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.

Station wagon was born in the USA and hasn't crept over to the UK which will be a relief to some.

It's older than "estate car" though. (Which, if you think about "wagon" and "car" seems obvious)

It was used originally to name anything that transported people and goods (fairly large quantities of both) from one place to another.

Estate car is relatively new as a term. (I had to look it up- first appeared in the 1950s- possibly a similar meaning behind it- moving lots of things/people from one "estate" to another)

I'm guessing (but don't know) that "sedan" (sedan chair - transporting one person somewhere) and saloon have a similar relationship.

Some people think that boot/bonnet are to do with position in the car- at the front/at the back (likened to a prone human form) and others that boot is because that was where you put them. Still others think the words came from French. What's probably correct is that trunk and hood came first, as the US is where cars were first developed. As I said, I'm not sure though. Just musing.

"smart" meaning "clever" is the older meaning.
A couple of centuries after it was first noted meaning "clever" it was spotted referring to appearance.

So, at the risk of sounding boring...yes, it's used more in America with its original meaning. UK English changed it. And now it's (occasionally but not often) coming home. 🎶

@Sluj my kids grew up in The South East with a Black Country mom and they called me mom - you should have insisted! 😆

They are grown up now but still amend mothers day cards to say mom instead of mum. Makes me proud!

The longer I am away from my home in the Black Country, the prouder I am of that heritage, the dialect, the history. Yow cor beat it!

My point being it's not been in common use in my lifetime until recently, and has now come over from America. I'm not a great subscriber of the theory that just because a word no longer used was used here 200 years ago it's still an "English" word. Things change over the years. But you may disagree. We may start using "thou" again if it gets popular in the US! Would that then be an Americanism I wonder.. ...

My DCs often call me/write "mom". We're British and I've never used it. But they were born & grew up on in a non-English speaking country, consuming English speaking media that was often from the US.

I don't really care, tbh

My school was; and is still is, literally called XX High School.

Smart has always meant clever in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.

Smart arse is a common insult in my area for those who think they're cleverer than they are.

Never been to Scotland then? Or to areas where there are first, middle and high schools? Some councils in the North East have that system.

I went to X High School in the 90’s, before they were turned into academy’s they were all high schools in this part of Yorkshire.

People of my generation refer to them as such, as that’s the type of school we went to.

I also attended a middle school, which are also thought of as American.

I didn't misunderstood anything...

My comment stands re the word "gotten", its etymology is irrelevant to me.

Same. I grew up in the 70s and 80s.

I went to First school, Middle school and High school. They were all named as such (as in x First school, x Middle and x High)

DD is now in the same 3 tier system and we still have First, Middle and High.

We never had infant school, juniors or seniors here, although other areas did (my husband used to talk about going from juniors to seniors, which I found weird)

Yes I'm North East England and we have that.

Another one here! 👍

It can be as "irrelevant" to you as you like, as long as you don't negate its veracity.

As your reply to the poster you quoted was just an ill-informed rant about language you don't like (while the quoted poster was explaining that "gotten" is much much older than the use of US English) I presumed you had misunderstood what she was saying.

Now you've explained it's just a personal and slightly bigoted and ignorant opinion of yours about language, it's much clearer .

Oh that's so funny! My eldest calls me Mutti or Mutter. I am actually half German but born and raised in the States. And my eldest (now 22) started calling me this as a joke, specifically to do with what a joker he was himself in year 9 German (I was always being called in by his German teacher for his antics, which included playing Thomas the 'Dank' engine songs in the middle of class. So silly. But funny!).

Four years ago, I collapsed on the road outside and went into cardiac arrest (and lived!). I'll never forget my son, even in his despair and anguish, calling out "Mutter! Mutter!" That Year 9 joke reeeally stuck!

I have noticed the MOM thing, which, as an American myself, is kinda weird. It's like if the kids I grew up with in California started calling their mothers 'mum'. It'd be kinda pretentious.
I think midlands people are making this 'mom... no really, it's a midlands thing' up. 😁

To be fair, sometimes a poster picking up on Americanisms can help. This is a UK-centric forum, like it or not, so if a poster hasn’t said they’re in the US, they will probably get UK-centric advice. If someone actually makes a point of checking, it can help.

However, I do take your point that people can be unnecessarily picky. A thread that springs to mind is one where a poster said “ice cream truck“ instead of “ice cream van”. Some of the responses were ridiculous. “What on earth is an ice cream truck? An entire truck, just for ice creeeeeeam?! I’m fascinated!” 🙄🙄

"I have noticed the MOM thing, which, as an American myself, is kinda weird. It's like if the kids I grew up with in California started calling their mothers 'mum'. It'd be kinda pretentious.
I think midlands people are making this 'mom... no really, it's a midlands thing' up. 😁"
@SerenityNowInsanityLater

I'll leave it to the people you're accusing of being pretentious and making stuff up to respond to your final sentence, but...Great Vowel Shift. 😏 Mohder-mother-etc (that's why "mother" is written with an "o" but not pronounced with one. Large parts of the UK retained the original vowel while others changed.

I don't pronounce any of those words like tob, lock or scrob.
I do however pronounce mum as mom.
I think you have some misinformation about the brummie accent. Most confuse it for black country.
I sound more like Alison Hammond.

I think midlands people are making this 'mom... no really, it's a midlands thing' up. 😁

I actually think Americanisms are all made up. I reckon it’s one big joke on Britain because you’re bitter about not having proper kettles. I bet as soon as we’re out of the way you’re taking the “S” off “Anyways” and putting it on “Afterward” like normal people 😝

So often they're not just Americanisms though, they're used in parts of the UK.

Why on earth do you have a problem with children (an adult or a child) calling their parents mummy and daddy? 🤣🤣🤣

My friend’s 80 year old accomplished and well educated mother still refers to her parents as mummy and daddy.

I'll leave it to the people you're accusing of being pretentious and making stuff up to respond to your final sentence, but...Great Vowel Shift. 😏 Mohder-mother-etc (that's why "mother" is written with an "o" but not pronounced with one. Large parts of the UK retained the original vowel while others changed.

Thank you for the Vowel O history lesson. 😁
Listen, I'm not intentionally being an asshole.
But honestly, and it's ignorant but true, I don't know a lot about other accents throughout the country, other than the basics. As an American, I just see 'mom' and wonder, from my London perch, why I would see an Americanism popping up in a culture where, in my mind, mum is the norm. It's my observation, an ignorant one too, I do know this. And now I've got your angle on things so, thanks for that. I should probably get out more and see my adopted country!

You make an interesting point though. My mother, who is actually from Ireland, went to the States in the '60s and stayed, spoke a lot about our American accents and dialects. She said that the New England accents (which all vary; Maine is a bit different than a New York or Boston or Providence accent, for example, but a thread runs through them, binding them together as 'similar') were more like the way British accents used to sound in Elizabethan times. Could be total hogwash and probably is, but it's interesting to think about. Our accents change so much due to time and influence.

In Birmingham they do pronounce the 'O' so it's not 'mum', it really is 'mom'.

I've lived here for yonks but my DC have always called me - and spelled - mum. I was inwardly a bit when a bank assistant put Mom on the transfer I was sending to DS after I'd said Mum, but it's the local way since forever, I think.

im from west mids ( Black Country ) and I can't stand mum

so annoying as the card shops are full
of Mum cards

to me mom makes sense , it's short for for mother which starts mo not mu .

I'm only mom to my dog (it's what my kids say when they are speaking on her behalf) 🤣