Jammies or Jommies for Pajamas?

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Kaylee and I’m calling from Nashville, Tennessee.

Oh, well, glad to have you here. What’s going on?

My husband and I have a bit of a dispute on the way a word is pronounced. Not necessarily a dispute, I guess, but I grew up in Southern Indiana and my family always called the thing you wear to bed jommies. So like pajama, they would shorten it to jommies. So get your bath and let’s get your jommies on.

Now, my husband’s family said pajama and jammies. And he thinks my family is the only family in the world that says jammies. So I’m wondering, is that specific to my family or is it regional in Indiana? Where does that come from?

All right. Before I hand this off to Martha, a couple of questions to sort this out a little bit. First of all, where are his people from? Where is he from?

He is from right outside of Olympia, Washington. Olympia, Washington. All right. And we always ask this when couples have a dispute. What’s on the line here? Dishes for a month, a nice dinner out.

Yeah, you know, I think a pedicure is on the line. Is this a pedicure that the losing party has to give to the other person or they have to pay for?

Yes, 100%. Both. Okay. All right. And so your side of this argument is you say jammies and he says jammies.

Yes. Okay, Martha. This is a high stakes debate here. I’m tense. I’m thrilled and tense.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, another question, Kaylee, do you also say pajamas and pajamas?

I do. So I kind of use them interchangeably. Like I work with the elderly. And if I say something is, you know, the cat’s pajamas, I say pajamas or pajamas. I use them interchangeably, but I always say jammies instead of jammies.

Oh, interesting. And what about your husband? Does he say pajamas or pajamas or both?

I think he uses them interchangeably too, really, but he always says jammies if it’s shortened. We have toddlers, so when it’s bedtime, he says, get your jammies on, and I say, get your jammies on.

Okay, okay. Yeah, I’m asking because in our household, there’s that same spousal difference. We don’t say jammies or jammies, but one of us says pajamas and one of us says pajamas. I always say pajamas, and pajamas just sounds weird to me.

Yeah. Jammies. Thanks.

Yeah. But to answer your question, yeah, there are plenty of people who say jammies, but I would say most people say jammies. Yeah, probably by like 100 to 1. But your question wasn’t which one is more sad. Your question was, does anyone else say jammies? And the answer is yes. Yes, yes, definitely. I am right. Yes.

And it’s probably a little more common in the U.S. South. We have plenty of written attestations of people who say jammies. And not only do they say it, but they may spell it with an O. J-O-M-M-I-E-S. Jommies.

Interesting. Yeah. So enjoy your pedicure.

Thank you. Oh, yeah, definitely. And let us know how he reacts to being wrong, as usual.

Yeah, exactly. Maybe some silk jommies would be a nice gift. You know, you could have your pedicure with your…

Yeah, you got to get… That’s a great idea. It’s not just a pedicure. Let’s one-up it. You need matching new pajamas to match the nails.

I love that idea. I’m ordering them right now. Right? Or just get the kind with feet in them, and then you don’t have to worry about it. And maybe new lip color to match the nails. So we don’t have to do anything to our feet.

Yeah. That’s right.

Okay. Well, you take care now, Kaylee. Give our best to your fellow, all right?

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

All right. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

What’s the dispute over language in your household? Let us know about it. 877-929-9673.