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What do you call your mother?

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135

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    #62
    Mousewar
    Registered Users Posts: 2,741 ✭✭✭Mousewar


    Actually sometimes I refer to "me ma" and if you say it a few times in a row you sound like an ambulance


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    #63
    Badly Drunk Boy
    Registered Users Posts: 6,507 ✭✭✭Badly Drunk Boy


    I'd call her 'Ma', but when I was a young child I'd say 'Mammy'.

    Mum/mummy always sounded too English and mom/mommy was too American.


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    #64
    Paz-CCFC
    Registered Users Posts: 1,527 ✭✭✭Paz-CCFC


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Gotcha, but I'd still hold the wider usage is most definitely a new thing and coming from the American.

    I think there's probably a distinction to both pronunciations of "mom". The Irish/Gaelic one tends to be said with a shorter vowel in the middle, whereas the American one is elongated. Almost like "mawm".


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    #65
    Fozzie Bear
    Registered Users Posts: 1,178 ✭✭✭Fozzie Bear


    Mother / Mam.

    "Mother" when I was an angsty teenager but started calling her Mam the older I got.


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    #66
    Ice Maiden
    Closed Accounts Posts: 600 ✭✭✭Ice Maiden


    What is with this rage over "mom"?!

    It depends on context - I can think of two women immediately who were very much born before 1990 (they were born in the 1940s) who called their mother "mom". It's a rural thing (Ireland isn't just Dublin!) and related to the pronunciation of "Maim" in Irish, which sounds phonetically more like "mom" than "mam".


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    #67
    Jimoslimos
    Registered Users Posts: 4,930 ✭✭✭Jimoslimos


    Paramite Pie wrote: »
    I'm working class and I say 'mum'. It seems to be common enough in Galway whereas my mum (from Mayo) calls her mother 'mam'.

    When I talk to other people, I say "me mam" as that's what most people still say especially county galway but I'll always address her as directly"mum".
    "Mum" would definitely be working class in the UK, whereas "Mummy" is posher.


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    #68
    mad muffin
    Registered Users Posts: 8,034 ✭✭✭mad muffin


    Mum.


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    #69
    LordSutch
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,078 ✭✭✭✭LordSutch


    Always Mum in our family, although I did hear others calling for their Mam & Mammy as children. But I never heard of Mom until recently, so I can only presume it's an American import, since about the 1990s . . . . .?


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    #70
    Asmooh
    Registered Users Posts: 1,468 ✭✭✭Asmooh


    "bitch"


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    #71
    Magico Gonzalez
    Registered Users Posts: 2,328 ✭✭✭Magico Gonzalez


    Kaiser.


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    #72
    sadie06
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,706 ✭✭✭sadie06


    Talking about her to my siblings: 'where's ma?'.

    Talking to her: 'Hi mam'.

    Calling her from another room: 'MOTHER'.

    'Mum' and 'mom' make me cringe unless said by British or American people respectively.


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    #73
    Malari
    Registered Users Posts: 18,150 ✭✭✭✭Malari


    Jimoslimos wrote: »
    "Mum" would definitely be working class in the UK, whereas "Mummy" is posher.

    I've a friend who still calls her mother "mummy". It sounds really odd to me when adults do this :pac:


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    #74
    brevity
    Registered Users Posts: 8,504 ✭✭✭brevity


    When I'm referring to her I call her Mum but if I'm speaking to her I would use her given name.


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    #75
    smash
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34,809 ✭✭✭✭smash


    sadie06 wrote: »
    Talking about her to my siblings: 'where's ma?'.

    this is only acceptable if you're the kind who wears pajamas to the shop.


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    #76
    Knex*
    Registered Users Posts: 22,477 ✭✭✭✭Knex*


    I have an irrational hatred for hearing "mammy" from anyone but a small child.

    Its "Mam", or "Ma" for me. Usually the latter, while sounding like a dying sheep. "MAAAaaaaaaaa". She hates it. Its great.

    When referring to her/speaking about her to others, I'd be more likely to say, "I was talking to my mother earlier...".


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    #77
    sadie06
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,706 ✭✭✭sadie06


    smash wrote: »
    this is only acceptable if you're the kind who wears pajamas to the shop.

    I'm surprised you know those people exist. When do you get the time to go shopping?


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    #78
    smash
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34,809 ✭✭✭✭smash


    sadie06 wrote: »
    I'm surprised you know those people exist. When do you get the time to go shopping?
    Sure you gotta know who to avoid...


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    #79
    sadie06
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,706 ✭✭✭sadie06


    smash wrote: »
    Sure you gotta know who to avoid...

    Well, you might have to go to the US to avoid pajama wearers.


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    #80
    bodice ripper
    Registered Users Posts: 4,681 ✭✭✭bodice ripper


    I call her Mom, but then she was born and raised in New York, so to call her anything else would be weird.


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    #81
    Ilyana 2.0
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,331 ✭✭✭Ilyana 2.0


    Mum mostly. She's English so Mam was never an option. A dragged out 'Maaaaaaa' was a great way to annoy her.

    If we give her grandchildren someday, she'll never be a Granny. Not a hope.


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    #82
    Lavinia
    Registered Users Posts: 8,089 ✭✭✭Lavinia


    So what is the difference between mam mom and mum?


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    #83
    Yamanoto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,489 ✭✭✭Yamanoto


    Look, can we all just agree that the Ma's, Mum's & Mammy's of Eireann have been criminally overcooking roast-beef since the foundation of the State.

    It's not meant to be grey in colour gals.


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    #84
    Zemuppet
    Registered Users Posts: 523 ✭✭✭Zemuppet


    I've been calling her by her given name since I was 14 just to wind her up. Doesn't mind now bit it feels to weird to call her another but her given name.

    Mum to me in Ireland is more of Protestant thing if the family arn't British.


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    #85
    bodice ripper
    Registered Users Posts: 4,681 ✭✭✭bodice ripper


    Yamanoto wrote: »
    Look, can we all just agree that the Ma's, Mum's & Mammy's of Eireann have been criminally overcooking roast-beef since the foundation of the State.

    It's not meant to be grey in colour gals.


    It's not just the mothers - Irish people know a steak is done when it turns up at the edges.


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    #86
    Nailz
    Registered Users Posts: 7,688 ✭✭✭Nailz


    bodice ripper wrote: »
    It's not just the mothers - Irish people know a steak is done when it turns up at the edges.
    This, why can't we get it right? The red bloody juicy goodness is just so damn tasty!


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    #87
    bodice ripper
    Registered Users Posts: 4,681 ✭✭✭bodice ripper


    Nailz wrote: »
    This, why can't we get it right? The red bloody juicy goodness is just so damn tasty!

    I don't know. I think people just don't want to be happy.


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    #88
    8 Bit Girl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 150 ✭✭8 Bit Girl


    I call her by her first name.


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    #89
    Junkyard Tom
    Registered Users Posts: 10,117 ✭✭✭✭Junkyard Tom


    Moo-Ma

    Pardon me boy, is that Chattanooga Choo-Choo!?


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    #90
    Cupcake_Crisis
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,448 ✭✭✭✭Cupcake_Crisis


    Mam. Or Katherine if she doesn't answer me quick enough


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    #91
    Ice Maiden
    Closed Accounts Posts: 600 ✭✭✭Ice Maiden


    LordSutch wrote: »
    Always Mum in our family, although I did hear others calling for their Mam & Mammy as children. But I never heard of Mom until recently, so I can only presume it's an American import, since about the 1990s . . . . .?
    Nah you just didn't read this thread :p but while I know the American accent adopted by people throughout this island is atrocious (pronouncing Cork as "quark" - wtf) "mom" is definitely not always part of it.


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