What's with everyone writing 'Mom?'

[Ottersmith]

Why is everyone writing Mom in their thread instead of 'mum'? Are you American? Are you from the Midlands? If neither of these then stop doing it. It's everywhere and it's so annoying.

Mom is short for Mother.

Mum is short for Muther and that is just wrong.

Brummie and proud!

I've wondered this for ages. Had no idea it was a Midlands thing.

How do you pronounce it? What does it sound like?

The Midlands does have different regions and dialects. I'm from East Midlands and say Mum (though Mam is also used in my family), but know that in West Midlands Mom is common. The reason it is used in America is because of settlers from the West Midlands.

@gymgoals2024 I pronounce it mom with the same O sound as dog.

I'm from Shropshire, I call my mother "mom", and she calls her mother mom, and my grandmother calls her mother mom... it's just very normal where I am!

Growing up, I'd say my friends were split 50/50 between saying mum and mom.

I didn't actually realise other British people didn't say mom until I went to uni. I knew Americans didn't say mum, but I thought all British people said whichever they liked 🤣

They're Irish. What's wrong with you?

My mum is mam to me (from north east). When I was little it was mammy. My little boy calls me mummy or mama. There is no “right” way.

Why do you find it irritating? People use different words for the same thing all the time. Whatever you do don’t ever open a thesaurus!

Lol @ some people's ignorance about the diversity of language use across the UK - even just within England!

Midlands here but use Mum rather than Mom but can certainly confirm that use of Mom is absolutely nothing to do with bloody Mom jeans!!

I also want to X High School so not sure where all these 'proper' people are...

One to blow people's anti-American minds...We have the middle school system her too - there are random pockets all around the UK - and my son's middle school was called "X Junior High" at one point!!! Lol. (Subsequently renamed as an Academy.)

I think people can refer to their relatives in any way they choose, whether you like it or not!

Can someone link to one of these threads where everyone is saying mom? I've never seen it.

Better not go to the West Midlands then @EvangelistaSister because around 4 million people living there all use mom.

I call my mom, mom. My kids, who grew up in Essex with me from the Black Country, call me mom. They write mom in cards.

we pronounce it to rhyme with bomb. Not how Americans say it.

the fact that it annoys people probably makes me like it more. To me it sounds much more comforting than mum.

I'm in Somerset and the nearby town has the lower, middle and high school system as well. It's never been known as a "secondary" school even when my Ma (that's "Mum" to you OP), attended it in the late '50's.

Really? You want to know WTF is wrong with them? Where I’m from “mam“ is the most popular term for mother (north east of England). And yes it is pronounced mam. Not immature in the slightest - just a different dialect.

@OnTheRightSideOfGeography Americans say mom because they got it from us midlanders.

And we do say a lot of things differently to other regions. One that always makes me stand out is how I pronounce tooth. I pronounce it tuth with the same vowel sound as in tough. Of course I don’t spell it like that though. Just like I wouldn’t expect a southerner to spell bath with an r in - Barth - because that’s how they say it.

I think you may have misunderstood the poster you were quoting.

But "gotten" comes from Middle English and was the "original" form of the participle, in common usage until a couple of centuries ago. We changed it to the new, and shorter form. US English preferred the original.

Or, TL:DR - the Americans are using an English with older, and deeper roots than us.

I use mom but can swap between mom and mum depending on the situation (i.e in posh company it's a mum)

Am from the Midlands

Though obviously if the word Mummy slips out after the age of 9 it's social suicide. Mammy is acceptable if Irish if in Ireland though.

Oh please, please tell us the list of "English countries".

It's understandable that most here are English or of English origin, but there are many posters from other parts of the British isles. Although there are fewer Scots in the whole of Scotland than there are people in Greater London! - only 5.5 million Scots) they do tend to get about!

There are several threads with people exclaiming at use of the 'Americanism' 'Santa Claus' every Christmas where posters are reminded that that is and has always been the term used in Scotland ( not the very English 'Father Christmas').

Similarly, the term 'high school ' referred to above is common parlance in Scotland.

And even if 'Americanisms' do creep into British vocabulary, so what? anti- Americanism smacks to me of the worst aspects of Scottish

It definitely didn't.

"get" meaning to obtain is also middle English derived from old Norse, and Shakespeare was happy enough with "can I get".

Sorry - posted too soon - reminds me of worst elements of Scottish nationalism where it's a case of 'anything but the English ' - sheer ignorant racism

I didn't know that! I thought it was just a Young Sheldon thing! I'm a bit disappointed it wasn't a special nickname just for her.

Op, that was a brave post
You head will be separated from your shoulders noot my an axe, but the vitreol you will receive for daring to point out we are becoming another US state in terms of language
Gotten anyomne?

Tbf you really shouldn't give a shit about either. It's bananas.