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?

My dad's family definitely rhymed Mom with from, although Mommy ends with an 'ay' sound.

How often does this come up!?

I am from the black country... I have a mom, she had a mom, she also had a mom. My DC have a mom. Mum is used in the next town over from me and it feels very wrong to my ears!

Its mom like a pom pom... if that makes sense?

A short 'o' rather than an elongated American 'Mom'?

I'm reading this and I keep imagining Frank Skinner or 'Alison' from big brother saying mom in a brummie accent.

Mam/Mammy/Mami in Wales. It's cultural, from the language. And yes to altering the Us on cards with biro, always.

Actually, mom is pronounced differently in different areas of the US, too.

Sometimes it's mom like pom, sometimes it's more mAHHm or mAAYm.

Pangurban mum in Manx Gaelic is Mummig or if being talked about Vummig.
Mother is Moir which changes to Voir in the vocative.

Can I just say that not everyone from the West Midlands is a brummie. In the same way that not everyone from South East England is a cockney.

I get asked about this all the time. People round these parts (Essex) think my accent, which isn't strong, is hilarious and / or odd oh the irony and often get me to say "mom" like it's some exotic word. They themselves seem comically incapable if saying it even though they have no trouble with from or bomb that it rhymes with.

Can you tell I get mighty fed up with this?

Yes. I can tell.

So how do you pronounce 'mom' you funny little exotic person?

Ooh no, superfurry, East Midlander here and we most certainly do not say mom - you must have some mutant genes East Midlands and West Midlands are VERY different.

Mom looks very odd to me living in Scotland (as does Nan, Nana, Nanny for grandmother)

I'm mum, Ma or Maw although the latter 2 are deliberate jokes rather than what comes naturally. My own mother was her first name,always.

Squoosh exactly as it's spelled. Not hard. It rhymes with from.

Well of course it sounds like Tom. It's only one letter difference. I don't see why that is relevant though. I mean mum sounds like bum.

My dh says 'mam'

I used to say "Mam". Mother brought up in Cardiff. In fact I think regionally, most in Britain do not refer to their mothers as "Mum". "mom" is definitely a West Midlands thing and not just an Americanism. Nothing to get worked up over.

mine call me Mama and yet I do not live in Victorian times

Argy

I didn't really understand your post.

Americans don't pronounce "from" the same as people from Birmingham, or Essex either.

OP

I think it says more about you than other posters if you think using a few long words is pompous

I always assumed west midlanders said 'Mom' but spelled it 'Mum'. Most regional dialect different pronunciations aren't reflected in changes to written language, are they?

I grew up in the West Riding and people said things with a local accent (which differs between villages dramatically, there's no such thing as a 'Yorkshire' accent - I genuinely couldn't understand some people/some words when we moved five miles from near Huddersfield to near Barnsley) but when writing people would spell words the same as everyone else in England. Apart from dialect words that don't exist in standard English, I suppose...

Maybe it's schools teaching you to write the standard English word even if you say it differently. Do they not do that in the West Midlands? Or has it changed over time as people became less convinced that RP/South Eastern English was 'right' and everything else a regional dialect that was 'wrong'?

Trying to think of an example. I'd imagine most people understand 'mither' for bothering someone (with a long 'i') but I can't think how to spell 'maungee' or 'mornjee' (i.e. the word for being miserable and complaining unnecessarily - whining). Words that are spelled in standard English despite being pronounced differently... 'hello' I think, although lots of people say 'hullo'? Innit - most people would write 'isn't it' surely?

(And I don't think the West Midlands 'Mom' is pronounced like 'Tom', they definitely have a different way of saying the short 'o'. It's not really short! Sort of a cross between the long 'u' of Yorkshire - bootter not 'batter' like Southerners say - and the short 'o' of Tom. Erm... I need to grab my nephew to check...)

(And that's not an 'oo' sound in butter like 'ooh, what a surprise' it's a thick, deep 'u' sound.

I am in Birmingham. I say and write Mom.

NewtRipley Not a few long words, a pompous tone. And not other posters, just the one.

I live in the Midlands and don't know anyone who says "Mom". I know a few who say "Mam", though.