Things we say: June 2008 Archives

I got a few more suggestions for names of grandparents.

Marie Elena suggested Gram and Pop.
Mary reminded me of Omah and Opah... I shouldn't have forgotten that one, my nephew has an "Oma" and an "Opa"! Their family has a very German heritage, so that's no surprise, I guess.

Adriane also reminded me of Mimi, and they also had a Poppop... She also hinted at a fun story about my husabnd. In their family, they had a special name for her and my husband's paternal grandmother. If I get the story right... Hubby had a hard time with "Grammy" so he turned it into "Bambi." That one translated down the line; until her death last year, even her great-grandkids called her Bambi.

Am I missing any others?

So, I had been asking what you call your grandparents.

So far, I've had a few responses. Here's what I have so far:

Possibly an authoritative source on redding up's origins comes to us from commenter Beau:

Interestingly, I found a Pittsburgh winery that makes a Redd-Up Redd wine, adding even more credence to the claim that this hails from that area. And, look, there's a Redd Up Pittsburgh T-shirt.

And, if you want a real authoritative source, how can you get more credible than PBS?

All right, I promise I'm done talking about redding up for a while.

This is a completely gratuitous picture of George Clooney in a suit, just because we happen to mention suits in this post and because he's immensely hot. Like Harrison Ford. This blog's author admits she might have a "thing" for old guys. (Don't tell Hubby.)

Remember my challenge on how to say certain words if you're a Yorker?

Things like suite, milk, irons, wash, clothes, water, roof and Roots (the auction/flea market in Lancaster County) all take on a different tone if you're from around here.

Even our grocery store - Weis - has a debate about its pronunciation. (Wee-s? Why-s? The inexplicable need to drop a T on the end and make it Whys-t?) Oh, and what about Utz chips? (Uuutz or Uhtz?)

Well, once again, Jo came through for me, proving that I'm not crazy and we really are different.

And, commenter Bonnie weighed in with her thoughts ... another hole-in-one!

It being father's day, I'm honoring Hubby's wish for a peaceful day at home. We might go check out the "York's Greatest Yard Sale" (I still have a hard time not calling it the "World's Greatest Yard Sale") but other than that, no big plans.

Today's festivities, though, and some recent blog comments got me wondering... how many names do Yorkers have for grandfathers - or any grandparents, really?

I didn't want to miss giving some recognition to the winner of last week's pronunciation contest on how we might say "recipe."

New commenter Bonnie gets it right in one. What did she say?

Seems every time I do a post on "redding up," I get comments.

Earlier posts:
May 27: More on redding up
Dec. 23: "Red"d up in honor of Christmas
Sept. 22: Let's redd up the blog

From reader Roy: Perhaps "redd up" may be York County talk, but the word "redd" itself is not solely from this area.

What about "crick" as a Yorkism? Like most of York County sayings, I'm not claiming that this is native to our area - just that an awful lot of people here say "crick" for "creek."