They’ve been showing this at night and I’ve watched it lately.
I noticed Barney, Gomer and others calling her “Aunt Bee.” Obviously she isn’t their aunt so it’s just a name. I also noticed Clara and Floyd call her Bee, so does everyone just call her that.
Seem that people her own age call her Bee and everyone else calls her “Aunt Bee”
I don’t know about later on with Howard, Ellie, Helen, Goober etc.
I’ve never watched the show, but my Mom had an Aunt Bea<trice> who was called that from the 40s to her death in the 80s.
There’s someone at my work (he’s in his 80’s) that most people call Uncle Tony. He is actually my father’s uncle (and my great uncle) and that’s probably how it got started.
That’s probably how it happened on the show as well. Andy introduced her around town as his Aunt Bea and it stuck.
Aunt Bea was referred to as “Aunt Bea” by everyone on the show except her cronies (“Bea”) and herself (“I/me.”)
IIRC, everyone called her Ain’t Bee.
It’s the colloquial usage of using “aunt” to refer to someone a generation older than you, and that you consider like family.
It’s still quite common for children to be told to address really close friends of their parents as aunt or uncle.
And, yes, in their accent, aunt sounded a lot like ain’t. Even people who didn’t really do the rest of the accent would do that part correctly.
I’ve seen this much more on TV than in real life, actually. I’ve never called a non-relative Aunt or Uncle. Even in Mayberry, nobody but Bee seems to get this honorific from non-family. Nobody calls Floyd “Uncle Floyd,” for instance.
I would think southern convention would call for the more respectful “Miss Taylor” (or “Mrs. Taylor” - I don’t know if Bee was ever married; IMDb says her last name was indeed Taylor) or even “Miss Bee.” But I’m not from the south, so take that for what it’s worth.
People did it when I was a kid – around the time the show was on the air. Friends my age would call my mother “Aunt Audrey,” for example. It was a general term for close friends of your parents.
Not everyone did it, but it was not unusual.
They called her Ant-Bee.
I grew up in a part of New England where your aunts were your aunts (never ants), and you mother’s friends were your aunties.
Among the group of friends I have in Chicago it was quite common for those of us who were parents to have their children address the other adults in the group as Aunt or Uncle.
Maybe her name wasn’t “Bea” :dubious:
Who’s that?
It Ain’t Bea.
She was called “Miss Bee” by Briscoe Darling (Denver Pyle), a suitor, in one episode.
For the record, although some posters have used the “correct” spelling of “Bea,” the character’s name was “Aunt Bee,” as spelled in the televised credits.
[nitpick]Ellie was before. She was only the first season. Gomer came in the middle of the third (The Bank Job).[/nitpick]
Goober called her Aunt Bee. I can certainly ‘hear’ Howard calling her Aunt Bee in my mind, but can’t think of a specific instance.
She was sometimes addressed as “Miss Taylor” by characters who were not long acquainted with her.
One doctor and close friends/family occasionally called her Beatrice.
True, but Aunt Bee was the only character that acted like everyone’s relative. Adding Aunt in front of the name is a way to show affection, but while still respecting her elder status. I should have also specified that it was usually only done to women–it would be gauche to express that type of affection toward men. It’s actually a bit of the matriarchal thing.
I also have heard it more on TV, but I talked to my grandparents, who said it was popular in the past. And the whole thing about children still using it I picked up here. I thought it might be some slight remnants of the old tradition, or at least would be somewhat familiar to people. It sounds like it might be a Chicago-centric thing, though.
And I should have guessed, because I never used it: I used Ms. First Name with people I knew well, and Ms. Last Name with others. Until I became an adult, and got the right to address all other adults by first name (though I won’t use it with people my grandpa’s age [83]. You can use an affectionate nickname, but not their first name. I don’t know why it’s gauche, but it is).
So we know that
[ul]
[li]Andy[/li][li]Barney[/li][li]Goober[/li][li]Gomer[/li][li]Howard[/li][li]Sam (Mayberry RFD)[/li][/ul]
Called her “Aunt Bee”
We know her friend Clara and Floyd did not call her “Aunt Bee,” which makes sene as they are in her age group.
What about Ellie? Helen? Otis? Millie (Mayberry RFD)? Warren? Do we know how they referred to her?
I grew up in a suburb of Chicago in the 50s and was taught to call close friends of my parents and the cousins of my parents Aunt and Uncle. Not the neighbors or people they worked with - they were Mr. And Mrs. I have no southern roots - just Chicago ones!