kay
now
4/27/20
Nan (n.)
UK informal
a child's word for a grandmother
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If you type “Nan” into the Merriam Webster dictionary - which, I’m sure, is arguably The Best or Not The Best of the American-English dictionaries, depending on who you ask - the search results first query if you mean naan bread, and secondly give you a brief overview of the Nan river in Northern Thailand which - according to Merriam Webster - bleeds into the Ping river.
The Cambridge English dictionary is most certainly Not The Best English-English dictionary - and I will forever hold true to this statement, for resolutely-biased reasons - but, alas, the OED asks for $90/year to subscribe to it. And I sure as heck don't have a spare ninety dollars to throw at anyone that isn't the Dinomart at the end of my road, so - as a mildly ironic twist of fate would have it - the Cambridge English dictionary is my go-to for English-English.
Either way - it’s interesting that if you type “Nan” into the Cambridge English dictionary, the search results show you that Nans are, in fact, grandmothers.
I always knew this to be true, but it's comforting to know that my Nan has her place in the proper English dictionary. The real English dictionary.
The Cambridge English dictionary just didn't also foresee that adults can call grandmothers Nan, too.
Maybe grandmothers just aren't supposed to stick around that long.
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Nan is Dad’s mother. Nan was Dad’s mother.
Nan is my grandmother. Nan was my grandmother.
We can argue back and forth as to whether or not I should go for past or present tense, but I’m going to stick with is, for now. Is is the present tense of be, and to be is to live, and this document is about to be a reflection on a person who lived - a person who I am not present to say goodbye to - so I am going to use my artistic license, as they say, and I am going to write about Nan as if she is still alive.
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Nan’s name is Kay. Kathleen Georgina Longworth. Before her marriage to Brian, she was Kathleen Georgina Lodge.
But she was always Kay.
