Since we cannot invent extra pronouns, we can invent nicknames. “What’s in a name?” A bit of humor can set a tone for the future. One remarkable MIL wrote the following:
I’m a MIL to three amazing twentysomethings. Josh calls me Suzie. Stephen calls me mom or Snuzorama/Snuzarootskie. Kristin calls me Suz or Snuz. I think it’s kind of like the whole gramma/grandma/nana/GiGi thing. It emerges from the relationship. : ) (T.S.E.)
Please note, that Snuzarootskie refers to her children-in-law by their names. Sense of humor and tact. This MIL should be cloned. Here is an account about a MIL who was an army wife:
We all call her the Sarge because she has a time and a place for everything. She also is a die hard fan of Rush Limbaugh and Republican all her life. There is no changing her mind at all. We don’t even try. She never watches any news channel except Fox. She is a character but she is our character and she has always treated me great. I have been in her life 20 years.I love her. (Glenda Briley, Dubuque, Iowa)
Another woman wrote me a 20,000 word email, a tribute to a beautiful friendship with her DIL. When her Korean DIL arrived to the USA, she knew only a couple of words in English. Complementing a photo of her MIL, she said “Mom young…Mom so pretty.” Hence the nickname Mom-Young. (Joan Schweighardt)
Have you came across a bossy, manipulative, greedy woman by the name Tootsy? My friend, although she is not dating, already has a nickname for her future MIL… Tootsy. I think Dustin Hoffman has something to do with this. My friend claims that no one nicknamed Tootsy can be seriously aggressive.
“Please call me ‘Dr. Mengele‘”.
“Would you mind if I call you Tootsy?”
“Oh, go ahead Dear. How do you take your tea?”
Is your MIL mean? If she is a mean tap dancer, or a mean rapper, I’d like to be invited to recitals. But if she is truly mean and hostile, give it a try. Maybe the name Tootsy has some rehabilitative vibe to it. Then we will tootsie all federal and state prisons, mafia, Taliban… I think I am going to call Obama now.
p.s. Obama told me that he knew about Tootsy magic all along. He nicknamed his saintly grandmother “Toot,” a derivative from the Hawaiian “tutu”, which means “grandmother”.
Mother-in-Law Stories 