It Is Relative

Never use the word "Grandma."

My daughter set up "accounts" for the family to use on her laptop. One evening I needed to use it and it asked me for a password. My "generic" password did not work and upon the submission of an incorrect entry it gave me a hint:

"Grandma's maiden name."

I immediately entered in each of my grandmother's maiden names. Once in lower case and once in upper case. I was just about to get irritated when I realized that my daughter had meant HER grandmother, not mine.

Two seconds later, the password let me in.

Avoid using words such as "grandma," "uncle," or "aunt" without more information. Even Grandma Neill can be confusing. After all, whose Grandma Neill is it? Records are confusing enough sometimes without us making things more confusing in our comments, notes and transcriptions.