Posts in April 5, 2020

We never used the terms “Grandaunt” or “Granduncle” in my family. Uncles of my parents were almost always just referred to as “aunt” or “uncle” with “Great-aunt” or “Great-Uncle” being reserved as greetings on thank you notes or some sort of formal occasion. I knew many of my grandparents’ siblings and I never referred to them as anything other than aunt or uncle. We always knew to whom we were referring–with the exception of Aunt Ruth. There was my Auth Ruth Ufkes (my grandfather’s sister), my aunt Ruth Newman (my grandmother’s sister), and my Aunt Ruthie Ufkes (my grandfather’s sister-in-law). Of course there are technically correct uses of these terms: aunt/uncle for siblings of your parents, grandaunt/granduncle for siblings of your grandparents, and great-grand aunt/uncle for siblings of […]