November 18, 2004

grandparental nomenclature

So, pumpkin, i wrote this post earlier today, but blogger ate it. I'm going to attempt to re-create the highpoints for you, but I warn that the pressures of work have worked their mojo on my brain, and that ennui may have a detrimental effect on what is to follow...

Last night, your mother and I went out to dinner with three of your grandparents, one of your uncles and one of your aunts. The conversation did not revolve ENTIRELY around you, but you made up a healthy portion of the evening's discourse.

The topic of 'what pumpkin should call his/her grandparents' arose, and we rose with it. Your grandad Ian decided that he would be called grandad, which was fairly straightforward and to the point. I think that this sort of a name will be difficult to confuse with other people's, and should present you with no great difficulty.

Your grandmother Linda appears to be fond of 'nana', but I'm sure that she's open to discussion if you decide that you're unhappy with this particular moniker. Your grandfather Phil wasn't around for this discussion, so we will await his thoughts on the matter at a later date.

Jann, the antipodean matriarch of the Penford Dennis Kowalski Kotsiris McConnell Skinner clan, says that she's FAR TOO YOUNG at the tender age of 42 (although I might add that she's been this age for the entire seven years that I've known her) to be called a grandmother, and that she would like to be called Auntie Jann. She also says that we are able to add modifiers to this name, and that such things as Fabulous Aunt Jann or Incredibly Glamorous Aunt Jann would be acceptable.

Apparently your mother's mum has been being called "Grannie Annie" around the office, but I'm not sure that she will be too happy with this. We will find out soon enough, in January, when your other set of grandparents arrive to feel your mum's expanding bump.

Love you.

1 comment:

Feisty said...

On the subject of naming grandparents, just like pumpkin will, I had the advantage of being able to differentiate by location, although not, like pumpkin will, in a transcontinental way...
So, we had Grandma- and Grandad-in-Leeds, Grandma- and Grandad-in-Lincoln and Great-Grandma-in-Ireland.
I realise that, to extrapolate this, it could get a bit odd for pumpkin, with grandma- and grandad-in-yorkshire-and-sometimes-italy-france-or-australia, grandma-in-maine-and-sometimes-australia and grandad-in-maine-cardiff-luxembourg-or-just-outside-of-prague, auntie-jann- and grandad-in-thornbury-or-sometimes-south-east-asia and grandma-in-forest-hill-or-michigan. And that's before I get stuck into the great grandparents.

I think we need a map or a venn diagram or something.