Page 7 | To want Brits to spell 'mum' the British way?

Kudosss · 2025-10-07T21:11:06+00:00

This really. Why are people spelling it Mom now-a-days? This isn't America.

StarCourt · 08/10/2025 02:16

35965a · 07/10/2025 22:17

West Midlands is Mom, so that is also ‘the British way.’

I’m Midlands born and bred and it’s mum

JHound · 08/10/2025 02:20

ElaineBurdock · 07/10/2025 23:59

I'm originally from the east Midlands and spent a lot of time in the west midlands as I had a boyfriend who lived there, and I never heard 'mom' uttered, not once. Mind you I left the UK in the early 1970's. I was very surprised to hear 'mom' now used in the UK.

I read other things have changed in the UK, such as Halloween trick or treating. That is also copied from Americans. There used to be All Hallows Eve parties that involved apple bobbing and such, maybe a witch burning, but no trick or treating.

While I'm on a roll; prom dresses! I read on mums net people are buying prom dresses. What is all this about? Do you have Prom night there now, and High School graduations? How about homecoming dances, prep rallies, and homecoming footballs game, do you have them there now? Please tell me you don't.

I do see you have Black Friday sales/shopping now. In the U.S. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, which marks the start of Christmas shopping. Do you have Thanksgiving Dinner there now? It's got something to do with Pilgrims you know.

Now I'm really warming up.

Are there still Harvest Festivals, and how about Maypole dancing on every English common? I hope they haven't done away with the stocks on the village green, or the ducking stools. If that happens, England will be overrun with wrong 'uns pinching rabbits or even bloomers off washing lines, and the old scolds and witches will go unpunished.

I think the last couple of generations have blurred American and British culture together. It's almost as if they don't know the difference between the two anymore. It makes me sad really. And it all started with the word 'mom'.

No.

Just no. People in the Midlands have been saying “mom” for a millennia. Nothing to do with Americanisms.

steff13 · 08/10/2025 02:25

Vodkamartini3olives · 08/10/2025 00:09

Yay it's the quarterly 'mom' thread with a side of Eww America!. Next up Halloween 🎃

I do love an anti-American Halloween thread.

saraclara · 08/10/2025 02:38

JHound · 08/10/2025 02:20

No.

Just no. People in the Midlands have been saying “mom” for a millennia. Nothing to do with Americanisms.

Edited

Show quote history

People in the West Midlands have. In the East Midlands it's boring old Mum. Growing up n Derbyshire I could hear all three should I cross two of its borders. Mum in Derbyshire, Mom to the west, and Mam to the north.

Wisewordsindeed · 08/10/2025 04:14

Now, that's interesting because my mum is from the Potteries and always called her mum "Mam" as did one of her sisters, but the other used "Mum". My sister and I were born in the Potteries but grew up in Carlisle and called her "Mum" until about the age of twelve when - for too long a reason to write here but as a nod to a Geordie-ism - nicknamed her "Pet".
The other thing is, is it capital letter "Mum", or "mum"?

OwlBeThere · 08/10/2025 04:23

Needmorelego · 07/10/2025 22:52

@OwlBeThere I was "mother" for a while when my daughter was about 5 thanks to me reading the Naughty Little Sister books to her (they're set in the 1920s/30s).

It’s so funny because it started as a bit of a silly jokxe, where they would say Mother comest thou hither’ and I would respond ‘Yes child, oh great one’. And then it just sort of stuck 😂

EleanorReally · 08/10/2025 04:35

interesting, a colleague from Birmingham spelt it as mom, i assumed she was going with the american spelling

sagebasil · 08/10/2025 05:37

Right - I'm going to go with 'why do you give a fuck?'

And - it doesn't matter one jittedy jot

Or you could ask the thread to be move to Pedants Corner as it is pedantic.

flutterby1 · 08/10/2025 05:53

It’s regional… people are not copying America

Philandbill · 08/10/2025 05:54

StarCourt · 08/10/2025 02:16

I’m Midlands born and bred and it’s mum

Show quote history

Depends how old you are and what part of the West Midlands. My mum and her sibs in Birmingham called my granny Mom. My dad and his sibs, West Midlands but not Birmingham and slightly more middle class (yes I know I'll get flack for bringing up class) used Mum.

MellowPinkDeer · 08/10/2025 06:07

I would really like people to spell all words correctly - but that might just be me!

Conniebygaslight · 08/10/2025 06:22

soupyspoon · 07/10/2025 22:14

And its macaroni cheese

Yes, it bloody well is!

FettleOfKish · 08/10/2025 06:38

Needmorelego · 07/10/2025 22:45

It's "Pappa".
It just seems quite a lot in my part of South London.
Possibly evolved from hearing children say it who are of East European descent or South American maybe?
I hear it now from a lot of the "white hipster" families 😂

Show quote history

DH is Pappa because he’s Swedish and that’s what they use there. All the Eastern European families I know use either Tata or Daddy.

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 08/10/2025 06:51

NatWestPigFamily · 07/10/2025 22:18

My mum was from the carribean, dad white English. I called her Mum but she would always write Mom in cards. I have always called myself Mum/ Mummy to my kids but they both call me Mom. DH is Irish and Mom is normal with his family. Live and let live, what does it matter outside that persons immediate family group!?

I love your user name!

My next door neighbour had those pigs, and i wanted them for my very own. 😏

RedToothBrush · 08/10/2025 06:55

OonaStubbs · 07/10/2025 22:19

IMO it is creeping Americanisation such as people saying skedule instead of shedule and people saying harASSment instead of HARassment. IMO it should be banned.

Ban Brummies and Geordies. Seems completely reasonable.

There's a solution to a nonexistent problem !

AramintaWildbloode · 08/10/2025 07:02

I agree.
There are a certain words or terms in a thread OP or title which make me avoid it.
The use of “super” instead of “very” is another one.
Ditto “fur babies”.

vodkaredbullgirl · 08/10/2025 07:02

🙄

Screwyoudavid · 08/10/2025 07:03

DD 22 was proper vexed on the last Mothers day as she couldn't find a Mom card. DC were raised in Brum and even though we have now moved away I will always be Mom. Was asking DD what her future kids would call her (now lives in London) and she replied she will always be Mom. YABU.

Tiatha · 08/10/2025 07:14

Reachedthefinalstage · 07/10/2025 23:14

This thread has been quite a revelation to me. I've always thought Mom was an Americanism - and absolutely hated it. I'd absolutely no idea it was also commonly part of local dialect in parts of England.

I was brought up in the North East where Mam was quite often used. Or " our Mam" to be more specific. My mother hated being called Mam so we generally didn't use it. My father used to call my mother's mother - his MiL - Ma . Which as children we thought was hilarious for some reason.

This pisses me off, honestly.

I get the resisting Americanisms thing to a point but I think some Brits are absolutely ridiculous about it and quite offensive. I married a Canadian and use some words differently now out of habit (have lived in a few different places since so probably DP's speech rubs off one me more than more than it would have living at home) and the number of people who feel entitled to correct me is insane. Fuck off, Sarah, I'll say mall and not shopping centre if I want to, and if I want to call it a stroller I will.

There's such a nasty undertone of snobbery and superiority to it, as if anything North American is worse than the UK by definition. As if something that "makes someone cringe" is worse than an actual crime. Just live and let live. Get over yourselves.

I'm from W.Yorks and my kids call me mom, because my husband would refer to me as mom or mommy and they got used to that. I prefer it. But lots of people on here would think it was just a cringey Americanism I guess. Oh well.

redfairy · 08/10/2025 07:14

I'm from Coventry which is West Midlands and we say mum but EXDH from 15 miles up the road in Brum says mom. I love how diverse our language can be even across a relatively small distance.

Tiatha · 08/10/2025 07:17

ElaineBurdock · 07/10/2025 23:59

I'm originally from the east Midlands and spent a lot of time in the west midlands as I had a boyfriend who lived there, and I never heard 'mom' uttered, not once. Mind you I left the UK in the early 1970's. I was very surprised to hear 'mom' now used in the UK.

I read other things have changed in the UK, such as Halloween trick or treating. That is also copied from Americans. There used to be All Hallows Eve parties that involved apple bobbing and such, maybe a witch burning, but no trick or treating.

While I'm on a roll; prom dresses! I read on mums net people are buying prom dresses. What is all this about? Do you have Prom night there now, and High School graduations? How about homecoming dances, prep rallies, and homecoming footballs game, do you have them there now? Please tell me you don't.

I do see you have Black Friday sales/shopping now. In the U.S. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, which marks the start of Christmas shopping. Do you have Thanksgiving Dinner there now? It's got something to do with Pilgrims you know.

Now I'm really warming up.

Are there still Harvest Festivals, and how about Maypole dancing on every English common? I hope they haven't done away with the stocks on the village green, or the ducking stools. If that happens, England will be overrun with wrong 'uns pinching rabbits or even bloomers off washing lines, and the old scolds and witches will go unpunished.

I think the last couple of generations have blurred American and British culture together. It's almost as if they don't know the difference between the two anymore. It makes me sad really. And it all started with the word 'mom'.

I wrote an angry reply to this before I realised you were taking the piss 😂

NeonFish · 08/10/2025 07:19

YANBU And another one I really hate is 'mam'. It makes me think of 'yes mam, no mam, three bags full mam'. It makes me feel stabby.

NatWestPigFamily · 08/10/2025 07:30

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 08/10/2025 06:51

I love your user name!

My next door neighbour had those pigs, and i wanted them for my very own. 😏

Show quote history

Thanks, I have them all apart from the cousin pig, which I keep getting tempted to buy from eBay!

BitOutOfPractice · 08/10/2025 07:35

NeonFish · 08/10/2025 07:19

YANBU And another one I really hate is 'mam'. It makes me think of 'yes mam, no mam, three bags full mam'. It makes me feel stabby.

Have you read the thread?

I suggest you don’t take a knife to the West Midlands if mom makes you stabby. 3 million people ready to make you very angry. Try visiting Dudley and saying you hate mom. It’ll make an interesting chat.

Lurker85 · 08/10/2025 08:11

Brummie here - always been Mom, never Mum! Makes more sense to me as it’s short for Mother, not Muther 🤣