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?

The card thing I find interesting I have only I have only ever seen card to mum/mummy its the same with variations on grandparents names I had grandmas my mum wanted to known as grandma but I find it increasingly difficult to find cards for grandma a lot of nanna ,gran , grannies but not so many grandmas .

I call my mother mam, she called her mother mam, my dad called his mother mam. It's always been mam but now I've moved away as have some of my siblings and my children call me mum, my siblings children all say mum as well. I think as people move around more (up until my generation my family had always lived in the northeast) mam/mom will die out. I feel a bit sad about that.

My sister (A) called our mother Mummy when speaking to her until (A) was 60 something.

Sarcymare, do you mean British English rather than old British? The real old British languages (spoken by the Britons, who were before the Angles and Saxons) are Celtic languages. As there wasn't one 'nation' of people on what is now GB, Gaelic and Pictish (which are/were also Celtic languages and related to Brittonic) were also on the Island. English has roots related to German, completely different origins.

Apartment is derived from french/latin roots. Closet also french derivation. But of course many french words were absorbed into English as the Normans brought it with them after the conquest.

Possibly the language those of British Nationality brought with them to the US?

Its easier when speaking to Americans as you can just say mom and they get it.

Critter is a dialect variant of creature, which has latin roots. What a knot is language.

But they were brought by the migrating English and Scots dialect speakers to the US. As they were originally brought through Latin and French into England and Scotland.

Obfus my nearly 9 year old and nearly 7 year old call me Mummy (but we are abroad, no peer influence as all their friends are German speakers so they refer to me as Mama to friends, like everyone else). Nobody knows why my 3 year old calls me Muvver though, it is one of (my) life's great mysteties :o

Pangurbon, i mean the language spoken in the country at the time of mass emigration

Some posts on this thread are really pissing me off. Yes, it's a Midlands thing. We've always used it, and who cares if it annoys you.

I was surprised to learn that it's unique to this region but i'm not going to start slagging off the use of Mum, Mam, Ma etc.

It's easier when speaking to Americans as you can just say mom and they get it.

I don't have a problem "getting it," when I hear/see someone use "mum," or "mam." When I see or hear someone use "mummy," my first thought is a dead Egyptian wrapped in bandages.

Have a friend who has no connections with either Birmingham or the United States, who has taken to referring to herself as a "soccer mom". Despite the fact her only child is a dd who does gymnastics. As in "I want to join the other soccer moms", "I look forward to being a soccer mom one day", "My sister is a soccer mom". Makes me want to vomit.

Sorry not to fit in with the RP crowd OP

I'm from the Black Country and I have a mom. I live in Essex where my DC were born and they call me mom too. To me it sounds totally normal and I refuse to write mum on here just to fit in with the norm.

Christ it makes me really fucking furious cross that this kind of snobbery idea that anyone who doesn't speak Surrey RP is not "the norm". It happens here. It happens in RL too. Gah!

east midlands, all three call me mom, i like it :)

I have friends from Birmingham and they always say and write it as "mom", though I admit I always presumed it was American before I met them.

I am originally from The Black Country and my mom is mom- though I have always called her mombat-as a term of endearment of course- I had never even thought about why some people say mom/mum/mam, whatever and did not realise that mom is an Americanism nor that it is parculiar to the West Midlands (bit thick). I did find it a bit odd that it is impossible to buy cards with mom on here in Cornwall where I now live, now I know why.

'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.'

Well cringe away as I'm Irish and call my mother 'mum'. Pretty common in Dublin.

I absolutely cringe when adults refer to their mother as Mammy.

I don't understand how Mom in US pronounced Maaahm is considered the same as Mom in Birmingham (pronounced how exactly?). I've never heard a Brummie say Mom as rhyming with "from".

I had never heard of the midlands 'mom' tradition until DH's grandmother's funeral when there was a floral arrangement which spelt 'MOM'. I checked with my MIL because I thought that the florist had made a mistake

I'm from the north East and still live here. DH is a Midlander.

So, when speaking to the kids, my mam says 'your mam/mammy...' DH says 'mom/mommy'. Kids have compromised with Mum/Mommy.

It's a fecking minefield, I tells ya. I draw the line at Nanny - it's bloody Nana!

Where are you from Argy? I suppose if you've never heard a Brummie say mom to rhyme with from, then all the Midlanders on here must be making it up.

I'm in the Northeast but from the South originally, I alternated between Mum and Mam. My son was born in the Northeast and I will always be his Mam. No way would he call me anything other than that.