Why do so many people on MN say ‘mom’ instead of ‘mum’?

[Waitingforthesunnydays]

Yes I know this is the internet so there may be American users on here. The vast majority are British though. I also know there’s parts of England where ‘mom’ is used rather than ‘mum’ but those two things really don’t account for how often I see posters writing it as ‘mom’. Is this another Americanism that’s creeping in or are there much more parts of the country where mom is used than I thought?…

Oh I didn’t realise that and I’m only 50 miles away!

Do they say mom or just spell it that way?

I bloody love regional differences! I’m a Brummie but DH born and bred in Wolves - we have differences between us! My best mate is from South Staffs and there are differences still!

I pronounce it “mom” and my kids likewise.

Language matters.

I always thought it was a scouse thing because that's what my Dad used to write. He'd say 'mum' though. Wrote it until dementia robbed him of the power to write, so for nearly 80 years, despite living in the south since he was 25

Does anything matter? Did the thread about whether it was weird or not for a poster’s colleague to put salt on her turkey sandwich matter? A lot of threads on here don’t “matter” they’re sometimes just made by bored people who are mildly curious about something.

West Midlands lass- we use mom.

Oh no, not another Americanism. 😱

Not when it comes to saying 'mom' or 'mum' it doesn't.

Not at all 🤷‍♂️

It’s what we do on the off season from
insisting Santa and Halloween are American. 🤣

(they are not)

Nope, “Brummie-ism”! 😉

Why do you think Americans being on here and it being used in parts of the UK 'doesn't account' for it's usage here? What do you base that on?

I don't think I have ever heard anyone who isn't American or from Birmingham/Wolverhampton use mom.

Irish here and use Mom. Lots in Ireland do. It’s not an Americanism for us but comes from the Irish language “a Mham”

Im from the west Midlands and we say mom. I dont get why its an issue? Its like barm, bap, roll, different parts of the country say different things.

Good grief. I thought that I was a language pedant, but I really can't compete!

Mum, Mam and Mom are all crystal clear in their meaning. So get off your high horse and embrace dialects.

All of the West Midlands say Mom I thought?
i say Mam …I’m from Yorkshire

I wonder if that’s why a lot of Brum/Wolves use it because of the immigration in the 60s? I think I’ll leave this thread now as I’ll start geeking out on dialects and origins!

@AgnesMcDoo- A little something to see us through until Valentine's Day.

Gosh how terrible. When will the madness ever end? 😅

That’s a bit of a leap of a conclusion to jump to when I’m asking out of genuine curiosity. I know people in W. Midlands use mom, but I still don’t think that one part of the UK is big enough to account for the number of times I see it used on here. Never said there’s anything wrong with it and not sneering at anyone! I’m just genuinely curious as to whether there’s other parts of the UK that have always used it too? I’m in Devon but have lived in Scotland and London and have never heard it used in any of those places so I’m just wondering if there’s other places it’s always been used or for some people, if it’s one of those things they’ve started adopting when they didn’t grow up saying mom 🤷‍♀️

I think some do but not many.
Obviously Americans, and maybe some other countries where they learn English primarily via Americans/their education system.

I think it's used in some areas of the UK too.

Does it particularly matter? Mum, Mom, Mam, Mummykins, female parent...we all know what they mean.

Not for this it doesn’t.

No idea 😁

but yeah, maybe it’s all Brummies

It’s not a scouse thing. It’s usually Mum in Liverpool. Older scousers often say mam, but it’s dying out. I don’t know any young ones who still use mam. They say “Me ma” to mean “my mum”, but they don’t address their mums as “ma”.