# Did Everyone Call Aunt Bee, "Aunt Bee" ("Andy Griffith Show") **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009 "2010-07-26T03:28:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/21 "2010-07-27T03:32:11Z")
at one point I thought I was related to everyone in Clay County Ar becaue jsut about everyone was aunt or uncle somthing. most of the aunts I swear were Aunt Gertie. I found out later one of them was really Miss Gertie Pickens and not a relation but at some point she was made an Honorary Aunt. The only exception was Miss Jetty, the Post Mistress. and she was always referenced as Miss Jetty the Post Mistress. I think the general rule here was if someone has been around the family so long no one is sure if they are related or not, then they are an Aunt or Uncle . Otherwise if they are a family friend it is Miss, Ms or Mister firstname. (all school teachers are Ms or Mr Lastname while in school) and when in doubt sir or ma’am worked too. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/22 "2010-07-27T03:42:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > 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. The pronunciation of aunt is one of the most widely varied in pronunciation and varies largely from region to region in the south. In some places white southerners and some black southerners as well pronounce it _ain’t_, in others _ant_, while many black southerners often pronounce it _ahnt_ or, in a style closest to its spelling, _awnt_. (No doubt some white southerners say _ahnt_/_awnt_ as well but I’ve never heard them.) No idea of the origins of the pronunciations or if there are similar variants outside of the south. > [@Markxxx](#): > > What about Ellie? Helen? Otis? Millie (Mayberry RFD)? Warren? Do we know how they referred to her? Helen definitely called her Aunt Bee. Warren called her “Miss Bee”. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an episode of _Mayberry RFD_ but she’s in the credits as Aunt Bee. The actress had “Aunt Bee” inscribed on her [gravestone](http://s3.amazonaws.com/findagrave/photos/2001/222/bavierfrances.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/23 "2010-07-27T14:53:02Z")
Warren may have called her “Miss Bee” at some point, but I can just hear him (in my head) calling her “Aunt Bee” in the episode where he locks up her and the other church ladies for gambling, aka playing Bingo. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/24 "2010-07-27T15:01:35Z")
I remember the seldom shown ep in which Otis refers to Aunt Bea as **Angel drawers** and **Sugar thighs**. But that was an exception. And Goober called her **Madame Dominatrix** if he knew what was good for him… ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/25 "2010-07-27T20:16:46Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I remember the seldom shown ep in which Otis refers to Aunt Bea as **Angel drawers** and **Sugar thighs**. But that was an exception. This is the Straight Dope Message Board. _Please_ try to be factually accurate in your posts. Otis refers to Aunt _Bee_ as **Angel drawers** and **Sugar thighs**. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/26 "2010-07-27T20:24:19Z")
Weren’t Andy and Barney cousins? So it would make sense for Barney to refer to her as family, while other friends did not. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/27 "2010-07-27T20:31:36Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Weren’t Andy and Barney cousins? So it would make sense for Barney to refer to her as family, while other friends did not. It’s Mayberry, can’t we assume they are all cousins? ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/28 "2010-07-27T20:54:52Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Weren’t Andy and Barney cousins? So it would make sense for Barney to refer to her as family, while other friends did not. Barney calls Andy “Cousin Andy” in the very first episode, in a punch line about the nepotism of his appointment as Deputy. This relationship was never mentioned on the show again and I think it can be safely said that it was dropped. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/29 "2010-07-27T22:22:00Z")
[QUOTE=randwill] Barney calls Andy “Cousin Andy” in the very first episode, in a punch line about the nepotism of his appointment as Deputy. This relationship was never mentioned on the show again and I think it can be safely said that it was dropped. [/QUOTE] There was an episode in which it’s revealed that Barney is Aunt Bee’s bastard son by a traveling salesman who traded some pickle jars and a Bakelite cameo for her virginity, but unfortunately it was filmed on a new grade of celluloid that combusted and was thus withdrawn from circulation. A pity since it explains why he calls her “Aunt Bee” (it’s because she wets herself and screams when he calls her ‘ma’) and because Sal Mineo played the salesman in the flashback sequences. I think the title of the episode was _Opie Meets a Jew_, and it introducted Howard Sprague, only in that episode he was Cousin Howie, the Banjo Picking Traveling Gynecologist. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/30 "2010-07-27T22:25:35Z")
Also, Briscoe Darling took to courtin’ Aunt Bee once, so I’m guessing he didn’t call her ‘aunt’. She spurns him by making him and the boys work themselves half to death in their cabin, then telling him she’s a lesbian. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/31 "2010-07-27T23:31:06Z")
Andy and Barney referred to each other as cousins a few times. I just started watching this and the station is still on the B&W episodes, but I know of at least three times they called each other cousins There was one the other day where Andy tries to teach Opie how he should honor his promise to keep a secret. Then Opie brings home a runaway boy and Andy wants to tell his father, even though Opie promised the runaway to keep him a secret. In that episode Barney and Andy are called cousins. And there is one where Andy captures a guy in a leaking boat, Andy and Barney are called cousins in that one too. Those are from the first season. I would think Andy and Barney are not first cousins but distant cousins. If they are first cousins it must be from Andy’s mother not father. As I recall in a later episode Barney affirms Aunt Bee is not his aunt but he just thinks of her like that. Since her name is Taylor like Andy it would have to be on the mother’s side The only way I can think they could be first cousins if Barney’s father is sister to Andy’s mum. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/32 "2010-07-28T00:23:56Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > The only way I can think they could be first cousins if Barney’s father is sister to Andy’s mum. There was an episode early on in which Opie asks about the family and Andy and Bee act as if the only ones are her sister and brother-in-law, an older couple with three kids Opie’s age; apparently the sister is younger than Bee but had kids much later than average. They invite them but are soon wishing they’d leave, and Andy finally convinces them to with a bluff: he invites the uncle to go with him to apprehend a dangerous fugitive (this after the uncle has been shooting his mouth off about what all he’d do if he was a sheriff) and the uncle suddenly remembers business elsewhere and takes the family away. Andy’s wife was apparently an orphan with neither relatives or a name. ETA: The episode is [Family Visit](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512576/), and the Aunt and Uncle are Nora and Ollie. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/33 "2010-07-28T01:54:35Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > And there is one where Andy captures a guy in a leaking boat, Andy and Barney are called cousins in that one too. That’s the second episode. > [@Markxxx](#): > > There was one the other day where Andy tries to teach Opie how he should honor his promise to keep a secret. Then Opie brings home a runaway boy and Andy wants to tell his father, even though Opie promised the runaway to keep him a secret. In that episode Barney and Andy are called cousins. That’s the fourth episode. According to [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Andy_Griffith_Show_episodes), it’s the last time ‘cousin’ reference is made. Shows weren’t as careful with continuity then - I think they ‘stopped’ being cousins (speaking of continuity: trivia question - what’s was Barney’s middle name?). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009/34 "2010-07-28T02:20:00Z")
I’m not sure what his middle name was, but I know his first name was Bernard. He did refer to his parents as living one time because he’d bought them a septic tank for their anniversary, but no mention was made of any relationship to Andy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-everyone-call-aunt-bee-aunt-bee-andy-griffith-show/548009.md?page=1)