I'd be seriously tempted to write the editor/publisher and ask if the last fifty pages were switched at birth with some other book, because, y'know, WHAT?
is "mammy" totally not racially offensive in New Orleans and Alabama?
Uhm. It's not a moniker I ever heard in either, and I was spending time around families (where you'd hear such). I mean, yes, there are familial titles and it's de riguer to use them -- Cousin Bob, Uncle Joe, Mamaw, that kind of thing. The author may have been confusing "mammy" (from Gone with the Wind) with the more common "mamaw", which I have heard all over the place, though mostly Alabama and Mississippi.
Still, anyone with half a brain and more than ten minutes' exposure to pop culture is going to make a negative connection, there.
Second, if Mammy/Mamaw is not a blood-relation, the continued use of title tracks as either strong formality (does the character say "yes'm" and "no'm" a lot?) or as childishness. At a certain age, nearly all of us try to express our adulthood by putting ourselves on a first-name basis -- similar happens when we graduate from a child's "Mama" to "Mom". The titular use says something about the character, but I can't tell you what from here, other than the pop-culture connotations make me queasy.
no subject
at birthwith some other book, because, y'know, WHAT?is "mammy" totally not racially offensive in New Orleans and Alabama?
Uhm. It's not a moniker I ever heard in either, and I was spending time around families (where you'd hear such). I mean, yes, there are familial titles and it's de riguer to use them -- Cousin Bob, Uncle Joe, Mamaw, that kind of thing. The author may have been confusing "mammy" (from Gone with the Wind) with the more common "mamaw", which I have heard all over the place, though mostly Alabama and Mississippi.
Still, anyone with half a brain and more than ten minutes' exposure to pop culture is going to make a negative connection, there.
Second, if Mammy/Mamaw is not a blood-relation, the continued use of title tracks as either strong formality (does the character say "yes'm" and "no'm" a lot?) or as childishness. At a certain age, nearly all of us try to express our adulthood by putting ourselves on a first-name basis -- similar happens when we graduate from a child's "Mama" to "Mom". The titular use says something about the character, but I can't tell you what from here, other than the pop-culture connotations make me queasy.