Do you say 'Mum', or 'my mum', when speaking to a non-family member?

[EinsteinaGogo]

Inspired by a recent thread where the poster typed 'mum said XXX, dad said YYY', mum did XXZ, dad did YYY, all the way through a really, really long thread.

I've always said 'my mum, my dad' unless speaking to my brother or sister, because of course - my mum isn't your mum and I want to differentiate!

Sweeping generalisation but I have found that people who don't do this tend to be very insular / self focused. Stop saying 'mum' to me - it's not my mum!

How do you refer to your parent outside of family?
'

I'd say "my mother" rather than use "Mum" at all.

My Mum.
I find it really odd when people say Mum. I'd only say Mum if I was talking to my brother.

My mum

My!

It depends on the context.
What I couldn't abide when the children were small were nurses/drs who referred to me as mum. Particularly "you mum"? No actually, I have the full power of speech but I am x's mother, Mrs Hellebores.
I tend to refer to mine as mother, sometimes my mother, sometimes as mother

My mum. I really notice when others use Mum alone and find it immensely irritating, but I’m not sure why!

Both? The first time I bring her up I’ll say “my mum”, but then after that I’ll say “mum”.

I don’t think you can really draw any conclusions about people from whether or not they say “my” before “mum”.

My mum.

My Mum, my mother. I have a friend who always says ‘Mum’ as though her Mum was everyone’s mum!

Neither.

I say, My Mam.

@RubyFakeLips

My mum. I really notice when others use Mum alone and find it immensely irritating, but I’m not sure why!

Exactly!

I find it really irritating.

Mum / mother is obviously a descriptive, but 'my' is what makes the person yours.

Without it, I find the person really self obsessed!

'Mummy' when I talk to her, 'my mum' whenever I refer to her when talking to others.

My!

I also find it really irritating when people just say ‘Mum’. Don’t know why!!

Fair enough with mother, mam, mammy, mater, mom, etc.

Apologies for not stating all options!

My mother. And my father , my grandmother and my grandfather.

I'd never say "my Mum"

I have a friend who always talks about “granny”, “cousin x”, “mum”. I find it strange - they are not my relatives. I would say “my mum/cousin/gran”.

I think I chop and change. I would always just say 'mum' when talking to my sister, and was v upset when she spent a whole weekend with me and our mother referring to 'my mum', 'my dad', 'my grandparents' etc. Made me feel really pushed out.

I've noticed this too. Sometimes I say mum on its own as I'm quite lazy with speech. I always want to go back and correct it to my mum but seems really daft because it's obvious who I'm actually talking about but it sounds wrong! I say my mum almost every time!

My mum. Or her name if I’m talking to people who know her.

@TimeIhadaSeasonalNameChange

I think I chop and change. I would always just say 'mum' when talking to my sister, and was v upset when she spent a whole weekend with me and our mother referring to 'my mum', 'my dad', 'my grandparents' etc. Made me feel really pushed out.

How odd, @TimeIhadaSeasonalNameChange - not surprised that felt awkward - how strange of your sister.

@TimeIhadaSeasonalNameChange

I think I chop and change. I would always just say 'mum' when talking to my sister, and was v upset when she spent a whole weekend with me and our mother referring to 'my mum', 'my dad', 'my grandparents' etc. Made me feel really pushed out.

Where are you from? My Scottish friend does this even when talking to her own step-sister. I thought she was making a point about him being HER Dad, but then realised it was a regional dialect thing.

It depends on the context as me and boyfriend just spent 5 nights with my parents so he know I mean my mum and dad when I say I'll text mum or ask dad about something.

As it's clearly not his parents else I'd say I'll ask your mum.

When bringing them up with a friend I'd say I saw my parents first then maybe just mum or dad in the following discussion as clear who I was speaking about. I could call them Bob and Joan to be clearer (though my friends may have no idea of my parents names -I don't for most of theirs!)

My mum. She’s only ‘mum’ when talking to another family member.

And in true northern style I also refer to my siblings as ‘our + their name’.

For those of you who have friends who don't put 'my' in front of mum (or chosen word), and it's not a dialect thing, are the friends more needy / self obsessed than others?

Always 'my mum' - I agree with everything you said, OP.