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?…

Agreed.

Travel broadens the mind as they say, but it's clear some haven't travelled further than the end of their garden path.

Although you'd think the internet might help them a bit.

Wait until you discover we Brummie’s use “nan” and not “grandma!”

I think it matters. Obviously some areas of the UK have always used “mom.” But that spelling has definitely increased in use in the UK over recent years, almost certainly due to people seeing it on the internet and just assuming that’s how it’s spelt. Just like other Americanisms (“I’m good”, “he did great,” “stay home”) etc.

I'm Scottish, I never hear anyone here saying mom!

Thank you for your response !
I'm a Mom who has a Mom who had a Mom and so on ....
My husband had a Mam.
No one says Mum where i'm from.
We're considered Northern on here.

I’d say grandma is way more American than Nan. I use Nan or nanny when I was a kid and thought most of England said nan or granny in Scotland. I have a wee Scottish granny

My daughter is dyslexic and spells it this way. I dont mind.

DH has a “granny” - must be the Celtic roots! (As my do our own children who call their paternal Grandmother “granny”. They are the only kids in my circle who I know have a granny though).

Because they want to. The end.

My cousins in Leicester referred to my aunt, their mum, as “Mam”. It’s regional … and I’m perplexed as to why this an issue 🤷‍♂️

I'm from the West Midlands and I do say 'Mom' but it's only because of my accent. I still write 'Mum'. Not sure why Mum is pronounced Mom and bus is pronounced buzz though.

Kind regards
Mr Floffy Dog

It's not an Americanism. The West Midlands is a large and densely populated area which easily accounts for the usage on MN.

Why do people keep posting this sort of thing on here? It's so boring.

Surely everyone on here knows by now that mom is a normal expression in certain parts of the UK.

Sigh.

I did say I would leave the thread as I knew dialects would get me hooked!

After reading this I think we need a West Mids thread all written in dialect.

Although “wud you like sum suck bab?” would probably get reported!

I’m Irish and I would say mammy or mom over mum

Same here, Mom is typically used in Kerry

Birmingham

I think you need to travel more. Meet different people from different places. I can’t imagine an adult thinking that everyone in a country that they live in says Mum. It’s really ignorant.

Most people on MN use the ridiculous ‘DM’, how would you know if the M stands for Mom, Mum, Mum, Mam, Mammy, Mama…?

I write “mom” because I’m from the Midlands.

Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK so it's not surprising its dialects are seen widely. Plus pretty much all of the West Midlands (not the county called the West Midlands, the region) uses "Mom". Then the English speaking world outside of the UK.

A large factor in your perception, though, is likely to be that you notice it when it's used because you have an unusually strong reaction to it, so you perceive it to be more common than it is. Like people who violently hate lemon will think there is lemon in everything because it registers with them on menus whereas most people wouldn't clock the ingredients of a random dish if they felt neutral about lemons.

It's the slow but steady creep of Americanisation. I've noticed it more and more in real life as well as online. I have heard people calling biscuits 'cookies',sweets 'candy' and a baby's dummy a soother. And they weren't American ! As an aside, some Americans genuinely don't know what 'mum' means. When I used the word in a comment on a post on Facebook,someone from the USA asked me what I meant!

Really isn’t. I’m 47 and never used those words in the context you give.

I did have a mom and I’m a mom.

Never heard the term Mom used in my UK country! Unless American or Canadian and even then it seems to be ‘Mama’. Is it AI written posts perhaps?!

I think this is it. Most posters actually use “DM”.

But because OP finds “Mom” weird it stands out to her more.

It’s just Confirmation Bias.