Date: Fri, 7 Nov 1997 10:58:06 -0600 From: "Emerson, Jessie J" Subject: Re: mamaw & papaw (was "git-go and southernisms) I've heard several variations, but I haven't been able to determine a widespread usage differentiation between generations. (granny, granmaw, granpaw, meemaw, pop, big mom, etc.) > -----Original Message----- > From: Beverly Flanigan [SMTP:FLANIGAN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OUVAXA.CATS.OHIOU.EDU] > Sent: Thursday, 06 November, 1997 7:36 PM > To: ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU > Subject: Re: "git-go and southernisms" > > On "shirttail [kin]folk": "Shirt-tail relations" was the term used > by > my mother (b. 1906) in Minnesota. Is/was this term in common use? > I'm > not sure any longer (if I ever was) about the semantic > restrictiveness > of the term--in-laws, distant cousins, cousins of cousins, members > of > the families of the spouses of cousins, etc. Anybody else use it? > > Another query: 'Mamaw' (or mammaw) and 'papaw' (pappaw) are > commonly > used for grandmother and grandfather in Southeastern Ohio; but > recently > I heard of 'mawmaw' [m-backward C-m-backward C] and 'pawpaw' (same > vowels) for great-grandmother and great-grandfather. The local > newspaper had a death-memorial tribute with a picture of an > elderly man > and a farewell from a child: "We miss you, Pawpaw," which I > interpreted > as the same term I had previously heard (i.e., great-grandfather), > although of course 'papaw' (grandfather) may also have been > intended. > Can others attest to this two-generation distinction?