Why do so many people in England use mom/mommy when we're not in the US?!

[Foreverblowingbubbles18]

Just gets my goat that this seems to be happening more and more. Its MUM or MUMMY!!!

My 18 year old DD calls me Ma and has done since her early teens, I feel like an extra from Eastenders!

@Leaannb - many British people find a Welsh child using their mother tongue to address their mothers offensive? Really?
And yes I think most people are aware that we have a shameful history of racism and slavery and discrimination but can you not even see how ridiculous you are being by claiming lots of British people are offended by a child using the Welsh word for mother? Or are you just trying to style it out now?

Leaannb

When you say 'you guys' do you mean the UK? The English but not the Scottish? The Welsh? What about Northern Ireland?

Any message for the Irish?

Specifying who you mean by 'you guys' world be very useful.

Is an person born to Irish parents in England allowed to use it or not?

I say Mom, my friend says Mum, it really doesn’t bother either of us because we’re not petty and are accepting that we are all allowed to be different.

Don't forget you guys have also had a history of slavery,discrimination and racisim

The UK may have a history of the above but it doesn't have a history of black slaves caring for white children or using the term Mammy to describe this.

Mammy is a perfectly legitimate name for UK residents to describe their mother's and part of their cultural heritage.

Midlands aside YADNBU.

My friend from Greater Manchester...where it’s “Mum” or “Mam” has a “Mum” yet since becoming a mother herself constantly talks about “Mom life”, has got a “Mom bob” and on social media tells everyone how hard it is being a “Mommy to a little princess” and how “Mommy wants some sleep tonight”.

It’s really grating. Especially as she used to teach English in schools!

When are some people going to grasp that the vast majority of "Americanisms" they moan about were taken to the US by immigrants and are not "Americanisms" at all.

Good question.. just another form of ignorance mixed in with a wee bit of xenophobia. It makes more and more sense why there is such animosity between the English and the other countries in the U.K.

Also OP, YABVU and why do you care about something so trivial. Of all the things to wind someone up, this is ridiculous. I can’t imagine having an issue on what way people call their mothers. You must have WAY too much time on your hands.

Mammy is racist

There's always one

Get a life.

I'm not going to stop using it in case It offends some snowflake like you. You would have us erase the history of our language as well as the history of our nation

I am in North Wales and it is predominantly Mam here. When I was in school I was considered odd for using Mum.

Except that it does. Many Black British people have an issue with term. It's one of the most common things I'm asked about when in the UK. Many find it offensive. Don't forget you guys have also had a history of slavery,discrimination and racisim

The word Mam LITERALLY means mother in welsh, mami or mammy is an extension of that. Nothing racist about it. If black British people object then that’s because they are ignorant of welsh culture and we can’t help that. We’ve been using Mam as a word since before the British empire and America even existed.

My children are call me different things, the eldest says Mam, the 2nd mami, the third Mamma, and the youngest tends to call me ‘parent’

My siblings who’s mother is from Yorkshire also say Mom. Not sure if that’s a them thing, or a Yorkshire thing though.

@OwlBeThere

Except that it does. Many Black British people have an issue with term. It's one of the most common things I'm asked about when in the UK. Many find it offensive. Don't forget you guys have also had a history of slavery,discrimination and racisim

The word Mam LITERALLY means mother in welsh, mami or mammy is an extension of that. Nothing racist about it. If black British people object then that’s because they are ignorant of welsh culture and we can’t help that. We’ve been using Mam as a word since before the British empire and America even existed.

Yep, generations of Irish people have also used Mammy since before slavery. In fact, it could be argued that "you guys" enslaved us. So pog mo thoin.

@Leaannb
Nope, sorry.

@leannb clearly just can't admit to being mistaken and is instead going to double down on their ridiculous position. Not worth engaging.

Interesting move though, to try and virtue signal off the back of labelling people who often suffer class-based discrimination on the grounds of their accent and dialect as "racist" for using that same dialect that has been part of their language for centuries and is completely unrelated to any racist use on another continent in any way. There are hundreds of words that are coincidentally used in multiple languages (maybe spelled differently) but have completely different and unrelated meanings.

You'd look far less of a tit if you just said "oh sorry, didn't realise it was unrelated to the racist use of the word across the pond. Soz for calling you racist".

My very unmodern grand aunt, from the wilds of south west Ireland, always called her Mum, Mom.

I use mum, my sisters use mam. I actually use mama to my DS (20mo). I really don't think it actually matters a jot.

Brummies. The only people I know who do that are Brummies/Yamyams and it's perfectly normal to say 'mom' there.

Mam or Mammy here (NE England)

Also, loads of Irish people say 'ma' and 'da', as do Scousers, and 'mammy' in this context has nothing to do with the Aunt Jemima in a kerchief stereotype, wtf.

Mammy is not racist ffs. I'm in the NE and we say mam and mammy. "Where's your mammy and daddy?" "Show mammy where you fell over" etc.

We say Santa too. Mind blown

It's 100 per cent a Midlands thing! I'm a trained journalist, have worked at the BBC and write for a living still so use mum professionally...but I am a mom and I say (and write) mom to my own mother. I honestly did t know this was a thing until I went to university! Very frustrating you can't get mom cards in shops though...definite gap in the market for Brummies!

I want a clarification on who 'you guys' are from the person who posted that.

The British Isles have a long and complicated history. To lump the different nations in together is offensive to loads of people in NI, Wales and Scotland.

I'm English btw.

Steaming in and saying you guys about ? who exactly and saying they are racist is out of line.

Sorry to go on but after the 'thug' debacle s few weeks ago I'm not letting this slide. It's cultural imperialism. Which was ok when it was Macdonald's and Hollywood (ok ish) but this language stuff needs to stop.

I'm in Ireland, Mom/mommy (or Mam/Mammy) has always been the norm. Don't know any of my friends' children who say "mummy".

I'd like to know why so many Welsh people use mum. It's been growing in use in my area over the last 15 or so years. It sounds so wrong when everything else they say is in a broad south Wales accent.