Babcia or Busha

I know they both mean Grandmother....but does the difference have to do with social class or geography?

Babcia is a correct one.

I've never heard of Busha! Sounds like a shortening of Babusia, which comes from Babcia.

What does Bush have to do with babcia? lol

In the USA older Polish ladies are famous for wearing a scarf on their heads, called a babuska. Maybe there is a connection?
:-)

Babcia is Fathers mother and Busha is mothers mother.

??

babcia is dad's mom, and babcia is mom's mom...
the same...

Only Babcia/Babka means Granny and only Babcia/Babka is in Polish. Busha in Polish would be pronounced Bus-ha and apart from not sounding even vaguely Polish it is very likely just some sort of family nickname to differentiate between the two – ie Mother’s Mother and Father’s Mother. The language is complicated enough without adding any more embellishments.
The only Busha I’ve ever heard of is a diminutive of Bogusia, and even that would be spelt Busia.

yeah i didnt think there was a different way to call your dads mum and your mums mum. its still babka/babcia/babunia

Babcia is the one most commonly used.
I have never heard of Busha??
I call both grandmothers Babcia.:/

I agree, perhaps Busha is derived from Babusia?

Here in Pennsylvania we Polish call our Grandmothers Babci.

My Great Grand mother is from Poland and we always called her and my Grandmother Busia, so i wonder where this came from??

How do you pronounce " Babcia" just how it's spelt?

"Busia" (never heard it while I still lived in Poland) seems to be a short form of "babusia", which is yet another diminutive form of babka.


Your spellling is correct.
You can pronounce it as "Bob-cha".

Yes, I believe it is a common American thing to call a Polish grandmother Babci.

Probably because after time, the descendents take the basic root word and add the kind of ending that makes sense to American ears. The way we make English words informal and cute. Like Bobby instead of Bob. Puppy instead of dog.

But what is forgotten is that kind of ending does not do the same thing in Polish. Michal is Michalek. Kot is kotek.

So it is an adaptation and corruption. But that is what I called mine, too. I never knew it would sound strange to someone from Poland. And then I found out when my Polish bf laughed at me calling myself Babci.

My maternal greatgrandmother was called Busha. She was from Szubin Poland and later lived in South Bend IN.

Our Grandma was called Busia (Busha).
When we speak to recent immigrants, they say we might use this diminutive or pronunciation since she came from the Podlasie region (Bargłow) , close to Russia, Lithuania and former Prussia, a real hodgepodge historically.
She was my mother's mom.
My Mom is referred to as Busia as well.

While I believe it is most likely derived from "babusia", I've noticed that it seems purely of Polonia creation.

I grew up in the Polish Diaspora of Toledo, Ohio and "Busia" was the most common term for grandmother that I ever heard, including in my own families.

From my encounters with other Polish-Americans, I think it can definitely be seen as a "regional" variation as well since friends who grew up near Chicago and Wisconsin's Poles used "Babcia" which surprisingly always sounded foreign to me.

My grandmother (she lived near Sanok) taught me Babushka - Grandmother.

ба́бушка (babushka) it's russian for grandmother.

My grandmother used to call the headscarves the women wore "babushkas".
Any old lady was a "babcia".

Hi to Gregorz, I just have a single ticket for now on PF <just a short visit for now>

I never knew my Babcia, wish I had but I remember seeing the pictures where the older women wore headscarves, usually wore bright red patterned ones if I remember correctly.

It's sort of used as slang now too. Like anyone who wears head scarves might be called an old lady... or granny.

Sounds like my Grandmother... calling any other old lady a babcia, but she never was one. At 99, she was still a proud lady who never wore a babushka.
She had more hats and purses than anyone I have ever known!
What a lady!!!

I was always told and have actually read before that "babcia" is definitely Polish, and that "busha" is Hungarian.

Anyone else heard something similar. I can't remember where I read it before, but busha is Hungarian.

People would always say something about their "busha" whenever they found out I was Polish, and I had no clue wtf they were talking about...

No, Nagymama is hungarian

It's only what I heard. I can't really quote it. Maybe it's a hybrid word from all sorts of people.

I don't know. I've heard a lot of people swear busha was polish. I don't know where it came from but it would be interesting to find out.

babushka is russian and busha is a short form of it.

If you really want to make granny endeared to you, address her as stary kobieta

You got to be joking !

She'll make your life hell if you do hahaha !

My father told me what to say. I was 6 years old and adorable; my granny and aunt's favorite. My pop got the scolding and I got the hugs and kisses.

I'm from Pa. also, and we always called my grandmother Babcia or I'd say "my Babci". My grandchildren now call my Mom "Babcia".

Bucia not Busha

My great grandmother was referred to as "BUTTcha" (phonetically) by my mother. Here family came from Poland, and lived in Newcastle PA. Is this just a mispronunciation of babcia? Maybe it was easier for my mom to say when she was little.

I always call both my mother's and father's mothers "Busia"...and my grandfathers "Dziadzia".

lol Babka... isn't that some sweet bread? I recall using the word when I was young, I haven't even heard the word or known of the bread before using it.. I just sort of thought it up... I called my grandmother that once and my mother explained what a 'Babka' really is..

Babcia is definitely more common.

Hi,
I'm from New England and I am the first generation here (father's side) and we always called our grandmother Babci.

I'm trying to get the correct spelling for Busha (grandma) and jaja (grandpa). Can anyone help? Thanks so much!

busia, babcia - grandma
dziadzia, dziadek - grandpa