Do you use the hard "Ant" sound for Aunt or the "Awnt" sound for Aunt?
My husband says Awnt and I think it's just so wrong. So now my SIL wants to go by Awntie and it makes Awnt so, so much worse.
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Definitely ant!
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I use "ant", but honestly if I were unfamiliar with the word and going by spelling, I would probably read it as "awnt". Neither is wrong, just depends where you're from!
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We say Awnt around these parts!
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Ant 100%
My sister asked to go by auntie (awntie) too and I've indulged her but I just don't get it.
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My husband's family says Auwntie, my side says Ant.... my kids switch back and forth seamlessly without issue. It's just regional/cultural difference
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@Anya: my sister too.
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I don't like calling people animals!
Also, it is the appropriate pronouciation for "au."
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"ant" all the way.
My husband's family says "awnt" though and it just sounds so ridiculous to me. I let my kids say "awnt" for their side though, but try to get SIL's kids to call me "ant". It's not working...
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I'd love to see where people are from with these responses, I bet it's really regional.
Canadian (Ontarian? Torontonian?) who says Ant here.
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I actually said both growing up. I had "Awnt Ruthie" and then an "Ant Nancy". Haha!!
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@erinbaderin: I'm in New England, but my family is from northern Vermont. I feel like people from Massachusetts tend to say "awnt" - at least around here.
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@Anya: Haha. Amen to indulging but not understanding. DH's mom decided she wanted to be called something different (2 years after LO was born), and legitimately got frustrated when LO didn't call her by the updated name. People are weird.
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Growing up in the South, the minute we heard someone say "Awnt" they were labeled a Yankee!
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I grew up calling my mom's sister by her first name, my dad's sisters Ant First name, but my dad's aunts Awntie First name.
I'm from Virginia, and my dad's family was all in and around Boston.
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We do both because we grew up with different pronunciations, so we say it differently depending on who we are referring to. "Awnt" or "awntie" for aunts in my family, and "ant" for aunts in his family. It sounds confusing but it works for us!
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I say Ant for my own aunts, but my husband's aunts are all T or Tia. LO can't speak yet, but I refer to his aunts (SILs) as Awntie.
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Everyone in our families says "ant" for the most part.
My SIL tries to refer to herself by the very country pronunciation of "aint", but I don't want my daughter saying that one.
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Depends
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I say Awnt. Ant just makes me think of a bug.
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Definitely "Awnt". Everyone in both my family and DH's is from MA.
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An ant is a bug. An aunt is a person
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Ant. I'm from NY and I've never heard anyone IRL say it the other way.
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I say ant as do both of our families (from IL, CA, NY and NJ). But I live in MA and hear plenty of AH-nt too (that's what you mean, right? Like aaahhh-nt?)
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Most people I know in both Maryland and Massachusetts where I've lived say "awnt" or "awntie."
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@DesertDreams88: True! InAUguration. AUgment. AUgust. Hmm!
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Both my family and my husband's family say ant. We're from NY.
I actually can't think of anyone that I know that says awnt.
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We are from NY an always said ant. My SIL is from Texas and says Awntie or sometimes Antie
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We do "awntie" but it's not that extreme so it has never occurred to me as weird...
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Awnt - I hate ant. DH's family uses ant through. I'm going to try and steer DS to awnt.
I'm from Connecticut, DH is from Missouri.
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@DesertDreams88: THIS. If you are phonetically pronouncing "au" it should be AWNT. That's how we say it in the Midwest.
Dh is from New York and he says ant. So it's actually kind of funny because we call my siblings aunt and his siblings ant
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We were raised saying "Ant" and we are from the midwest. My sister now lives in New York and said she made a "conscious decision" to start saying "awnt" because that's where she lives now. I told her she sounded pretentious.
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@Mrs. Pen: I've lived in the midwest the vast majority of my life and can probably count on one hand the number of people I know who say "awnt"
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@Mrs. Pen: @kiddosc: It must be different for different parts of the midwest. I feel like all the states that are in the "midwest" is like a third of the land area of the country haha. I am in ND, and everyone I know says awnt.
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Funny enough I grew up (in the SW) only saying "ant", but now that I am one, I mostly go by & call my DD's aunts "awnty". I think the influence is from DH/his family, but don't know if it's regional for them.
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So weird everyone I know says "awnt" I would not even THINK of saying "ant". I'm in Northern California. "Awnt" is the proper pronunciation of aunt!
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I'm shocked by the poll haha!
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I use both. lol It depends on what most people call the person, but I usually pronounce "awnt" when I introduce them. Ex.: Ant Sally. or Sally is my awnt.
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"Awnt" here (though I say Auntie when talking about my sister to my son). I'm from the South.
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@mrs.kiwi: me too!
We say Aunt. I really thought saying it that way was more widespread (like really surprised by all the New Yorkers commenting that it is ant).
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65 comments