PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: If “busia” / “busha” is not a Polish-Americanism …

Skowronski — Fri Jul 11, 2025 4:46 pm

Author: Skowronski

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2025 4:46 pm

SPG wrote:

td85 wrote:

Interesting.

My maternal grandmother had my brother and me call her "busha" even though this side of my family was Ukrainian-American.

Busha makes sense for Ukrainians since their language is closer to Russian as I understand it.

I agree. I worked with a Ukrainian but she understood Russian well from what she was telling me so they share some vocabulary.

Re: If “busia” / “busha” is not a Polish-Americanism …

SPG — Sun Jul 06, 2025 1:59 am

Author: SPG

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2025 1:59 am

td85 wrote:

Interesting.

My maternal grandmother had my brother and me call her "busha" even though this side of my family was Ukrainian-American.

Busha makes sense for Ukrainians since their language is closer to Russian as I understand it.

Re: If “busia” / “busha” is not a Polish-Americanism …

td85 — Sat Jul 05, 2025 9:05 pm

Author: td85

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2025 9:05 pm

Interesting.

My maternal grandmother had my brother and me call her "busha" even though this side of my family was Ukrainian-American.

If “busia” / “busha” is not a Polish-Americanism …

SPG — Sat Jul 05, 2025 11:24 am

Author: SPG

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2025 11:24 am

…then why don’t those of Polish descent in other major areas of the Polish diaspora use these terms? I am Polish American Gen Xer from a city with a high concentration of Polish Americans, yet I did not hear this term until I was in my late teens. I was involved in various Polish American activities and organizations growing up. From young I knew polkas were a Polish American thing which was adapted and evolved from immigrant groups from countries neighboring Poland. I find it odd that so many Americans cling to “busia” / “busha” as a Polish word rather than a Polish American word based on the Russian loan word “babuszka”. Where I lived that word was used to refer to the old ladies who would sometimes see wearing the plastic kerchief-shaped headgear in the rain.

As far as I can tell, either a VERY limited sample, those of Polish descent in Brazil and France for example, didn’t / don’t use “busia”. (I’m sure like in the US, they have their own adaptations of Polish words. I would have a better time believing busia was used at some point in Poland if it was used outside the US or even showed up as an alternative / slang word in old Polish dictionaries.

For reference, my 8 immigrant ancestors, who arrived between the late 1880s and late 1930s all came from multiple places in what had been the former Polish Kingdom during the partition era. They settled in three different US states. Polish was spoken in all the homes in the US — though they prioritized English over Polish as a means of assimilation, so that by the 2nd/3rd generation the kids were not fluent in Polish as adults.

Do you have friends of Polish descent without American connections who use the word “busia” for grandmother? If so, is their family from the Russian partition?

Apologies if you use busia for grandma. Use it to your heart’s content if that is your tradition. I know the debate comes up often in US circles. I’m just trying to understand how widespread the word is outside US Polonia. My cousins still in Poland use “babcia” like other contemporary Poles I know.