Mammy, ma, mam, mom, mommy, mum, mummy?

Kernel32

So heres a question for yaz...

When I was a lad, not too long ago, I 29 now, I would call my mother mammy. Now I usually use ma(I am a country boy) or mam. When I look at postings on boards I frequently see the american mom. I live in the US now and my wife is american but my son calls her mammy. It was something he picked up because we spent 6 months or so in Ireland last year. Down the road he will probably change it to mommy to fit in. Has mom and mommy taken over in Ireland from mammy? Have we seen the end of the Irish mammy to be replaced with the american mommy, say it isn't so! What about mum and mummy? I heard that a lot last year in Ireland. Growing up it always sounded kind of posh to me to use mum but it seems fairly common place now.

climaxer

Kernel32 wrote:

So heres a question for yaz...

When I was a lad, not too long ago, I 29 now, I would call my mother mammy. Now I usually use ma(I am a country boy) or mam. When I look at postings on boards I frequently see the american mom. I live in the US now and my wife is american but my son calls her mammy. It was something he picked up because we spent 6 months or so in Ireland last year. Down the road he will probably change it to mommy to fit in. Has mom and mommy taken over in Ireland from mammy? Have we seen the end of the Irish mammy to be replaced with the american mommy, say it isn't so! What about mum and mummy? I heard that a lot last year in Ireland. Growing up it always sounded kind of posh to me to use mum but it seems fairly common place now.

I noticed that too - I can see a lot of Americanisations coming into Ireland - nothing against Americans but it does annoy me. I'm 29 to and my Mam is Mam - Mammy when I was younger. My kids call me Mam/Mammy too. But my oldest daughter is starting to get a lot of stuff from tv programmes like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Two of a Kind etc. and says things like candy, trick or treat, prom, cafeteria :eek: . I remember when I was young we went to the pictures and watched a film - now they are going to the cinema to watch a movie.

I think Mum and Mummy are more of a English thing and Mom and Mommy an American thing.

RuggieBear

I call my mother Mam.....

magpie

"De Mammy". Shudder.

Jim

I say a very Irish Mam.
I prefer Mother though.

ravenhead

I'm 26 & I still call my mother mam ... I don't think that will ever change

Roar

my little brother is five and he calls me mam "mam", because his older brother and sisters do i suppose. and i've always said "mam"

uberwolf

it abbreviated from mummy to mum when I was around 11 or so. My Dad pulled me up on it and said it was disrespectful, Mum had obviuosly noticed and cared...

she's stilll mum, or if I want to annoy her 'the aul one'.

24 btw

Swarfboy

Me Ma... or sometimes Mammy as i used to as a child... I usually use this when I want to say something heartfelt to her...
A lot of Americanisms coming over here now and I heard the worst one ever..
A manager in work recently was inquiring about a collegues ability to take on a new project and asked of my boss.. " Does he have the bandwidth for the task".... WTF like.
Oh yeah and he's from Cork---- Langer

Ba_barbaraAnne

My mother was English and we called her Mum or Mummy. My kids call me whatever they feel like! Usually Mum when they want me for something. :-)

tribble

I call mine Anne.
Always have, that's what my father calls her.

embee

My mother would box me around the chops if I ever called her "Mum" or "Mummy". She doesn't mind Ma, Mam, Mammy, Mom or (at a stretch) Mommy. I usually call her Mammy. Even though I am 23. My sister calls her Mammy too, but my brother calls her Mam.

Our father is called Daddy. Universally.

Miner

I'm 30 and call her mam or mammy. My ds call me the same. The poor child doesn't even know my first name and I'm glad he doesn't call me by it. My younger niece and nephew call me mammy also coz its all they hear my ds use!!!

magpie

My mother would box me around the chops if I ever called her "Mum" or "Mummy".

Why?

I was recently told by someone that usage of the words mum or mummy was a betrayal of his family's working class roots (which are buried pretty deep at this stage).

What's with the inverted snobbery on this issue?

embee

magpie wrote:

Why?

I was recently told by someone that usage of the words mum or mummy was a betrayal of his family's working class roots (which are buried pretty deep at this stage).

What's with the inverted snobbery on this issue?

It isn't snobbery. Where I am from, no one calls their Mother "Mum" or "Mummy". She hates the word as well, and it has nothing to do with its origins. She just doesn't like it.

Jim

Yea, well, Ardee South. Full of hicks.

Hagar

Ma and Da. Pure and simple and that's what my kids call me and herself. Wouldn't have it any other way.
Up the Liberties

magpie

Up the Liberties

That sounds like something that might happen in prison.

She hates the word as well, and it has nothing to do with its origins

Why? this makes no sense to me. She likes Mam, but not Mum. Does she say potato and you say potahto?

cajun_tiger

mammy mam or her name (to pee her off) my daughter uses mammy as well ore my real name when i'm in trouble.... she 4 and the boss of the house
i do tend to type mum though simply coz if the key board i'm on and i use one hand when in work so i can work with the other but mum is easier to tyoe(split key board)

wiw4

im a "mam" man.

Victor

I [strike]call my[/strike] refer to my mother as "mum", but I can'd remember the last time I addressed her directly in any fashion.

My sister threatened to batter me the next time I used the word "mam" when referring to her in the company of my nieces, the youngest of which once came out with "MaaaAAA!!!"

Apparently "m" words are actually difficult for very young babies to enunciate and the sister's au-pair said the Finnish word (whatever it is, I can't rememember) was much easier.

radiospan

I say "Mam".

Mam, Dad, Gran and Granda.

Dummy

We use Mammy in our house. I call my own mother Mammy or Mam.

Rb

I say Mom...don't see anything wrong with it either.

gonker

When my mam was alive (rip) I called her mam or mammy when I was looking for something...same way I call my dad daddy when I am looking for something. My two call me mammy or mam definitely not ma

holly_johnson

I always called my mammy or ma, depending on the mood.
I have a 3 year old and she is always calling me mom (must be from the telly) I spend most of my time correcting her that it's mammy.
My husband isnt much better (his mother is English) and he always calls her mum, but in front of my daughter he calls me mummy.
ARRRGH!
Some day I will sort it for good, I just won't respond to anything other than mammy, and when the hunger sets in, we'll see who wins!

Gilgamesh

I'm on first name terms with my parents, but if I am talking to someone else, I say 'my mum'

Fantasy

I call my mam "mam" although im starting to notice a lot of people my age now saying "mom" or "mum" and the odd time when im talking to my mam one of these words will slip out ... it's really rather annoying :mad:

neuro-praxis

My mammy is Mammy. And my daddy is Daddy. I'm 22. Can't see that changing any time soon.

Periodically, it's Ma and Da.

Shrimp

mom dad

gubby

moving on to the next generation.. when my two grandchildren were born their respective mothers asked me what I would like to be called!!! I dont like any of the granny, nana, grandma etc.. so I was stumped!! but now the oldest one who lives here with us calles me nan.. which i am kinda getting used to and the other guy who is only 1 and a half.. calles me nana... I would prefer, I think if they just called me gubby.. but their mothers were shocked. btw.. my children call me mam.. except my oldest son calles me mud.
he loves me really!!!

mike65

I'm 39 and address my mother as "sir!" :eek:

Mike.

Okay I lie, its mum

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

D-Generate

I am the snobs brother, I call her Mum and Mummy too and I call my father Dad or Poppa.

I dislike the sound of Mam, Mammy and especially Maaaaaaaaa, its what i hear from some dirty, snotty faced kid in supermarkets shouting at their Adidas attired mother.

I will hazzard a guess that many of you read those books Anne and Barry when very young. They always had that Mammy thing going on. I was brought up on Peter and Jane which had the classy Mummy vibe going on.


I will so be flamed

Sleepy

When I was a kid it was Mammy, as I've gotten older Mum or Mam. We were absolutely forbidden from calling her Mom or Ma when we were kids so I've always used Mom when I'm trying to piss her off!

Big Ears

Mum and Dad for me , but when talking to other people I refer to them as mother and father .

jinxycat

hehe, i always called me dad daddy but i never called my mum anything else but by her name when i was growing up. that all changed though when my folks divorced now i call her mum or mam, it's like it's not personal anymore so mum does the job when ever i speak of her, weird i know but that's just me i always be a daddy's girl tho

Brian017

I call mine by her first name.

Agent Smith

i used to call my mother "mum" which later transformed into "mam" wich later trasformed into her real name.


i used to call my father dad, then by his name only when refearing to him when i'm talking to someone about him,


now i just use his real name

Brian017

So I'm not a freak.

silly

i called my "mother" mammy when i was young, now its mam, or mom, my daughter of nearly 4 calls me Mommy, or mama...

fatherdougalmag

Apparently "m" words are actually difficult for very young babies to enunciate

I find that hard to believe since a lot of babys' first words are mama or dada.

What's more interesting is what you refer to your significant other around the kids once they enter parrot mode. I refer to the other half as mammy (or mammary to really p her off). She knows then, when I refer to her by her real name, I'm not messing around

Victor

fatherdougalmag wrote:

I find that hard to believe since a lot of babys' first words are mama or dada.

Only because they are the only words that have been repeated tens of thousands of times in the previous year.

"They" did an experiment with teaching babies sign language and it led to much happier, less frustrated babies as they were able to communicate as opposed to just yell, scream, cry and throw / kick. It's down to the brain developing quicker than the vocal chords.

jezza

my mum is headoffice my dad is dad, nana and granpa.

goldenbrown

i have a 3 year old son and his brother is 18 months, and another coming in may aaaaaaahhhh help - i have burst my arse to get mammy as the one over the UK mum, and so far it seems to be working, but i cannot afford to relax, but its hard going as the hateful old witch who is his mothers mother is referred to as mum [northern ireland local thing - even if nationalist]

changing the americans and uk isms in the storybooks is a key part of the startegy while reading

i am not uptight about being irish and i am not a great lover of the irish language battle, but in certain key respects such as the kids irish names and the mammy thing its instinctively important to me :eek:

Kernel32

This thread seems to have some good staying power!

Since I started it our own son has changed his terminolgy a bit. He is 29 months now, we live in the states but he calls his mother mammy because we spent a good bit of time in Ireland when he was really learning to talk. All other mothers are mommies though, I hope we haven't totally confused him! It will be interesting to see if he keeps using mammy or eventually switchs to mommy. He has also gone through times of using my first name and not daddy, very funny when it happens, sounds so weird.

madison 1

This really dose my head in and i think is very wrong to allow your children to call you by your first name.
Now these children i am talking about dont use Mammy or Daddy and when they go out in public people stop and look at the kids, very embarrasing i think.
That shows no respect to there mother and father and the kids dont seem to care.
Even when they talk about ther mum and dad they use there first names, i was so close th snapping one day at these kids, but its not up to me to correct sombodys elses kids.

Thats not the worst of it, the parents allow them to carry on doing it, it discusts me.
what do you think they should do, cos i know what i would do if i heard my kids doing it.

Nevyn

Well we get arround that in our house by the kids using both names.
It is an old family tradition that goes back to when I was a kid.
I dont agree with children addressing thier parents with first names only,
but by not merely being Mammy but MammyJanet my children can also see that
I am a person too and not a slave to thier every whim.

It is no more long winded then saying Auntie Mary or Nana Anne and there was
a brief time when I was called MammYanet

Rhyme

Up until about 8 years of age it always was mum and dad, then (to their confusion) i just started caling them by their real name... my friends think that this is really weird too.

Enii

I call my grandmother "Nana" but it bothers me when I hear people referring to their Granny as "Nanny" it reminds me of a goat. What do you all think?

Kernel32

I called my grandmother on my mothers side nanny, not sure why, probably what my mother told me to say. I never knew my grandparents on my dads side so I have no name for them. My son calls his grandmother on his mother side nanny as well, no particular reason except that was what I was used to. My wifes mother is grammie which is what she wants to be called. I think in the cause of grandparents you should always ask them what they want to be called by there grandkids.