Calling your parents 'mammy' and 'daddy'

LittleBook · 29-02-2012 01:57PM

LordSutch wrote: »

I always think of that old Al Jolson song when I hear somebody say Mammy

Mammy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIaj7FNHnjQ&feature=player_detailpage

So do a lot of Americans, my friend was shocked when we told her that was an acceptable name for a mother in Ireland. :eek:

Mam & Dad for me.

My daughter called me "Mammy" until we moved to France where "Mamy" = Grandmother. There was a bit of confusion when she told her friends her Mammy was collecting her and I rocked up.

lucylu · 29-02-2012 01:59PM

My mother will not answer us if we call her Mom, Mum or Mummy. she detests it. We call my dad Jock as he is one
Also, trying to get a Mothers Day Card that says Mammy, Ma or Mam is not easy either.

SEPT 23 1989 · 29-02-2012 02:09PM

Mam and Dad

Sindri · 29-02-2012 03:28PM

Lots of people here seem to think calling your parents 'mammy' and 'daddy' is weird.

It's very popular out in the country, particularly with farming folk.

My mother refers to her parents as mammy and daddy, some people here seem to think doing so denotes a degree of infantilism but it's very common out in the sticks.

They are pronounced differently though, I would imagine, in the country than in urban areas.

The locution in the country of 'mammy' is very fast, like mam-y whereas in urban areas it would be mam-mee.

LordSutch · 29-02-2012 06:40PM

sureitsgrand wrote: »

Up North everyone seems to refer to their parents as mummy and daddy - regardless of age.

Always found it a bit weird.

Terms seem to vary from place to place, see post #18

theholyghost · 29-02-2012 06:49PM

Mammy and Daddy just seems like the formal version of Mam and Dad which in turn is the formal version of Ma and Da. Personally, I think Ma and Da saves us all a lot of time.

solerina · 29-02-2012 07:27PM

Mam and dad ...(didnt even use mammy and daddy as a small child)

Agricola · 29-02-2012 07:30PM

Mam and Dad. Its seems ok for adult female children to call parents Mammy and Daddy, but not adult male kids.

longshanks · 29-02-2012 07:40PM

I call them by their names when speaking to them or to my brothers and sisters.
If I'm talking to a friend it'll be 'my mother/ my father', or their given names again.

Salt001 · 29-02-2012 07:52PM

Mam and Dad for me most of the time.
Sometimes its Pops for Dad and sometimes its Maaaaamm but thats when I'm after something. Which to be fair I normally get,she's a saint on earth my mother. I regularly tell her this and she compleatly denies it and says she's no such thing but that her mother was

.

My hubby is from Northern Ireland and its Mum for him.

RachaelVO · 29-02-2012 09:38PM

longshanks wrote: »

I call them by their names when speaking to them or to my brothers and sisters.
If I'm talking to a friend it'll be 'my mother/ my father', or their given names again.

Really? You call your parents by their Christian names? I'd NEVER do that. I think I'd find it a bit disrespectful if I did!

Feisar · 29-02-2012 09:58PM

Mum and Dad. Dad refers to me as son while Mum calls me by my name.

I only us their names if in a crowded place and I need to get there attention.

I don't see what's wrong with Mammy and Daddy but it does sound a bit childish. Seems the done thing up here in the north.

Is it just me or are people who refer to their parents by their christian names a usually pseudo-intellectuals or have self imposed notions about themselves?

Also hasn't this thread been around before???

languagenerd · 29-02-2012 10:21PM

Mum and Dad.

If I call them Mammy or Daddy, the answer is usually "Right, what are you looking for?!"

Joe10000 · 29-02-2012 11:58PM

I remember chatting to a friends father and he said there are only two people in the world who could call him dad and they don't, they called him by his Christian name and he felt a great loss because of this.

Herb Powell · 01-03-2012 12:04AM

First I've heard of "mom" being exclusively American. I'm not American, neither are my parents, yet that's what they always said.

LH Pathe · 01-03-2012 12:11AM

I don't it make it as far as mam it's ma. maaaa.. straight-up. Not suggesting incest but they really do go the whole hog in Limerick where it's not just mammy but mommy. Dundons say mommy

bloody mommy and her brood

mark17j · 01-03-2012 12:15AM

My mother who is in her 60's refers to her parents as Mammy and Daddy when talking about them lol

LordSutch · 01-03-2012 12:27AM

Herb Powell wrote: »

First I've heard of "mom" being exclusively American. I'm not American, neither are my parents, yet that's what they always said.

I have only started to hear 'Mom' recently in the last ten years approx, along with words such as 'Math' > some Irish people now drop the S

)
Windshield (instead of windscreen) is another americanism that's creeping into Irish culture, and what about garbage/trash instead of rubbish!

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are:

Mom and mommy are used in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Philippines, and the West Midlands of England.
Mum and mummy are used in the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Ireland.
Ma, mam, and mammy are used in Netherlands, Ireland, the Northern areas of Britain, and Wales; it is also used in parts of the US.

flanders1979 · 01-03-2012 12:30AM

uncle dad

Inventive User Name · 01-03-2012 12:46AM

Mammy and Daddy, thats what i've always said. Im 19 and have no problem saying it.

Mum , Mom and Dad just makes you sound like a poxy city slicker.

Calling your parents 'mammy' and 'daddy'

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