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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want Brits to spell 'mum' the British way?

274 replies

Kudosss · 07/10/2025 22:11

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

OP posts:
FettleOfKish · 08/10/2025 08:17

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.

Strongly recommend that you don’t go up north. Ever.

FettleOfKish · 08/10/2025 08:21

Tiatha · 08/10/2025 07:14

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.

Agree with you @Tiatha. DH and I more often than not say diaper instead of nappy because when he learnt English growing up he did so mostly from American sources, so that’s the natural word for him to use. I don’t much like the word nappy so was happy to go along with it. We often get the side eye from people, couldn’t care less.

RedToothBrush · 08/10/2025 08:25

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.

If a politician ever decided to come out, and rather than say 'ban the boats' said 'ban the twatty ignorant Londoners', they'd probably get 20% of the vote.

Danikm151 · 08/10/2025 08:27

Mom is short for mother.
Mum is short for muther!

Those who say mum have it wrong 🤪

Proud brummie

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 08/10/2025 08:28

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.

Regional accents eh, what are they like? 🙄

cosyblankethome · 08/10/2025 08:30

Regional is different. I am Maw.

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 08/10/2025 08:31

Exactly, @TheCountessofFitzdotterel

No one is incorrect with their pronunciation. So, posters contradicting other posters is absurd.

Cleikumstovies · 08/10/2025 08:32

I wonder how many of the "eh gad don't say Americanisms, this in England, by jove, dammit" are jelly belly flag wrappers?

Reachedthefinalstage · 08/10/2025 08:33

Tiatha · 08/10/2025 07:14

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.

Well yes I don't have a problem at all with American 's using Mom if that is their norm.

And yes my dislike is for the way British people copy and adopt American expressions, pronunciations and words. I.e. the Americanisation of the English language. And the way the British have always aped and copied American culture. There used to be a saying that whatever new thing they were doing in the US we would be doing here in 10 years time.I think the time span for copying has vastly reduced.

I don't want to " get over myself". I am not a nationalist by any means. I abhor all this flag waving and faux patriotism. But equally I don't want to see the English language and British culture to be swamped and overwhelmed and obliterated by US language and culture.

PoliteRaven · 08/10/2025 08:34

Do greetings cards shops have regional variations? I'm northern and you do see cards with Mam on but mostly it's Mum, Mother or Mummy.

The widespread adoption of the spelling "mom" as in "Mom jeans" etc is largely an American influence I think, not Midlands.

The American spelling/ pronunciation which many Brits have adopted that I find the most grating is "ass" instead of "arse".

Dolphinnoises · 08/10/2025 08:35

Well there are two things here. Mom is used in some parts of the UK so all good, but we are getting US-English-written AI threads as well (as evidenced by the pasta in lap thread this morning). That has “mom” but also said “in the hospital” which is a US turn of phrase. I nearly said how we’d say it but I’m worried that’ll only teach the bots!

TheBewleySisters · 08/10/2025 08:44

The “British” way? Which “British” way? Scottish? English? Welsh? Northern Irish? Different areas have different ways of referring to their mother and spelling them accordingly.

DontGoJasonWaterfalls · 08/10/2025 08:45

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.

Good luck in Wales if you hate "mam". It's literally Welsh for mum.

I was born in the Black Country; it's always been Mom. It isn't an Americanism; my nan was born in the 1920s and called her mom "mom".

I moved from the Black Country to Wales so my mom was mom, I'm Mami.

CornedBeef451 · 08/10/2025 08:51

I’m from the West Midlands and we use Mom. It makes way more sense than Mum.

I remember being truly furious about being told to write Mum on a Mother’s Day card by a teacher when I was about 6. He was new to the school and not local, how dare he tell me what to call my MOM!

BitOutOfPractice · 08/10/2025 09:10

Reachedthefinalstage · 08/10/2025 08:33

Well yes I don't have a problem at all with American 's using Mom if that is their norm.

And yes my dislike is for the way British people copy and adopt American expressions, pronunciations and words. I.e. the Americanisation of the English language. And the way the British have always aped and copied American culture. There used to be a saying that whatever new thing they were doing in the US we would be doing here in 10 years time.I think the time span for copying has vastly reduced.

I don't want to " get over myself". I am not a nationalist by any means. I abhor all this flag waving and faux patriotism. But equally I don't want to see the English language and British culture to be swamped and overwhelmed and obliterated by US language and culture.

Well in that case “mom” is absolutely not the hill to die on. It’s not an Americanism and to abhor it as such just shows your ignorance of the language norms you claim to love.

I think regional variations in British English are one of its many joys. If you want to keep it preserved in RP aspic from 1927, then your world will be a pretty dull place.

StasisMom · 08/10/2025 09:11

Yep - mom is a Brummie thing.

zingally · 08/10/2025 09:12

A lot of my family are in the West Midlands, and write mom as a matter of course. They think I'm posh for putting mum!

Darkout · 08/10/2025 09:15

OonaStubbs · 07/10/2025 22:24

Yes but people are saying it because of watching American TV etc not because of the West Midlands.

Why do you think that?

Reachedthefinalstage · 08/10/2025 09:37

BitOutOfPractice · 08/10/2025 09:10

Well in that case “mom” is absolutely not the hill to die on. It’s not an Americanism and to abhor it as such just shows your ignorance of the language norms you claim to love.

I think regional variations in British English are one of its many joys. If you want to keep it preserved in RP aspic from 1927, then your world will be a pretty dull place.

Well if you had read my post which @Tiatha I admitted on that that I had absolutely no idea that Mom was used as part of local dialect in parts of the UK until I read this thread. I've never had cause to visit the midlands - where people on the thread are saying it is normal usage- apart from on very rare and transitory visits. So I admitted my fault.

I'm all for keeping local dialects alive and I love to hear them. I don't know why you are accusing me of wanting to get rid of them when I have said nothing of the sort. I've actually lived in Scotland for most of the last 50 years and travelling round Scotland it's actually been a great source of pleasure listening to the variety of local accents and dialects. My own language is now smattered with words from the Scottish vernacular so I'm hardly an English language purist!

I don't know where I claimed to " love" the English language although admittedly I do love to hear people speak it eloquently or read it used poetically. And you can speak very eloquently and poetically using dialect.

But I stick by my long held view that I dislike the Americanisation of the English language and culture.

MrsSkylerWhite · 08/10/2025 09:39

Daughter’s husband is South African so it’s Mom in their house.

FellowSuffereroftheAbsurd · 08/10/2025 09:57

It isn't unreasonable to want something like that.

It is unreasonable to ignore that there many British variations, and many American variations, to shorten the word mother, the latter's version nearly all coming from Britain in the first place. Mom isn't really an Americanism, it's a British import to the US.

It's also without reason to get really emotionally disturbed by which version someone uses, but emotions are like that.

I know that there are regional differences but in books/articles it was always written 'mum' wasn't it? Mum was the British way of spelling it.

It became the standard expectation for how to spell it. Standardised British English used for writing is based on the ideas and speaking patterns of those who owned or could afford printing presses and making education books for some time, starting in the 15th century, largely set by the mid-to-late 18th with some minor changes since. There was a big push during that time period in a lot of places to standardise as much as possible and show those less fortunate how they 'should' be doing these things. It's always been a bit contentious in that, and there have always been people who ignored it for writing closer to how they talk and think.

In some forms of writing, that remains the expectation. In some fiction as well as casual writing, there is a lot more room for people to write how they talk.

Katiesaidthat · 08/10/2025 09:57

UnctuousUnicorns · 07/10/2025 23:08

According to Enid Blyton they say Mother and Daddy!

My mother is as English as they come and called hers Mum and Dad.

userwhat632 · 08/10/2025 10:01

I object if it’s American culture coming here, but not if it’s regional. However, i happen to use it, being American myself…

Katiesaidthat · 08/10/2025 10:05

userwhat632 · 08/10/2025 10:01

I object if it’s American culture coming here, but not if it’s regional. However, i happen to use it, being American myself…

And that is fine. I work with Americans and it´s their vernacular, with their elevators, cells and touching base.
What I don´t like is all these British singers singing in an American accent (and this isn´t new), not sure why but it pisses me right off.
But a ton of content on social media is in American accents so it becomes fashionable in some circles and it happens.

Peridoteage · 08/10/2025 10:08

Mom = west mids
Mam = north east & wales
Mummy = south east/home counties
Mum = everywhere else

I know a few people who say Ma for their mother informally

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