Chris wonders about the origins of 爸 and 妈 and their usage in daily life. The 爹、娘、爷、大、爸、妈 stuff fascinates me as well. Different environment calls for different characters. My take is that it has a lot to do with the class status thingy after liberation: the 非农业户口 (non-agricultural) class and 农业户口(agricultural) class. Kids growing up…