> >>"gram" [I think that's what I heard] for "grandmother": thus
>"Gram and Pap"
> >>= "Grandma and Grandpa". "Pap" is used in address: "Hi, Pap!" =
>"Hi,
> >>Grandpa!" [Seems very odd to me: 'pap' ought to mean
>'father'.]
>
>Beverley Olson Flanigan wrote:
>
> >         Do Pittsburghers also use "mamaw" and "papaw" for
>grandmother and
> >grandfather?  These are common in SE Ohio (in all age groups),
>and I'm
> >curious to know how far east/northeast they go.
>
>I don't know about Pittsburgh, but I've known two families in
>western
>NY who call one set of Grandparents "Nana" and "Pup-up" (no idea
>how
>_they_ spell it!  I think it's the paternal g-parents in both
>cases).
>The families are completely unrelated (and the citations are 20
>years
>apart).  I always (as a local) found these words strange.  Are
>they
>imports from another area?  I'm sure 'nana' is common, but the
>fact
>that both families consider 'nana' and 'pup-up' to be a matched
>set
>in some way--that seems suspiciously precise.
>
>(In our family, we had 2 grandmas and a papa.  If my other
>grandfather were alive, he would've been 'grandpa'--there could
>be
>only one Papa.)
>
>Lynne
>
>--
>M. Lynne Murphy
>Lecturer in Linguistics
>School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
>University of Sussex
>Brighton BN1 3AN    UK
>phone:  +44(0)1273-678844
>fax:    +44(0)1273-671320


_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm