Mammy, Ma, Mam or Mum?

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extopia

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From another forum:

DrMoriarty said:
his Mam (rightly) wouldn't approve...
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Good to see the word Mam being used. Hate the way everyone says Mum these days. Nobody said Mum when I was a lad. The only place you'd see that word would be in a comic or an Enid Blyton book.

Quite a culture change when the name of the Mother is changed.

Anyone else feel this word should be outlawed? :)
 
It was always Mammy or Mam in our house but I insisted on Ma much to my Ma's annoyance. Mum, Mummy, Mom and Mommy really annoy me but I guess I'm easily annoyed.
 
I'm still annoying my Mammy by insisting that my kids call her Granny rather that Grandma


Murt
 
we always called our mum, mum.....there was nothing enid blyton or american influenced or whatever about it.... there are 5 of us all well into our 30s so that was a while ago. I suppose its what she wanted to be called herself. Does it really make a difference?
 
The word mummy always sent shivers down my spine after i watched the film about Joan Crawford called 'Mummy Dearest'
 
Have ye nothing better to complain about ??

I loved this one from Clubman

.........but I guess I'm easily annoyed.
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There it is, it's all out in the open, AAM's resident curmudgeon has finally admitted it ! I never would have guessed Clubman !! :p

For what it is worth I called my mother mummy, and then mum as I got older - never bothered her, me, the old man, the dog, the gardai...nobody!
 
I always called my mum "mum" and so did most of my friends (all early thirties now).
 
My almost 3 and 1/2 year old calls me both Mammy and Mam. Also calls her father either DAd or daddy. Always called my mother mammy until a certain age and then changed to mam. sometimes use mum too though! Always called my mother's mother nana and my father's mother granny.
 
I always think of "mum" as very english. I hate when people here use it. I always said mam and dad - would have been killed if I'd said ma or da!
 
Cahir said:
I always think of "mum" as very english. I hate when people here use it. I always said mam and dad - would have been killed if I'd said ma or da!
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We (myself and my brothers and sisters) were all educated up until leaving cert in irish, so english origin words were never really used, even today we use irish words for somethings rather than the english (ie, numbers) as that was the language we were brought up on. But we did use "mum". I cant remember what my school friends would have called their mums.

According to wikipedia both mam and mum are of english origin:

[broken link removed]

The term mum or Mum is an English word for mother (commonly mom in North American English).

[broken link removed]

'Mam' is also a term used to refer to mother, or mum, in Wales, the north of England and southern Scotland.

Though mam could I suppose be considered an abbreviation of mammai (fada on the i) the colloqual of "a mhathair" (fada on the a)
 
This is starting to remind me of the one about the dog who limps up to the saloon bar and says: "I'm lookin' for the man who shot my paw"... :D
 
Janet said:
I always called my mum "mum" and so did most of my friends (all early thirties now).
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Wasn't it confusing for you to have all your friends refer to your mother as 'mum'? Did you think you had a huge family?
 
efm said:
There it is, it's all out in the open, AAM's resident curmudgeon has finally admitted it ! I never would have guessed Clubman !! :p
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Ah - the weekly ClubMan thread - I had a feeling it was due around now alright... :(
 
RainyDay said:
Wasn't it confusing for you to have all your friends refer to your mother as 'mum'? Did you think you had a huge family?
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Hahahaha - LMAO now, getting funny looks from others in work. And yet another lesson in choosing words carefully :)

So for clarity's sake, I meant that my friends all called their respective mothers "mum". Except for one who usually called her parents by their first name which was considered really weird by the rest of us.
 
Ah - the weekly ClubMan thread - I had a feeling it was due around now alright... :(
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Awwwhhh Clubman - you know I was only havin a bit of fun at your expense - don't be gettin all sensitive now this close to Christmas :D
 
ClubMan said:
Ah - the weekly ClubMan thread - I had a feeling it was due around now alright... :(
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aahhhh ClubMan you are being too sensitive...perhaps you should run back and tell your Ma?

;)
 
Maybe it's an age thing. Now 45, Dubliner, we all called our mothers Mammy as kids then Mam or Ma as teenagers. 'Mummy' was seen as effete, sissy and English.
Now it's only working class kids who call their mothers Mammy.
I insisted on Mammy in our (middle class) household; but never succeeded. First names all the way! But that seems commoner now - maybe because married couples don't refer to each other as Mam/Mum/ Dad?
 
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