to not understand why so many OPs use the word 'mom' when they are not American.

[LuluJakey1]

I regularly see posts on MN where the OP uses the word 'mom' instead of mum/mother. At first I thought they wete all American OPs but now I tealise many are British. Is it just me who finds it a bit of an affectation?

Ladyfoxglove, it's not recent, it's ancient. My grandad called his mother mom and she was born in the c19.

But I know people that use American terms that aren't from anywhere near the west mids.

My mom was born in Birmingham so her mom was always 'mom'

Me and my sister grew up hearing the word mom so that's what we call our mom despite not having been born in the Midlands.

My sisters children call her 'mom' and I really hope my DS calls me 'mom' too

It was mom when i was growing up and mom when mine was growing up. I don't like the way mum sounds.

I'm from Coventry, no more than 20 miles down the M6 from Birmingham but had never heard the term 'mom' til I met my Brummie DH.

midlands use it all the time and mam my son uses that a lot for me ma/mam/mammy now he is older its mom/mommy when he goes to school it will turn to mum/mummy

Dh's mother is West Indian so he's been brought up to say Mom.

He calls her Mom and he says to our dc about me 'ask your Mom' but our dc call me 'Mam' because I'm from the north and we live in a place where everyone says 'mum'.

I had no idea that mom was a midlands thing until a few years ago and I mentioned it on Twitter.
DH is from the midlands but he says mum. His niece writes mom on Facebook.

As a student I lived with a Geordie lass. When ever my mother phoned she was very careful to say it was my 'mum' on the phone and I always told her when her 'mam' phoned.

Wow. MN has actually solved a lifetime puzzle for me. My DM (from B'ham) always called herself Mom, and signed herself Mom. But the weird thing is that as children, and now, we all said "mummy" and never used mom, and it mystified us that she used it! Never knew it was widespread in the Midlands. I assumed it was because her family were from Ireland, despite the fact that "mam" and "mammy" are more common there.

Cumbria here. For my mam its mam, unless i want something....then its muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum in a whiney voice

My dad always used to call both his and my mum 'Mom' and he's from Birmingham and around 70 so not a new thing, Ladyfoxglove. I remember correcting his spelling when I was about 5 and precocious as all get out apparently!. It really does seem to vary over very small distances though as my uncle by marriage came from about ten miles away and thought it was hilarious that my dad, aunt and uncle used it as he called his 'mum'.

I grew up in the Midlands and always said Mom...then we moved to another area when I was 10, and I got teased mercilessly for saying it and accused of trying to be American. So, I started using Mum instead...kids eh!

I'm Irish and my mother was a native Irish (Gaeilge/Irish Gaelic) speaker (Conamara Irish). She was called what sounded like 'mom' because the Irish 'Mamaí' (equivalent to english mummy) is pronounced 'mommy' and we shortened to 'maim'. You would hear this as english phonetic 'mom' as this is the pronounciation. Sometimes 'a mhaim' or english phonetic ' a wom'. So my use is not American at all and probably goes back thousands of years in Gaeilge! So yabvvu.

Husband's family (Irish, but completely English speakers) use Mam or Mammy though. If I heard 'mum' or 'mummy' in Ireland, that would be the cringe factor for me.

All these words for mother in european languages are derived from the root 'ma' I believe. Nothing wrong with good old ma then.

What do Welsh and Gaidhlig native speakers use, I wonder?

My American born children call me Mum, Mom, Mummy. Sometimes to be funny my son will drawl HEYYY MAAA at me..

As an aside, my DP makes handwritten quirky signs for the home. - not just Home Sweet Home type things, but you get the idea. On Mother's Day, he did loads of "Best Mam in the World" or variations, and they all sold out. We're in Derbyshire.

I call my mum Ma which is common in the NW city I grew up in but my kids call me mummy but they are very young.

It makes sense that the American term mommy was actually introduced by British & Irish immigrants to the country all those years ago. I find the history behind terms & customs very interesting and I have learnt a lot through this thread.

I'm American, but I try to use "mother" as much as possible when posting on MN, rather than the mom/mommy I actually use, because I'm afraid of threads like this!

My memory may be faulty, but the last time there was a thread on this subject I looked it up, and all these are variations on "Ma", which is the word for mother in virtually every language in the world, except Japanese, where I think it means food. The origin is that it is the sound babies make, and people assume they are asking for their mother.

I've lived in many parts of the UK and as others have said, it is "Mom" in the Midlands.

Welsh speakers say "Mam."

I also grew up with a mommy (which changed to just mom once I was over ten). occasionally ma... more likely "maaaaaa!!" but mostly mom.

raising kids abroad and at Intl schools I'm hoping my kids will call me mom and not mum. for some reason mum just grates me it sounds a bit stuffy and to me it's just wrong.

my ILs are "mum" people though and I hope they don't influence too much.

Another Mam here, everyone I know uses it up here or mutha lol

Haway man mutha man!

roughly translates as please hurry up mummy dearest.

I call mine Mom but I'm foreign and my DH calls his Mama, our DC call me Mummy

My GM, born 1910(Liverpool), used Mam.

Its where the shortened "Ma" came from in the North West, that had various roots, including Irish.

Its often forgotten how many "Americanisms" are of Irish origin.

When I was a lot younger, I called my mother Mam. School changed things and I called her Mother when speaking to her.

if you go back many american words that are different are old british.
apartment, closet,critter etc.