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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a grown up shouldn't call their mother 'mummy'

193 replies

shebird · 01/01/2016 01:50

Is it just a bit weird hearing a 40 year grown old woman call her mum 'Mummy' all the time. It just grates on me.
AIBU?

OP posts:
mmgirish · 01/01/2016 05:06

YABU. It is often a regional thing. I still call my mother mammy. I wouldn't notice what other people call their parents. Why do you care?

FeedMyFaceWithJaffaCakes · 01/01/2016 05:17

Afraid to say it's daddy resolutely to me.
It used to be Mummy changed to Mumma when my sister and I were about 7 and 9. Due to a very popular song about washing clothes in a jungle! (My Mumma has always been a size 10!) so all in jest SmileSmile

Andylion · 01/01/2016 05:38

While I do think each to their own, in principle, in practice, I cringe when I hear an adult say "Mummy". See also, "Auntie".

NadiaWadia · 01/01/2016 05:57

It's an 'y'. What difference does it make?

What are you allowed to call your aunt when you are an adult then? 'Aunt' sounds so stiff and formal, almost no-one uses it. Or would you just go to first name terms on reaching 18/21?

I think that people who are bothered about what names other people should call their relatives should get over themselves, frankly.

NadiaWadia · 01/01/2016 06:08

Or of course A 'y', not 'an'. Or indeed an 'IE'.

Rdoo · 01/01/2016 06:13

The things people on mumsnet find to judge others on never ceases to amaze me.

I'm Irish, I call my parents mammy and daddy as do most people in Ireland. I'm ever so sorry if anyone finds it 'odd' or 'weird' or makes them feel sick but you have to understand there's a world outside your own bubble.

BeaufortBelle · 01/01/2016 06:15

I think you need something more important to think about.

echt · 01/01/2016 06:30

Is it just a bit weird hearing a 40 year grown old woman call her mum 'Mummy' all the time. It just grates on me.

So what do you find acceptable, OP?

FishWithABicycle · 01/01/2016 06:32

Yabu to be so judgy about something that doesn't affect you.

My mum dislikes the appellation "mum" - so we all call her mummy. We don't use the whiny Mummeee in the same tone voice your DD used when she was 3 though because we are all in our 40s and have grown out of that. We use the same tone as if we called her my any other two-syllable sound.

It's weird and inappropriate for you to give a shit tbh.

KenDoddsDadsDog · 01/01/2016 06:35

Mammy and Daddy here , DH does the same . It's regional / Irish in our cases. Definitely not posh !

ThinkingBlue · 01/01/2016 06:36

I would just say why does it matter and why is it anyone else's business? Agree with each to their own... 🙂

mathanxiety · 01/01/2016 06:44

Irish people do this quite a bit, both mummy and mammy, no matter where on the 'posh' scale they fall. Not in 3 year old tones. The two don't have to go together.

BogusCatAndThePunk · 01/01/2016 06:46

Our house…
Mum
Mum
Mum
Mum
Mum
Mum
Mum
Mammy…
What, why don't you call me Mum it sounds nicer

But…Hmm

Love you Ma…

RayFuckingPurchase · 01/01/2016 06:54

Definitely nobody else's business what we call our own parents but I would feel infantile addressing my mum as 'Mummy' at my grand old age of 30-something. She's been Mum for as long as I can remember. A couple of my friends are Mummy-ers, though. Does make me cringe a bit!

KERALA1 · 01/01/2016 06:57

I think it's quite sweet. Only very grand people do this ime

Pseudo341 · 01/01/2016 07:11

YABU. How can it possibly matter to you what someone else calls their mum?

BumpTheElephant · 01/01/2016 07:14

YABU. People can call their parents whatever they like, I say "mam and dad" but can't see the problem with mammy and daddy, it's barely any different. My own children choose to call me "mumma"or "mamma", they are still little though.

LetThereBeCupcakes · 01/01/2016 07:15

Adult kids saying mummy doesn't bother me.

My father in law and his wife referring to each other as mummy and daddy when their children are in their 20s and not living at home drives me up the wall.

frumpet · 01/01/2016 07:27

Getting splinters sitting here on this fence ! I know one person who does this and it sounds very wrong and then I know a couple of others who do it and until you mentioned it on this thread , I hadn't really noticed , but they are Irish .

PurpleBun · 01/01/2016 07:28

Cupcakes - my PIL still refer to each other as mummy and daddy, all their kids are in their 30s!

They all call them mum and dad - it's just plain weird and a little creepy hearing the PIL!

frumpet · 01/01/2016 07:28

My best friends teenagers call her Mumma sometimes , but only to her face , not in conversation with others iyswim .

BathshebaDarkstone · 01/01/2016 07:28

I call my DF Daddy but he is quite posh.

Moominmamamoos · 01/01/2016 07:38

I have four grown up children. Two of them call me mummy, one calls me Äiti (Finnish for mother) and another one calls me Ma. They all call DH Daddy. Mostly with the pre fix poor. Poor Daddy. 😂

KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes · 01/01/2016 07:39

SiL calls MiL 'mummy'.

Not just to her face either. She says stuff like, "Mummy wants a coffee." to other people.

It's really odd. It makes me cringe.

MistressDeeCee · 01/01/2016 07:49

What an odd thing to find "grating", and its not even as if its something you need to hear daily. Unless your friend lives directly next door and speaks to her "mummy" regularly. I don't think its something Id even register tbh but each to their own I suppose. I don't believe your friend's tone sounds anything like a 3 year old's either, why would a grown woman have such tone? Unless you've missed out some info I suspect you were just upping the ante after a couple of YABU