Pat here In American culture, almost any name you want can be ascribed to grandparents. Not so in Korean culture. Very distinct names are used for both paternal and maternal grandparents. I’ve now heard the words enough in Kdramas that I can recognize them. Case in point: I was at a concert for one of my grandchildren, and an Asian woman addressed the elderly man standing next to me as “abeoji.” I turned to him and asked if he was Korean. He was. When I told him I watched a lot of Korean television and heard that word, he laughed. (Actually Pat - from my extensive Korean language lessons abeoji 아버지 means father; hal-abeoji 할아버지 means grandpa. I hope our Korean followers will appreciate our attempt to be accurate here...)
In American culture, anything goes when it’s time to give grandparents a name. I’ve had discussions with new grandparents about what their grandchildren were going to call them. These names run the gamut from Grandma and Grandpa to Gigi and Bopo. Two of my very close friends have the best names ever, but for purposes of IT’S NO ONE’S BUSINESS, I’m not going to divulge them here. Sorry! In my family two of my children use the names Grandma and Grandpa, but the third one uses Grandma and Bapa. It can get pretty confusing at times.
Oppa and Noona is for another post.
~ I'm happily 'Grandma Judy.'
Actually, I’m 'OKAY, GRANDMA.' I’ve taught my grandkids to mind by having them say ‘Okay, Grandma’ when I tell them to do something. It’s amazing how well it works. They listen!
Interesting. Until I moved to Arkansas, I had never heard MeMaw used for grandmother. My friend's grandchildren call him BaBa, which is Czech for grandfather and is not their ethnicity. My paternal grandparents were called G'ma Alice and G'pa Werner, while my maternal grandparents were called by their surname G'ma and G'pa Donart. But, strangest of all, my colleague's grandchildren call him Sir Jack!