"Honestly, I can't wait to have grandkids and spoil them—but I don't want to be called "Granny.'" (overheard on the No. 96 tram in Melbourne)
"I love it. It's not the word that needs to change, it's our culture." (Deborah, proud granny)
What's wrong with 'granny?'
From its debut in the early 1600s, "granny" has been more than an affectionate term for grandma—and a cursory glance at its history tells a depressingly familiar story.
First, the instability and decline of words associated with women. "Granny" joins a long list of words, particularly for older women, that that have acquired negative meanings—spinsters were originally spinners; sluts were untidy people; slags and shrews were rogues; scolds were poets; bimbos were men, and so on. Many started life referring to men, but quickly narrowed to female application—and with this sexual specification came further decline.
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