At the coffee shop this morning I saw a mother excessively doting over her child, billing and cooing and talking baby-talk to a boy who was too old for that and was clearly embarassed by it.

"Uxorious" refers to an overly-doting husband. Is there a like word for an overly-doting parent? We speak of a child being spoiled, but is there an adjective meaning a "spoiling" parent?

Oh--for an uxorious husband! I have never heard of that wonderful word. I would think there would be a similar word for doting parents--or wife....

Well, Kalleh, yes, I suppose, but there's more to a happy relationship than mere uxoriousness. May I submit:

Her husband is sweet and uxorious,
But her marriage is far less than glorious.
Though he does dote on her,
He's a babe connoisseur,
And for sleeping around is notorious!

(Some words seem to just bring out the limerick in me. "Uxorious" turns out to be one of them.)

And as for an adjective describing an overly doting parent, may I suggest "criminally foolish"?

Great limerick, CJ.
And--I know exactly what you are saying. The fact is, I am far too independent to be doted upon. Still, I can fantasize about it!

What you say, dear CJ, is not spurious:
To a marrige, miss-conduct's injurious.
If the husband's luxurious
The wife will be furious
And spouting forth comments sulphureous.

Excellent, H.e.u.

(And am I the only person here who, totally devoid of Latin scholarship, does not know the significance of your nom de computer?)

Rather than have this thread meander off its original topic into a limerickfest, as it now shows every sign of doing, let's continue this under Wordplay.

Back to the original questions here...

I am a grandmother of the sweetest 10 month old girl alive! Is there a name for a doting grandmother?

quote:

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CJ asked:
And am I the only person here who, totally devoid of Latin scholarship, does not know the significance of your nom de computer?)

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"Here and everywhere"
In otherwords, my mind is scattered all over the place.

Morgan asks, "Is there a name for a doting grandmother?"

I don't know -- but thanks to Erin McKean's book, I can tell you that mammothrept, meaning a spoiled child, comes from a Greek word meaning "raised by one's grandmother".

Checking into uxor- words, I found:

uxorocide: murdering one's wife (or a man who does so)
It would seem to me that the correlative term for killing one's husband would be more useful.

And, in the department of "What a Difference a Single Letter Makes", we have
uxorovalent: capable of sex only with one's wife
uxoravalent: capable of sex only those other than one's wife

While each condition is rare, much marital friction results from the universal feminine intuition that uxoravalence is less rare than uxorovalence.

Great words, Wordnerd. Given recent posts on this site ("Wives"), I, too, am looking for the male equivalent to uxorocide!