This weekend my mom asked me what her name would be when she becomes a grandma. She doesn’t want to be Grandma, Granny, Nanna, etc. My dad has requested to be called Pop, but she doesn’t have any requests for herself.
I love picking out names, so I am excited about this assignment. However, I only have two so far.
The first one is Gangee (pronounced gang-gee). This is afer the grandmother on my favorite TV show, Arrested Development. However, Gangee is kind of an ugly word, and if you don’t know the show you won’t get the beauty of it. I proposed this to my mom, who thought that I wanted to name the BABY that, and she said that it sounded too much like “gangrene.” She’s right… But I still love it!
The other is Kiwi. Kiwi was one of my mom’s nicknames when she was little, perhaps because small children couldn’t pronounce Karen, so they mumbled out Kiwi instead. I also proposed Kiwi to her, but she was in one of those “keeps talking and doesn’t stop to comment on what you say” moods, so I didn’t get a response from her on that one.
What do you think? As you can see, my mom is a hip, youngish mom. She will never get the poodle haircut (short hair with a tight perm) or wear unstylish clothes. She is also fun to be around. So I need a name tor reflect all that.
5 comments:
Hey April:
How about Gamma? It's not grandma, but it's indicative of the position. Plus, its all cool and sci-fi, like Gamma rays. Of the two you proposed, I think Kiwi is hilarious, although I have to admit, I think its silly you doesn't want to be called Grandma, Nana, etc. When Brian and I have a kid, our parents will be grandpa and grandma, I'm sure. Even my own young and cool mother.
HLN
Sister Melissa emailed her comments on this blog:
...I like the kiwi. Wait, she could be Yaya (like in David Sedaris' book!).
April note: I like yaya, too!
Okay, so I reread the Ya-Ya story. I thought it was about David's rich aunt, but it was about his actual grandmother, who wasn't much fun. The name is fun, but not sure about giving it to mom now, since she's nothing like a smelly old greek lady who frowned all the time.
i'll cast a vote for kiwi, i think.
I think something more related to a Scottish clan matriarch would be appropriate. The Gaelic word for Grandmother is Sean mataiar (pronounced Shan Watar) = old mother. We could get all hillbilly and call her Meemaw. Personally I like Gram or Grammy better than Kiwi or Yaya. I think Yaya is either Greek or Spanish. Either way I don't like how it sounds so much. If Dad is going to be Pop then shouldn't Mom be Mum or something similar? They have to roll together, right? What about Granola? That's like Granny but with a hippie twist. Then they could be Granola Pop, some sort of hippie desert. I don't know, officially talking out of my ass now. I just don't like Yaya.
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