Date:  Fri, 7 Nov 1997 09:50:38 -0500
From:  Wayne Glowka <wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MAIL.GAC.PEACHNET.EDU>
Subject: Re: "git-go and southernisms": mawmaw and pawpaw

On my father's side (in Texas), his maternal grandparents were "mammy" and
"papa," the names by which I knew them. However, I called my paternal
grandparents "mawmaw" and "pawpaw," both of whom are now deceased and
thereby unknown to my children. My children know my parents as "grandma in
Texas" (known to their cousins as "grandma Tootie") and "grandpa in Texas"
(I don't know what the cousins call him). We have no relational term for
my father's current wife. (The seating at the last wedding I attended sure
was interesting.)

The generational shifts have generally been a matter of convenience and
accident for us. Our sense is that the names should be distinct so we know
who(m) we are talking about. However, I believe that my father referred to
his paternal grandfather "pawpaw," although the man died before my father
was born. This pawpaw's wife remarried and was then known as "grandma
Brown"--even to me.

Wayne Glowka
Old Enough to Be Pawpaw