[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: - Calling Names

Carole Estes lrcjestes at earthlink.net
Tue Aug 28 01:25:46 UTC 2001


----- Original Message -----
From: "Aberforth's Goat" <Aberforths_Goat at Yahoo.com>


> I'm late on this thread, but I'm curious about another social conundrum:
> what do you married people call your parents-in-law? Mom and Dad? First
> names? My (Swiss) wife and I have been married for six years now, and I
> still haven't figured it out. Younger Swiss parents would want to be
called
> by their first names, whereas the traditional solution would be Mom and
Dad.
> Sue's parents are fairly traditional and in their early 70s, so I *think*
I
> know what they'd like--but I just can't get the words through my larynx
> without choking.

Well, when referring to my mother-in-law I use her first name.  I rarely
have the reason to call her by name directly, and it is a bit uncomfortable
to call her by her first name directly but I've probably done it...Mrs.
Estes is just too stilted.

We have a convention in our family that my sister started.  In order to
distinguish between Grandmoms, which speaks to the relaxation in formal
titles in the last 20 years.

When my sister an I were young, my father's mother was Grandmom Smith and
mother's mother was Grandmom Jones (names changed to protect the innocent).
But in this day and age those same grandmom's are now Grandmom Ada and
Grandmom Mildred (well they would be if they were still alive...hmmm) anyway
my MIL is Grandmom Louise...so that's what I usually call her.

carole









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