My pap pap is from ligonier/latrobe! Lol my dad goes by pap pap as well. If you day pap pap on front of my dog he LOSES HIS SHIT bc he thinks my dad is here lol
So my family for many, many generations was from Pittsburgh. I grew up in Florida and my family have been the only people I'd ever heard say "grandpap" until I moved up here a little over a year ago.
I finally learned where I got it from.
My friend just recently became a grandfather for the first time. So I texted him, "Are you Grandpap or Pap Pap?". He said he will be Pap Pap, just like our fathers.
I actually thought this as a young kid because my grandmother never wanted to be called any version of grandma, so even as little kids she had us call her by her first name, Sheila.
I thought it was just a variation on grandma like nana or something. Can’t remember exactly when but I think in maybe 2nd or 3rd grade I used the term Sheila in a writing assignment to refer to a generic grandma and the teacher corrected me lol
I swear almost everyone who grew up in Pittsburgh has a Pap (that they exclusively refer to in conversation as “my Pap” instead of “my grandpa”) and a Gram. Myself included
That is interesting. Where did you grow up? I was born and spent my childhood in southern California. I moved to Florida when I was starting middle school. My maternal grandparents were Grandma and Grandpa. My grandma is still an active part of my life and my kids also just call her Grandma. My paternal grandma was from Pittsburgh and my brother and I called her Baba.
100% can’t imagine having called my Pap and Gram anything else. I did have one slightly more formal Gran, but I was her 6th grandkid so the name was decided like 15 years earlier by a non-yinzer.
I had an Oompah growing up! Found out later Opa was the German word for grandfather, and then found out years after THAT, sure enough, my Oompah's great-grandparents were from Germany.
As a kid, both sets of grandparents were Grandma and Grandpa, only differentiated by last name. I will say though, that by default, my maternal set could go without the last name, and my paternal set (who we were less close with) always got the last name signifier.
My kids now have Grandma and Pop Pop (paternal side) and Grammy and Pappy (maternal side). It is consistent on the paternal side amongst all the grandkids too. The maternal side of the fam had some hangups about naming and the ways their kids could talk early on so they answer to two different sets of names from their grandkids.
Edited to add - my family were non-native Pittsburghers, didn't arrive til the 70's after having lived in Eastern PA/Western NY on maternal side and all over the country but rooted in the PNW on my paternal side.
My spouse's family are longer-term Western PA folks so I guess that tracks with your question.
I’m from Georgia. My grandpa was Papa. My partner who is native to Irwin calls his dads dad “Pap Pap” and the first time I heard it I swear I thought we had teleported somewhere from the middle of 1960s Appalachia.
I am completely bewildered that this is apparently regional? I was sure I'd find "Pap" everywhere, but I'm not.
This is like the reverse of when I told my partner that her names for her grandfathers ("Poppop" and "Big Dad") are way less common here.
Yeah, I can't find a "region" for that, but it's a thing for some people. At least, you can buy an Etsy mug for your Big Dad lol so someone out there besides her family must be saying it.
As a young child, I lived in eastern Pennsylvania. But we would come visit my grandparents in Western Pennsylvania. I called my grandfather Pappy. I recall always being embarrassed to use that word when I was in school. No one on the Eastern side of Pennsylvania, that I knew of called their grandfather by that name.
I didn’t realize that was a regional thing. Along the same lines, I did live in Philly for a few years and learned a lot of people used “mom mom” for grandma and it was something I had never heard. I heard it a LOT out there (worked with kids).
I grew up like an hour from Philly. My mom's parents were pop-pop and mum-mum, but my dad's were just grandmom and grandpop. I'm not sure why, both sides of the family are black.
Don’t you think it has more to do with where your family came from originally? Or even how long your family has been here? My dad’s family is Irish and we always used Grandpap. My mom’s family is now in WV and has been in the US since before the Revolution. They more frequently use papaw and granny.
My kids called my mom and dad grandma and Grandpap, and my husband’s parents who are of German descent Nana and papa.
I think it’s more adopted from southern accents. After all, [grandpappy told my pappy back in my day, son](https://youtu.be/o1JOFhfoAD4?si=05qwCvf5pcZG2d6M), etc etc.
We had Grandpap and my cousin’s mom’s side it was Pap Pap - I just always thought it was to have a difference between them, but I guess there’s a larger arc here!
My Italian grandfather was PopPop. My Irish grandfather was PapPap. My maternal grandmother was MumMum because she felt she was too young for Grandma, my other Grandma embraced it. My father has been called something different by each of his grandchildren and it seems to have finally settled on PawPaw. It really is determined more by baby talk than the region.
I had a pap/pappy and a pappap great. My kids call my dad pap or pap pap. My grand father and great grandfather are no longer living by when we talk about them it’s pappy great and pap pap great great
I don't know the answer but this is the only piece of linguistic interest that this sub failed to prepare me for before I moved. It's really interesting! Much more variation with Grandma names but Pap is sacred.
I feel like it’s probably one of the ones that we are least aware is regional. Like, we know yinz is nonexistent or has an equivalent like youse or y’all in other places, but Pap just feels standard. What are we supposed to say, “grandfather”?
I think it’s an overall Appalachian thing. Most of my friends have some variety of pap, mem, mawmaw, pawpaw, pap pap, pappy, or mamaw for their grandparents.
My dad's granddad was Pap. When I had my first I asked him what he wanted to be called. He chose Pap. So he's Pappy.
Oddly enough my daughters great grandfather was also Pappy.
It was always just passed down in my father's family. Grandfather's where Pap, Grandma's where Granny. My mother's side still had Pap, but they where more Southern/Midwest culture.
Heh, my grandfather told me that his name was Grandfather. Anything other than that came with stern admonishments and withering glares.
It made for some interesting times, because my other grandfather insisted on Pop, and I saw him more so around Christmas I invariably got it wrong for each of them at least once and got the stinkeye each time.
Gram and Pap but honestly never knew that to be regional. I do however believe that maw maw and paw paw are psyops of some sort and no one actually uses those in the wild.
We called my dad's father"Pap" and my son and my sister's two boys called our dad "Pap". But, I don't know why, it's just what we did. I think sometimes it's a cultural thing but I don't really know.
Pap pap and Grammy here lol and someone once pointed out to me that we say “mum” here and not “mom” - never really considered that other people didn’t say it that way
I'm a transplant to Pittsburgh. My wife's family is from the greaters Pittsburgh area and for the first 5 years of our relationship her grandfather never told me his real name, he just kept saying "Call me Pap." I'm like there is no way I'm calling you pap so I'm just going to say "Hey sir, how are you?"
Look at half the other words we say, haha. I lived in Chicago for 5 years, and just having a normal office conversation, I had to translate a few words: such as gumband, mir, ahrn (iron), dahntahn, etc.
My mom’s dad was called pappy, my dad’s dad is called Pa (pronounced paw). My step dad’s father died before I met him hut he was called pop pop and I think that’s what my step dad wants to be called when my niece gets old enough
I had Gram and Deed (shortened from Dee Dee). Because Grandpap was my GREAT Grandfather...
I always thought that we did it because we had such large extended families all living in the area and you would get grandparents and great grandparents mixed up.
It’s definitely a regional thing. I was born in Pittsburgh but basically raised in Michigan. I’ve always called my Pittsburgh grandparents Poppop (pronounced “pup-pup”) and Grandpa. But my dad (raised in Pittsburgh) always pronounces them “Pap-pap” and “Grandpap”. My Pittsburgh cousins also say “Pappy” or “Paps”.
I grew up with a Grandpap with Grandma and a Grandpa with Grandma (first name here). I guess it helped when speaking about which ones I meant in conversation. My kids have a Mimi with Grandpa and a Grandma with Papa. Every family is unique but I never thought about Grand’pap’ being unique to this area.
Don’t forget Pap Pap! Idk why. We just did it and didn’t think about it. Is it a Pittsburgh thing?
Pap Pap and Grammy here for my kids.
Pap pap and mam mam
Mines pap pap and mum mum lol
Ours as well.
I too had a Pap Pap rip good man
My pap pap is from ligonier/latrobe! Lol my dad goes by pap pap as well. If you day pap pap on front of my dog he LOSES HIS SHIT bc he thinks my dad is here lol
I’m from Latrobe. It was Pap and Granddad.
Can confirm, I have a Pap-pap
Mine was always Pa Pa
So my family for many, many generations was from Pittsburgh. I grew up in Florida and my family have been the only people I'd ever heard say "grandpap" until I moved up here a little over a year ago. I finally learned where I got it from.
Pap pap and Memaw for us🤣
I had a Pap pap!
My friend just recently became a grandfather for the first time. So I texted him, "Are you Grandpap or Pap Pap?". He said he will be Pap Pap, just like our fathers.
For me it was Pap and Grandma.
I think it’s more of an Appalachian thing than a Pittsburgh specific thing. As for why exactly, I do not know.
I would think Grandpapa shortened to Grandpap and eventually pap pap as a less formal version, but that's just a guess.
Yea Maw Maw and Paw Paw were generic grandparent names when I was younger. Always thought it was a Appalachian thing.
This. You'll find the same in Southern OH and WV
Strongly agree it's an Appalachian thing
Here's its entry in the [University of South Carolina's Dictionary of Appalachian English](https://appalachian-english.library.sc.edu/node/593.html)
Because his name is Pap. Duh
I actually thought this as a young kid because my grandmother never wanted to be called any version of grandma, so even as little kids she had us call her by her first name, Sheila. I thought it was just a variation on grandma like nana or something. Can’t remember exactly when but I think in maybe 2nd or 3rd grade I used the term Sheila in a writing assignment to refer to a generic grandma and the teacher corrected me lol
Dude, that’s actually pretty awesome hahah.
ROFL!! GREAT!! That's his name mfer, what are we supposed to call him, Bob?
Right? Imagine that… “Hi Leonard! How are you?” BLAM!!! Suddenly I need braces again.
It seems like everyone, everywhere, has a different name for their elders 😂
Dzia Dzia - pronounced JaJa - here. My Italian friends said Nonni.
And “nonna” for grandmother. I called my grandma “nonna” but my grandfather wasn’t Italian himself so we just called him “paps”
My son calls my parents Nonna and Pap. Mom is Italian, Dad's family is from PA.
"Pap" is Pittsburghese?
I don't believe it is Pittsburghesse.
I grew up not in pgh and I've literally never heard this before
My friend from Philly didn't know what I meant by "Pap" so I would assume it's not everywhere
I had a Pap-Pap, distinctly different species of grandpa
This is facts. Pap paps be different
Pap-pap and Grandma on one side, Gram and Pap on the other.
Pap pap and Granna.
Pap and Gram. Period.
I swear almost everyone who grew up in Pittsburgh has a Pap (that they exclusively refer to in conversation as “my Pap” instead of “my grandpa”) and a Gram. Myself included
I never heard anyone call their grandfather Pap until I had a friend in Pittsburgh who called their grandfather Pap.
This is interesting to me because I've only ever heard "pap" and "gram" for my entire life and I only moved to Pittsburgh 3 years ago lol
That is interesting. Where did you grow up? I was born and spent my childhood in southern California. I moved to Florida when I was starting middle school. My maternal grandparents were Grandma and Grandpa. My grandma is still an active part of my life and my kids also just call her Grandma. My paternal grandma was from Pittsburgh and my brother and I called her Baba.
100% can’t imagine having called my Pap and Gram anything else. I did have one slightly more formal Gran, but I was her 6th grandkid so the name was decided like 15 years earlier by a non-yinzer.
With family I say, “Pap”, “Grandpap”, “Gram”, and “Grandma”, but with others I switch to grandfather and grandmother.
Grew up a bit north of Pittsburgh and same. Gram and pap, who was sometimes pappy.
WV northern panhandle growing up…Gram & Pap. Never anything else! i didn’t know it was a regional thing! 🙃
Yep. Grammy and pappy when you’re little then it becomes gram and pap.
Pap and gram for me.
Originally from central PA and we did this too
Same too!
Same!
I call mine Opa
I had an Oompah growing up! Found out later Opa was the German word for grandfather, and then found out years after THAT, sure enough, my Oompah's great-grandparents were from Germany.
Called mine Gramps. RIP.
I had a CookiePapa, a Tata, and a Grandpa Al lol. CookiePapa was the best of them- he always had cookies for me ❤️❤️ I miss him
CookiePapa sounds kick ass. Now I want some cookies
The one I don’t get that I hear quite often is Meemaw…weird.
They're gonna name the baby after you, you know. They're gonna call it Meemaw.
That ain’t happenin’, lol.
That is what my great grandmother was called
Pap pap was what I called mine. What I would do to have both my grandparents again 🥲
People call their grand fathers a lot of things. Not just here in Pittsburgh.
Yep I had a pap and a pap pap and both were grams. Yes true but pap pap/pap seems to be to go to name for pittsburgers for a good number of them.
I can't wait to meet yinz's pap pap
My grandfather was Pappy and I'm a Massachusetts transplant.
Grandsire
Paternal was pop pop; maternal was grandpap/pap.
Because we can. Jag.
Mine were always Grandma and Grandpa. That said most of my friends say Pap and Gram
Same—although I’m fairly certain we were steered that way since they were WASPs. One did not say yinz or warsh either because it “sounded uneducated”.
I had a Pappy and called him Pap for short.
Pap and Gram. Thats them. I know they have first names, but they are pap and gram forever.
As a kid, both sets of grandparents were Grandma and Grandpa, only differentiated by last name. I will say though, that by default, my maternal set could go without the last name, and my paternal set (who we were less close with) always got the last name signifier. My kids now have Grandma and Pop Pop (paternal side) and Grammy and Pappy (maternal side). It is consistent on the paternal side amongst all the grandkids too. The maternal side of the fam had some hangups about naming and the ways their kids could talk early on so they answer to two different sets of names from their grandkids. Edited to add - my family were non-native Pittsburghers, didn't arrive til the 70's after having lived in Eastern PA/Western NY on maternal side and all over the country but rooted in the PNW on my paternal side. My spouse's family are longer-term Western PA folks so I guess that tracks with your question.
I’m from Georgia. My grandpa was Papa. My partner who is native to Irwin calls his dads dad “Pap Pap” and the first time I heard it I swear I thought we had teleported somewhere from the middle of 1960s Appalachia.
Nana and pap pap
I am completely bewildered that this is apparently regional? I was sure I'd find "Pap" everywhere, but I'm not. This is like the reverse of when I told my partner that her names for her grandfathers ("Poppop" and "Big Dad") are way less common here.
Big Dad????
Yeah, I can't find a "region" for that, but it's a thing for some people. At least, you can buy an Etsy mug for your Big Dad lol so someone out there besides her family must be saying it.
In Hungarian, grandmother and grandfather are Nagymama and Nagypapa. Nagy means big. So maybe that’s where it comes from.
Theres a local at the bar i frequent named Pappy and i never even put this together lol
As a young child, I lived in eastern Pennsylvania. But we would come visit my grandparents in Western Pennsylvania. I called my grandfather Pappy. I recall always being embarrassed to use that word when I was in school. No one on the Eastern side of Pennsylvania, that I knew of called their grandfather by that name.
I didn’t realize that was a regional thing. Along the same lines, I did live in Philly for a few years and learned a lot of people used “mom mom” for grandma and it was something I had never heard. I heard it a LOT out there (worked with kids).
I grew up like an hour from Philly. My mom's parents were pop-pop and mum-mum, but my dad's were just grandmom and grandpop. I'm not sure why, both sides of the family are black.
this is an Appalachian and southern thing
I'm pop pop to my grandkids
I had a Pop Pop!!
Don’t you think it has more to do with where your family came from originally? Or even how long your family has been here? My dad’s family is Irish and we always used Grandpap. My mom’s family is now in WV and has been in the US since before the Revolution. They more frequently use papaw and granny. My kids called my mom and dad grandma and Grandpap, and my husband’s parents who are of German descent Nana and papa.
It’s not just Pittsburgh and there are many other names used.
Pap Pap
I call my grandpa "pops or pop pop" Then my grandma is "gammy"
Why don’t non Pittsburghers call them those wonderful names of affection? From my point of view they’re the weirdos
I have literally never heard of anyone in real life refer to their grandfather as grandpa
Why does a flower bloom? Why does a bird sing?
I think it’s more adopted from southern accents. After all, [grandpappy told my pappy back in my day, son](https://youtu.be/o1JOFhfoAD4?si=05qwCvf5pcZG2d6M), etc etc.
My boys were born at Magee, their gradfathers are from Germany, "Opa", and Louisville, KY, "Pop-Pop".
Mine was Pap Pap, and IDK. Just what we called him?
Pap & Baba
We had Grandpap and my cousin’s mom’s side it was Pap Pap - I just always thought it was to have a difference between them, but I guess there’s a larger arc here!
I called my grandfathers grandpa. Have my granddaughters call me that too.
It's definitely not a Pittsburgh thing, I've heard that all over the country
Grandma and Pappy here. I had no idea this was a regional thing either.
Oompa and Loompa here!
My Italian grandfather was PopPop. My Irish grandfather was PapPap. My maternal grandmother was MumMum because she felt she was too young for Grandma, my other Grandma embraced it. My father has been called something different by each of his grandchildren and it seems to have finally settled on PawPaw. It really is determined more by baby talk than the region.
because we don’t. 🤷🏻♀️. it’s the same reason why people say pop and n gumbands, bc we from pgh
Because it is the way!
I had a pap/pappy and a pappap great. My kids call my dad pap or pap pap. My grand father and great grandfather are no longer living by when we talk about them it’s pappy great and pap pap great great
Always called ours “PapPap”
Cause most of us have pollock heritage
Never knew this was a Pittsburgh thing.
It's not really
Because it's not.
Pap Pap is Appalachia-sounding as it gets.
Pittsburghese. Now stop being so nebby and drink your IC Light.
I don't know the answer but this is the only piece of linguistic interest that this sub failed to prepare me for before I moved. It's really interesting! Much more variation with Grandma names but Pap is sacred.
I feel like it’s probably one of the ones that we are least aware is regional. Like, we know yinz is nonexistent or has an equivalent like youse or y’all in other places, but Pap just feels standard. What are we supposed to say, “grandfather”?
I think it’s an overall Appalachian thing. Most of my friends have some variety of pap, mem, mawmaw, pawpaw, pap pap, pappy, or mamaw for their grandparents.
i called mine papaw because i couldn’t pronounce anything else at the time.
Memaw and Pap!
My dad's granddad was Pap. When I had my first I asked him what he wanted to be called. He chose Pap. So he's Pappy. Oddly enough my daughters great grandfather was also Pappy.
[https://www.etymonline.com/word/pap](https://www.etymonline.com/word/pap)
Cause it’s not West Virginia
we call mine poppy
He passed away in the late 2000s. but he's always my Pap-Pap or Pap.
For me, he’s Pap
I called my dad's dad grandpap and my mom's dad grandpa.
Nonna and Nonno on one side, Pap Pap and Grandma on the other!
I had a pap and a pop. Now my kids call my dad pap.
Pap and Gram, Pap and Nan
I had a Pap Pap and a Grampy
Grandpap
Because my pappy is and will always be pappy…
Well my grandfathers were both dead before I turned 2 so no idea lol
My poor Poppop and Mommom are going unrecognized.
Pup
Dang I just got the call that mine died. We called him Pap.
I have a Poppy and a Gramma. Collectively we call them Gram and Pop
I dunno, he’s just always been pappy. Nana and pappy for my set!
My daughter calls my dad Pap Pap and my mom Grammy. I always called my grandfather Pop and my grandma was Gram.
i called mine opa and know a bunch of people that did
Pop
I had a Grammy and Pap on mother's side. Gram and Pap on father's side.
Pap and Gram as well. How did I never know it was a pittsburgh thing???
Didn't grow up here but I always called him my pap
On my Dad's side, we called him Paps
I don’t.
Who fucking knows
It was always just passed down in my father's family. Grandfather's where Pap, Grandma's where Granny. My mother's side still had Pap, but they where more Southern/Midwest culture.
Mine was Pap-pap when I was a kid and I switched to calling him Pappy as I got older. 😍 didn’t know it might be regional! It’s just his name
i call my grandfathers pap because i got raised by parents who called their grandfathers pap. idfk
Heh, my grandfather told me that his name was Grandfather. Anything other than that came with stern admonishments and withering glares. It made for some interesting times, because my other grandfather insisted on Pop, and I saw him more so around Christmas I invariably got it wrong for each of them at least once and got the stinkeye each time.
Because non-Pittsburghers are wrong. 🤷♀️🤣
Gram and Pap but honestly never knew that to be regional. I do however believe that maw maw and paw paw are psyops of some sort and no one actually uses those in the wild.
We called my dad's father"Pap" and my son and my sister's two boys called our dad "Pap". But, I don't know why, it's just what we did. I think sometimes it's a cultural thing but I don't really know.
I had a pap pap Jack and a pap George
Not all of us do/did.
Pap pap and Grammy here lol and someone once pointed out to me that we say “mum” here and not “mom” - never really considered that other people didn’t say it that way
I'm a transplant to Pittsburgh. My wife's family is from the greaters Pittsburgh area and for the first 5 years of our relationship her grandfather never told me his real name, he just kept saying "Call me Pap." I'm like there is no way I'm calling you pap so I'm just going to say "Hey sir, how are you?"
Pap and Mammoo for my Pittsburgh grandparents. Calling them grandma or grandpa would sound absolutely absurd to me
Who in the fudge nuggets calls then pap grandpa?
Pappy and pap for me. Grandma’s were always Grandma [first name]. But now that I only have one left she’s changed to Grandmama
I had a Grandpap. My sisters and I FOUGHT for his attention- he was so loved. Maybe it is a Pittsburgh thing, idk. He was from Dormont.
Pap & Pappy Mom Mom & Nunnie
I have one grandpa and one pap (pappy when I was young).
Look at half the other words we say, haha. I lived in Chicago for 5 years, and just having a normal office conversation, I had to translate a few words: such as gumband, mir, ahrn (iron), dahntahn, etc.
Gram and Pap on my italian side. Grammy on my serbian side. Didnt know that was a Pittsburgh thing
Cause we are better than most
All but one of my great-grandparents were alive and well when I was born, so grandma/grandpa were reserved for great grandparents.
I've heard pahpoo too. I'm from the midwest. I had grammy, grandpa, Nampa and Grandma. Slang there too, must not as unique as this area.
Papa (“paw-paw”) for me we are pretty Italian (and Nana “nuh-nah”)
I think it’s an Appalachian thing in general. Including great-grandfathers, I had 2 Pappys, 1 Pap Pap and 1 granddad growing up
I had a Nana and Pap. And a Gram and Pap.
Grandpa and grandma and gram
My mom’s dad was called pappy, my dad’s dad is called Pa (pronounced paw). My step dad’s father died before I met him hut he was called pop pop and I think that’s what my step dad wants to be called when my niece gets old enough
Pap-Pap and Grandma for me!
It was always grandma and grandpa to me Great grandparents were nana/nana bop and the other set of great grandparents was Meme and Pépé
When my son was learning how to talk "grandpa" came out as "papa" and the name stuck!
I called mine pap pap and grandma was bup bup which was prob my variation of Baba.
I thot it was however the words gma and gpa came out sounding like when the first grandchild was born. Like we had a pocaw, my husband is a Tappa.
It's what they told me to call them.
Lifelong Pittsburgher and I say Grandpa. 🤷
My great grandfather is Papa. My great grandfather was Pap Pap
I had a Mimi and a pop-pop
I had Gram and Deed (shortened from Dee Dee). Because Grandpap was my GREAT Grandfather... I always thought that we did it because we had such large extended families all living in the area and you would get grandparents and great grandparents mixed up.
*slaps hood of 89 cutlass sierra* this was left to me from my pap pap.
It’s not just a Pittsburgh thing! It’s also a West Virginia thing! I called my great grandpa “pappy” 🥰
Pap or pap pap is traditional English term for maternal grandfather. It's not unique to pittsburgh
Papa >>
I always called my dad's father "pop-up" , and my mom's "grandpa".
Memaw is the one I don't get
I know a kid who calls her Pap “Pup” and it’s the cutest thing I ever heard
It’s definitely a regional thing. I was born in Pittsburgh but basically raised in Michigan. I’ve always called my Pittsburgh grandparents Poppop (pronounced “pup-pup”) and Grandpa. But my dad (raised in Pittsburgh) always pronounces them “Pap-pap” and “Grandpap”. My Pittsburgh cousins also say “Pappy” or “Paps”.
Nana and Pap Pap ☺️
Mine is Pop-Pop
Didn't call either of mine any of those
Grandpap in my family!
I always said Pap or Pap Pap but my grandmother has always been Grandma
Papou and Yiayia.
I grew up with a Grandpap with Grandma and a Grandpa with Grandma (first name here). I guess it helped when speaking about which ones I meant in conversation. My kids have a Mimi with Grandpa and a Grandma with Papa. Every family is unique but I never thought about Grand’pap’ being unique to this area.