Do you think Mom is an American word for Mum and that the latter is the correct spelling in England? Think again. The word Mom is widely used in the Midlands.
“Mom and Mommy are old-English words, words that are stilled used in Birmingham and most parts of the West Midlands, we all use the term Mom and Mommy never Mum or Mummy, as here the correct spelling is Mom and Mommy has been for hundreds and hundreds of years, when people from the West Midlands went to America all those years ago they took our correct spelling with them, hence they use Mom and Mommy and we still do in the West Midlands. Here in the West Midlands the words Mum and Mummy are frowned upon as they look and sound wrong, thankfully our local schools teach our correct spelling of Mom and Mommy and the kids still come home with handmade cards with out correct Mom and Mommy Spelling on.
I believe parts of Scotland use the Mom and Mommy term too, as I have relatives there and whenever I visit them, they and the people I visit or see use the term Mom too, however I’m not sure how widespread its use is.
We in Birmingham and the West Midlands get annoyed when people wrongly think we are using American words, when the word Mom and Mommy aren’t American they were British to start with, it’s just unlike the West Midlands other areas changed their spelling.”
C Parkes
(Sent via email to woodlandsweb@hotmail.com)
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Here in the North East (in Tyne and Wear) it’s Mam and Mammy. I believe this also applies to Scotland. It’s taken me a while to become used to being “mammy” (I used mummy when I was younger) but now it seems very natural.
ReplyDeleteI believe this is a case of regional variation, with all options; mom, mum and mam being used correctly depending on accent.
ReplyDeleteHere I am from the Northeast US, daring to comment. My mother-in-law lived with us here (she arrived on her 80th birthday, brave woman) for 18 years. She was from Chesterfield, Derbys., and was always “Mum”. My friend from Northeast England (Stockton-on-Tees) says “Mum”. My friend in the South (near Oxford) says “Mum”. Might it be more family tradition, somehow, than region?
ReplyDeleteNever any easy answers …
I’m from the Northeast of England and we say Mam and Mammy. Stockton on Tees is veering out of the NorthEast somewhat, so that could explain the variation.
ReplyDeleteI live in Dudley West Midlands, But my partner lives in Gillingham Kent, Her girls go to Woodlands Primary School, Gillingham she insists it is spelt mum and says the girls all spell it mum at school! but i have only come across mum in wide use down London/Kent areas. shouldn’t all kids be taught the correct spelling not there areas version?
ReplyDeleteI’m from the American South and many of us still call our mothers “Mama” or “Mother” (I say both) and many black people do this as well. Many people around here have never said “Mom” in their whole life. It annoys me that most people just assume all Americans do this.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, many of us will have a great-grandmother or some such that we call Mam (and then add either the first or last name) so this must be a more Celtic type influence. I had no idea growing up that white people in Britain were saying Mam and Mammy. Here it’s associated with the Old South and dying out but I just grew up thinking the whole mammy/pappy thing was of African origin even if white people said it.
I saw the comment from Dean of Gillingham Kent by chance. I hail from Gillingham Kent and have always said Mum and brought my sons up calling me Mummy and Mum even though we lived in Hampshire and Wiltshire. I never knew that people used Mom in Britain and thought it was an American word.
ReplyDeleteI’m in the North East of England too (Stockton-on-Tees) but we say Mum/Mummy, haven’t heard anyone say Mam/Mammy…
ReplyDeleteIm East Yorkshire And We Say Mam/Mammy
ReplyDeleteBut Birmingham Say Mom/Mommy While Rest Of England Stick To The Traditional Mum/Mummy
I’m from the West Midlands and EVERYONE I know spells it mum.
ReplyDeletei live in the midlands and absolutely no one says mom
ReplyDeleteBUT do you pronounce it “MAWM”?
ReplyDeleteum, does it really matter? Why do you frown on people just because they say mum, and in other places mom? I belive the world has become a bit to discrimanating and this IS coming from a TEN YEAR OLD
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fascinating….came here via singleparentdad's tweeting on this and had never realised that mom was an Old English regional form. Should we standardise? I hope not. I love regional differences. It's firmly Mum down here in the South-West though!
ReplyDeleteI live on the pacific coast of the US and most people say mom. Occasionally, some people say ma or mama. I honestly don't like mum (No offense Britain) because I think it sounds weird and I don't like mam because it sounds like you're just trying to be polite. But, I guess people just grow up saying and spelling things different ways. I think these differences give the world character.
ReplyDeleteI live in South Shields, next to Newcastle, in the North-East of England and I call my Mother Mam, its just what I say, I don't think about it or anything, it doesn't feel strange at all.
ReplyDeleteI said it since I could talk!
Its just the way Geordies talk,
why-aye mann 😉
well its mom, not mum.
ReplyDeleteBtisitsh need to learn to talk clearly
I would like to see some academic references to this claim, "people from the West Midlands went to America all those years ago they took our correct spelling with them, hence they use Mom and Mommy and we still do in the West Midlands".
ReplyDeleteIt seems you have completely made this up? Your trying to tell me that when William Bradford and the Mayflower landed in what was to be America he took the word "Mom" with him and therefore Americans say "Mom"? Ludicrous…..William Bradford was from Doncaster, Yorkshire (not far from Sheffield) so if that was true it would be Mam…..
Where in the U.S. is it pronounced "Mawm"? Seems like I occasionally hear it, but can't put my finger on where it started or where its coming from. Is that a California thing maybe?
ReplyDeleteI grew up in northern Michigan in the United States saying "Mom" but my kids call me "Mama" I suppose we just liked the sound of it!
ReplyDeleteMy american ex-friend had a screw at me for sayin mum, mom just doesnt sound right coming from me, it sounded really forced (south east anglia, uk) i showed him this article and he freaked sayin mom is purly american and all english words are the messed up version of american words that we stole. i have to say i dont like narrow-mindedness.
ReplyDeleteI live in the United States and I use both mum and mom when referring to my mother. Its just something I've always done. Some of my friends call thier mothers, mothers or mama. I guess it would depend on your family and what your taught to say.
ReplyDeleteThe old Cornish way is to call your mother 'Mam' . Likewise in Scotland . If it is so in the North East and Wales also , then do we have a Saxon/non-Saxon divide . The Germanic has the 'u' sound .
ReplyDeleteLet's not start 'knocking' each others daialect please .
How about words for addressing fathers ? Pa , Da , Dad , any more ?
I have a friend in the USA near Boston/New England territory, who says and writes "mum" while I have some friends in Birmingham UK who say and write "mom".
ReplyDeleteI like it that not everything follows the same standard in this more and more digital world 🙂
erm since when do people in birmingham say mom??? i live very close to birmingham and some of my best friends are from there and they say the same as me ''MUM'' i always thought mom was american. an how can americans say we have pinched their language when the universal language of the world is erm english!!! and secondly isnt american english???
ReplyDeleteI'm from Texas in the US and we have always said "Momma". I like how the British do uses "Mum" because it's different! I LOVE THE UK!!! 😀
ReplyDeletei'm from chicago so there's a wide variation of people here. i've heard all from MOM- what i use, to mum, mam, mother, and mama! whatever the heck the real word is, who gives a care! i think its awesome that not everyone speaks the same if we did it'd be an extremely boring world with no diversity.-peace out 4rm Chi-town!!
ReplyDeleteIts just regional, Im from Bradford, West Yorkshire, and we pretty much have the broadest accent in the UK..I only say mum, But a little over 12 miles away in Halifax/Huddersfield, they say mom..
ReplyDeleteps. When I just wrote -Mom- On the above line, spell check came up lmao =L
I use mom and mommy for my parent.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's very fair that people asume that just because people are British they use words like mummy.Just because they aren't from here doesn't mean they use all these weird words other people came up with in the U.S. I myself am half English and think that "Mummy" is more like a Scotish word,on the other hand I have used "Mum" but found out it didn't even arrigonate in England!A matter a fact, I heard it came from California! I DO NOT agree with whoever wrote this column about "Mum and Mummy".
As an English speaking South African I was taught 'mother' at school and say 'mom' so this is not unique to the UK or the USA. I wonder what other ex-colonies say?
ReplyDeleteWow. I am sad to see some people being argumentative about how to say "mom", "mum", "mam", "mommy" or "mama". Let's celebrate the differences! =) I think it is interesting to learn the etimology of my language…but in the end the nuances generated by time, region, etc….just make the world all that much more beautiful.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting differences. I live in western Canada (British Columbia to be more exact) and I would say that here most people spell it 'mom' but tend to say it as 'mum'. The exception being 1st generation Canadians with British or Austalian parents who tend to also spell it as'mom'.
ReplyDeleteI hate to throw a spanner in the works and cause more anger but could this not be a class thing? e.g. if you were upperclass years ago it would be MuM, Mother and Ma or Mammy for lower class citizens. Just a thought! Would be nice to know what a linguist thinks!
ReplyDeleteI don´´ t think you should worry about how to call your mother, I usually call her by her name
ReplyDeleteI once heard that most of the pronounciation variations is due to settlers in British Colonies having been taught English by the Dutch or Welsh, basically non-native English speakers who learnt from the English and went on to teach.
ReplyDeleteVariations still happen, one thing I cannot understand, but find amusing, is why a Native Asian-Indian person can pronounce the V in Vinod, but not in Vincent.
I live in Birmingham
ReplyDeleteWest Midlands ( UK England )
I write it as Mom and Mummy but only say it as Mom and Mommy
If there was a TV Show million pound/dollar last question about this I think I would lose.
(Just like the rest of us lol….)
I knew about Ireland Ma and Da. I vaguely knew about Mam/Mammy, But I to thought it was only in the American South.
Surely it's an abbreviation of "Mother" due to familiarity and closeness and would thus depend on the local pronunciation of 'mother'? And who cares about local variations anyway; it makes the world a richer place.
ReplyDeleteAs a father I felt cheated that mothers always get the baby's first word, as the babe is more likley to come out with a 'mum' than a 'dad' sound, as the latter involves the tongue. Consequently, my daughter's first real word was either 'dog' or 'honk' – she was coached.
To the anon writer on September 2nd. Clearly you do not understand how to speak since you clearly cannot even spell…..Btisitsh. British and the English language is universal..always has been. Mom is most definitely American…seeing as they tend to change many of the English versions. Not a critism…each to their own. Mam is very much a Yorkshire dialect form of Mother but going further back Moder….do some research. It is very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Ma and Pa belong to the lower classes – Prince Philip is known as Pa in the Royal family and I think I read somewhere that the Queen is Ma.
ReplyDeleteSome of my family are from the London area and they used to address their Mother and Father as Mater and Pater. These terms are both derived from latin Dis Pater (for Pater)for a roman or celtic god and Mater (for Mother)which is a formal term for Mother
ReplyDeleteI'm from London and we say Mum / Mummy … How it sounds to us… I agree it seems to be spelt according to accents..
ReplyDeleteI'm from the North East of England (Tyne and Wear), and I've always said Mam and Mammy. However, in school, if I write 'Mam', I am always told to correct it to 'Mum', so now it has become natural to say it one way, and spell it the other.
ReplyDeleteOne of my friends calls her parents Mother and Father, but she and her siblings seem to have been raised that was, rather than where they come from.
Another of my fiends calls their parents Ma and Da, but I'm affraid I don't know where in the North East she is from…
Just a quick amendment to the last comment regarding Mater and Pater: 'mater' is Latin for 'mother', not a particularly formal term, and 'pater' is Latin for 'father'. The name of the Roman god you mention, Dispater ("Wealthy Father"), derived from 'dis' meaning 'riches' and 'pater' meaning 'father'.
ReplyDeleteI'm from Virginia and I've always heard it as 'Mom' 'Mama' or 'Mommy'. I say Mom most of the time but I think it's from when I was a baby. I don't know if it's just the American accent but say 'Ma. Ma.' like the two syllables you would say when your a baby. 'Mom' sound like a more put together version of it. At least for me.
ReplyDeleteI've read some of the comments on here regarding something which is totally irrelevant. A word pertaining to a person's female parent. To some it's, 'Mam.' To others it's, 'Mom", or, "Mum.' To say one is right or correct over another is somewhat childish, and to say that one nations version was, 'stolen', from another is totally nonsensical.
ReplyDeleteShakespeare got it in a nutshell some 500 years ago, 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet'
I am sorry but this is not true. Most people do say mum. Every person I know says Mum (not really mummy, not many over tens call their mother that). Are you sure that they are not just saying it differently but write it as mum. The national spelling is mum (have you seen mothers day cards? They are all mother, mummy or mum). It was used a lot earier than "mom". I have travelled all over Britain and although I have seen a number spelling it "Mam" (not really "mammy" either) nearly everyone did spell it (though maybe not say it) as "mum" never "mom" unless they have lived in America.
ReplyDeleteim from scotland and we say mum, mummy when your young and sometimes maw or even mam never hard anyone say mom
ReplyDeleteMy best friend was born, raised and still lives in Kidderminster, Worcestershire(the midlands) and always has said mom. I've never ever heard him say mum or mummy. And, all his friends in that part of England do the same.
ReplyDeleteIn Australia we say mum but lots of people say mum.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could all just say the same because it is getting confusing
I live in County Durham, England (right on the border near Yorkshire in the middle of the countryside and everyone who I went to Primary school with says MAM. At my seondary school though (which is roughly 15 miles from my primary) most peopple say MUM.
ReplyDeleteAnyways Mum sounds really posh but my Uncle (who is 100% American) thought we were calling our Mam, Maaam, like the Queen when he first heard it 😛
I was born and raised in London where "Mum" and "Mummy" reign supreme. However, that was also the case when I lived in Manchester and Bath. I did not come across "Mom" until I moved to Canada.
ReplyDeleteI GREATLY appreciate this blog post and all the comments – great discussion! I love word origins, semantics, regional traditions, etc. and this helps a lot to hear from all the readers. Fascinating. I hope the blogger behind this post keeps this up for future reference…
ReplyDeleteWhoever says definetly not Mom in the UK need to get out more!
ReplyDeleteI was brought up in East Yorks and it was predominantly Mam.
Moved to The West Midlands Dudley/Birmingham at 18 in 1981 and had to get used to most people calling their mother's mom. Which over the years I eventually changed to.
My children call their Mother – Mom and as we now have lived 40 miles south of Birmingham for 15 years, have found as people who are used to this move, Mom will spread and not because of US programmes!
Also as the West Midlands has a population of 3 million plus there are many Mom's out there!
its mom in the west midlands. I've lived there all my life and mum is very rarely used
ReplyDelete