Words for grandparents: was: Pittsburgh Dialect

[Joe Pickett]

I can support the non-WASP background for Nana, though perhaps Nana
ultimately comes from the English.

My paternal grandmother (Gaelic-speaking from Castlebar, County Mayo) was
always referred to as Nana, and so was my wife's Irish grandmother
(Protestant from Banbridge, in the North).

My wife's grandfather (also from Banbridge) was always referred to as Gaga
(pronounced GUH-guh).  Now our kids refer to her parents (Americans living
near Kilkeel, in County Down) as "Nana and Gaga."


Joe





Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on 10/19/2000
07:43:05 PM

Please respond to American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>

Sent by:  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>


To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
cc:
Subject:  Re: Words for grandparents: was: Pittsburgh Dialect


lynne murphy reports "nana" in WASP families, in response to larry
horn's speculation that it's a jewish thing.

from my teenage days, in the '50s in eastern pennsylvania: "nana"
used, in my experience, *only* by two WASP families (good
episcopalians all).  each family had two living grandmothers but no
living grandfathers, so i can't report on the male counterpart to
"nana".

in any case, at the time i thought it must be an upper-middle-class
thing.  i did notice it, though - probably because i became close to
these families not long after reading zola's novel Nana, which gave
all this talk of "nana greene" etc. an odd flavor to me.

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)