AIBU to think that adults should not call their parents 'mummy' and 'daddy

[magpiemay]

It might be that work is really grating on me today but I really cannot tolerate it. I sit with a lady (in her mid 50s) who takes an awful lot of personal calls throughout the day. Particularly from her mum and she calls her 'mummy' throughout the whole call... is it totally unreasonable that this makes me cringe?

Emerald, maybe it's different in the north but where I am I know absolutely nobody who says mummy. Mammy yes, mummy no. Mam is the normal with absolutely everybody I know and with my work I come into contact with dozens of different people every day. I have yet to hear anyone call their mother mummy, adult or child, so for where you are it might be mummy but where I am absolutely not.

People can do as they please, but it does sound a bit odd when people do it where I live. Every one just says mum and dad, I can just think of one adult I know, who always attempts to sound posher and richer than she really is.

My family originate from the south of Ireland. We say mammy and daddy. It was was perfectly normal where I grew up in Scotland due to it being a place wholly consisting of Irish immigrants. I'm 55 and will always say my mammy and daddy.

It really isn't your business and doesn't affect you. She shouldn't be making personal calls though.

I understand it's none of my business and there are bigger things to get worked up about. But FWIW I massively judge people who I hear doing this as it seems infantile and ridiculous in grown adults - it seems to indicate a certain privileged helplessness that gives me the rage.
I couldn't wait to stop calling my mum mummy when I was about 8. Now I just call her by her name.

Mum is mum, and sometimes "mumsy-moo" when I want shit. Dad gets daddy sometimes, not sure why, really.

Just refer to them as "my mum/dad" to other people though.
DD (5) calls me mum, mummy, and sweetheart. Sometimes "daddy" when she gets home from XP's.

People in my area almost uniformly use mum/dad. In fact I'm not sure I know anyone else who uses mummy/daddy.

But anyway, YANBU for wanting to stuff her down a loo for constant noisy personal calls.
YABU over the mummy thing. Get over it, hey.

I can't stand 'mummy' and 'daddy' coming from adults, but then it's nothing to do with me what they call their parents! 'Hubby' drives me to tears!

Perhaps I have no room to comment, though; I call my mum Damaama and my dad Popsk or Popples!

I don't, but I couldn't care less what other people do

It's one of my pet peeves.

As well as parents who refer to each other as "mummy and daddy" when they're not speaking to their kids. Makes me want to crawl up my own ass and die.

Someone I know (probably in his 50s) refers to his mother only ever as "mother", eg, "When mother moves in", "Mother will be here in April", "No, mother doesn't like fried eggs". GTFO with that.

Always called my parents Mummy and Daddy and still do and proud of it. So do sibs.

FWITW DCs call us the same and don't bat an eyelid at doing so. And DS is 16. Pretty sure he won't refer to us as such to his friends at school though!

But I think what you call your parents (and not being frightened to be sneered at for doing so) is all part of being your own person TBQH.

FWIW I massively judge people who I hear doing this

You massively judge people for doing something that is the cultural norm in some areas?

Isn't it often an inverted snobbery thing as well (being mean about such things?) - always felt it was when I was at school.

hawleybits because some people are rude and closed minded and can't cope with people living their lives slightly differently to them 😄

treaclesoda I'll reluctantly give regional dialect a pass, but I wouldn't say it was a cultural thing.

Is the regional dialect not part of the culture?

As loads of posters have said, it is very much the norm in the north of Ireland, so it does sting a bit to be told that we're being massively judged for something that really is just part and parcel of how things are here.

I don't really call them mummy and daddy when I'm speaking to them, because there's no need. My siblings and I call them mummy and daddy when we talk to each other, because that's how we've always known them. To other people I'd probably say 'my parents'. But what I've noticed is that people always ask me 'how is your daddy?' (he is elderly and very frail), never 'how is your dad?'

I'm a Londoner born and bred so the Irish thing is outside of my experience I must admit. In London I would say it's very much a 'Rah' type thing when said as an adult. Regardless of what I called my mum, I would refer to her as 'mum' to strangers to infer that I'm not an over indulged princess type who has refused to/hasn't been allowed to grow up.

The regional dialect and mummy/mammy and daddy is one of the few cultural things in Northern Ireland that transcends the religious divide. No matter if you're green or orange or blue or purple over here, most people call parents mummy/mammy and daddy. How's your wee mummy. When my my was alive and very frail was very common.

That doesn't make it infantile. Or cringey. Or in any way infer that I'm a princess.

And like treacle I feel massively judged.

It isn't a thing where I am, so that's probably why I find it weird. If it was the cultural norm here, I'd likely feel differently about it.

Prince Charles still calls the Queen mummy.

I cal my parents mummy and daddy. It's something between them and myself - nowt to do with other people unless it's a personal call with an extremely loud voice at work. Which seems to be the case here. I'm also getting the impression from your phrasing that you don't particularly like your coworker, maybe due to the fact she takes so many personal calls during work time and you possibly have to pick up her slack...?

Adult dd calls me mum, mama or mummy. I sign myself 'Mummy' when emailing her. I am her Mummy. When she came round from a life-saving operation not so long ago, her first words to me were "Mummy, look!" and she blew a long, slow breath. It was beautiful. Nothing in that made me cringe at all.

I agree OP. I can't stand hearing adults using mummy and daddy. It just seems so babyish.

It shouldn't matter but it's just one of those things that makes me automatically cringe.

AnneSmyth and treaclesoda I agree, it's been of an eyebrow raiser for me on MN lately and I've been on here for donkeys. Probably just a combination of threads and bad timing, from this one, to the how to you say Primark, to the get back in your box, we don't mean your type of grammar schools - strange week [shrug]

Would it be ok to say it makes you cringe it is babyish and infantile if it was a dialect that black or Muslim people said? Or would that be considered racist?

I do think it's kind of sweet if you have that kind of relationship with your parents & they don't mind. Saying that I'm generally Mum or Mummy if my DC's want anything.

Posh people, innit.