The Great (American?) Generation Shift

[Douglas G. Wilson]

 > My mother, now a grandmother to my niece and nephew, spent a lot of time
deciding what they would call her and Dad. She chose "Grammy" and "Pop."

Apparently words like "pop" and "papa" -- which traditionally mean "father"
-- are now considered good specific equivalents of "grandfather" -- even
when one is making a deliberate selection of lexicon.

I think this is a fine idea, since "grandpa" has something of the
connotation of "geezer"/"codger", and a young vigorous grandfather (such as
I plan to be) certainly doesn't want that. But one should eschew sexism in
this matter: the grandmother also wants to stay young! If the grandfather
is "Pop", then "Mom" = "grandmother" should be preferred too (perhaps
"Mamaw" can be regarded as a variant of "Mom"/"Mama").

What about the other set of grandparents? If "Pop" = "grandfather" is OK,
surely "Dad" can be used for the other grandfather. As someone has pointed
out, "Nana" has a 'youthful' sound (and my dictionary gives meanings
"godmother" and "nanny" [something like a surrogate mother] as well as
"grandmother") -- so this is a good choice too.

So we have "Pop"/"Papa", "Mom"/"Mama", "Dad", and "Nana" (permutations and
variations OK) for the four grandparents. But now what will we use for
"father" and "mother"? I suggest "Sis" = "mother" and either "Bud" or "Bro"
for "father". These will fulfill the child's desire to emulate/resemble
his/her parents. Also it helps the parents remain 'youthful': certainly
when my son introduces me to his university friends (phat coeds
emphatically included), I would like to present myself as a sort of "older
brother" of his, not as a superannuated relic or an avatar of paternalism.

Now I note that we have orphan terms such as "Gramps" and "Granny". With
the current tendency to postpone parenthood, it is becoming less likely
that one will have much contact with great-grandparents, so the shift "up
one generation" need not be maintained. Almost every child would like to be
older, so I propose that "Gramps" and "Granny" be used for addressing the kids.

And that completes the Great Generation Shift, of which "Pap"/"Pop"/"Papa"
= "grandfather" is only the first step. During the waning years of the 21st
century, philologists (I presume that's the [politically] correct
late-21st-century term) will write retrospective dissertations on this.
Barring an earlier citation from AS or elsewhere, you saw it here first!

-- Doug Wilson