to hate the term "baby mother" and want to throw things when I hear it?

[JakeBullet]

FGS, what IS that term and where did it come from? Jeremy Kyle has just used it (okay so I am BVVVU watching JK but need something to distract me from the mind numbing boredom of housework).

But "Baby mother"? WTAF is it all about?

AIBU to bloody well hate it?

Or am I just an old fashioned and ancient crone?

[Gullygirl]

YANBU.It is a horrible, horrible term.

[BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack]

Never heard of it! Is that because I don't watch JK? :)

[SarahAndFuck]

I've never heard it before.

What does it mean and who was he talking to when he used it?

[FlowersBlown]

I think the origins are in Jamaican patois. It refers to a person who you have a child with but are not in a relationship with. You can use the father version too.

[SarahAndFuck]

Is it just a slightly quicker way to say "baby's mother", as in "You are the baby's mother, ACT LIKE IT!" but missing out the 's. Or if he's shouting at some feckless waster of a man who is treating his child's mother badly "She is your baby mother, ACT LIKE IT!"

Or was he describing a very young teen who has just had a baby and he's implying she is almost a baby herself?

Either way, you are right, it's annoying.

[SavoyCabbage]

It comes from America where baby daddy is a term in some places used about biological fathers who are not involved with raising their children.

Sometimes it can give you a raised status in society if the man has one.

[SarahAndFuck]

Flowers - so it's used a bit like "my ex" then, but to inform you also have a child together?

[FlowersBlown]

It's quite a useful term really. Plenty people have children with people that they are not and never have been in a relationship with, so ex-husband or whatever doesn't really describe the situation.

[Mitzyme]

I HATE it.

[burberryqueen]

it is a Caribbean thing i think, from the days of slavery when men were used as studs and did not have a relationship with the 'babymother'

[youmeatsix]

so no one here watches Maury?? "baby mama drama" all over the place there!

[Leviticus]

YANBU! Hate it. I don't care where it came from it sounds degrading.

[Shrugged]

My partner was once on jury duty, and a barrister had to explain to an elderly, very patrician judge, what a 'baby father' was.

[EagleRiderDirk]

Its awful - YANBU

[SooticaTheWitchesCat]

It's a Caribbean thing definitley. 2 people at work use that term a lot and I think it is awful too so YANBU

[ScarletLady02]

I agree with the Carribean descent. You hear it in patois a lot. DH has been known to use it on occasion as he grew up with a lot of Jamaican friends. Can't say I'm a fan, but he doesn't use it in a derogatory way, it's just a phrase he grew up with.

[thedizzy1]

I hate and detest this phrase. It is often used by friends of my dp, mainly because they all share a Caribbean background. I find it demeaning to be honest, as if that persons identity and worth is solely measured in relation to the baby, and as if it negates any relationship with the mother or father of the child.

[JakeBullet]

I sort of got that it was a patois thing but I just want to shriek "you're white and grew up in the UK. Get over it"!

[pleiadianpony]

..or 'Baby Mo' for short. The term is losing popularity apparently. Having a 'baby mo' isn't really a status symbol amongst young British men like it was a few years ago. I think they've wised up to realise that can actually be experienced as a form of oppression.

[ARealDame]

TG for small mercies.

[dirtyface]

ha

round where i live its a common term

as is "babydaddy" (usually prounounced babydaddEH )

:o

[NotQuitePerfect]

It is an absolutely dreadful term.

I remember James Cordon using it in reference to his girlfriend in an acceptance speech a while ago. Tosser

[dirtyface]

really notquite what a nob :(

[somebloke123]

So in this context "baby" means "absent"?