[English] Grandmothers

[karohemd]

I'm always getting confused with "gran" and "nan". Are the two synonymous or is one the mother's and the other the father's mother?

Comments

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

As far as I know they are the same thing, although there are class and regional differences in their use.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I think they mean the same thing, though I suspect their use is one of the many "class indicator" words, like sofa and settee, napkin and serviette. lav and toilet.
Boggling stuff once you start to dig into the hidden agendas.

[chriscologne.livejournal.com]

Yup - they are synonymous.

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

What They Said.

Gran wanted to be called Gran when I was born, so she was. Likewise, Nanny & Pop chose those names for themselves (and they were thorough South Londoners).

as above

[reindeerflotila.livejournal.com]

Gran, Granny, Nan and Nanny (unless a Nanny in the Governess type sense), are all the same.

The class indicator is a bit inaccurate given that there is a significant chance of your assumptions being incorrect.

[susanofstohelit.livejournal.com]

those are both very british too - americans usually (at least in my region of the country) use grandma.

[raggedhalo.livejournal.com]

Class indicators: I once saw an "are you a chav?" quiz that gave you a chav-point if you referred to one (or both) of your parents' mothers as "nan."

My family's always referred to such relatives as nan. But my family's pretty working class, I guess.

[nikkita422.livejournal.com]

As a Latin American, I can say that we either use Nana (pr: nah nah) or Abuela for grandmother. Abuela tends to be used among Latins who speak Spanish as their first language. Nana, thus, being sometimes more pretentious.

*different topic* My Nana didn't teach her children spanish first growing up because she feared a stigma on them by society if they developed accented English. As a result, my generation weren't taught spanish at all. Our parents forgot how to speak fluently by the time they had us.

[con-2002.livejournal.com]

I grew up in the north. My mums parents were grandma and grandad. My Dads mum we called Nan, though this was an agreement between my parents and them i think. More to avoid confusion. My Nans second husband (my dads dad died before I was born) was Grandad Alan. I haven't really ever equated a difference, my Nan's other grandkids (on Alan's side) call her Grandma or Granny.
Though I doubt that particularly helps. They generally means the same thing, though in higher social circles, Nan or Nanna (from Nanny) refered to the person looking after them or so I am led to believe.

[vyvyan.livejournal.com]

Graham called his mother's mother Nanna and her sister Nanta. He calls his father's mother Gran(ny). I have only ever had one living grandmother who I call Gran.

[derekct.livejournal.com]

My sister decided to call one Nan and the other Grandma to stop confussion for the children. Also its regional as well I think in the UK what people call grandparents.
Dialects are good, since I use the local one all the time.

[lsur.livejournal.com]

They mean the same.

an american chiming in

[gothmom.livejournal.com]

well because we are such a melting pot or stewpot or whatever grandparents are called a lot of things. Personally, my grandparents all died before I was born (exception my paternal grandmother who died when I was 4) so it wasn't an issue.

Grandma, Granny, Gram, Grams, Yaya, Nana, and Muzzy are all terms I have heard used by friends or relatives. Oh yes, and my nephew had a "spanking grandma" lol!