Mammy, Ma, Mam or Mum?

I've always called my mum, mum.

Mam I think of as very Irish Catholic and therefore alien to me.

When I hear adults call their parents Mummy and Daddy it is like
chalk being grated down a blackboard because the words are so childish.
 
Jayme, what have I started?

Seems to me that Mum is a very upper middle class (nothing wrong with that, btw) Dublin thing, although it creeps up everywhere these days. I suppose it crept in with the pipe television in the seventies, don't know many people in their forties who use it (or allow their kids to use it!).
 
The last time that I called my mother mammy was as a very young child. One of my brothers gave her a nickname (which she approved of )and we have called her this ever since.

My nieces and nephews call their mothers (numerous househoolds) as Mom, Mama, Mum or by their first name.

A bit of a mixed bag really.

My mother, when talking about her mother calls her "Mom" but not in an American accent a bit between Mom and Mum.

Marion
 
Marion said:
One of my brothers gave her a nickname (which she approved of )and we have called her this ever since.

...

A bit of a mixed bag really.
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Not a very flattering nickname is it?
 
I was busy editing my post since you posted. I had more to say that I originally realised

Like your style - upfront!

Marion
 
I always think of "mum" as very english.
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Yeah, this is what it should be if that's the language you speak. Otherwise stick to m'athair.
 
Geegee said:
Yeah, this is what it should be if that's the language you speak. Otherwise stick to m'athair.
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I was referring to the nationality rather than the language. How about I change it to British then?
 
I was referring to the nationality rather than the language. How about I change it to British then?
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It's their language so let them be the arbiters of how it is spoken; same with any other nationality. There's a chronic bastardisation of the English language in this country.
 
It's called a dialect. All languages mutate on a local level. Doesn't mean one is more correct than the other.
 
It's called a dialect. All languages mutate on a local level. Doesn't mean one is more correct than the other.
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Don't agree. No one has the right to interfere with a nations language. If they do the result is a bastardisation which has no relevance.
 
What are the majority language(s) in England/Britain/UK, Ireland and US called so if they're not all variants of English?
 
What are the majority language(s) in England/Britain/UK, Ireland and US called so if they're not all variants of English?
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Obviously English but they, on the whole and especially in the US, are interested in speaking the language correctly, albeit with an accent. They don't want to say "Mam" rather than "Mum" because it sounds too "English" : the usual sort of non-sensical ,petty, anti-English sentiment that pervades Irish society.
 
How do you explain the myriad dialects of England that exist in the UK? Is the "Queen's English" more valid than, say, the Yorkshire dialect?
 
Indeed some of them are very hard to decipher and they do use colloqialisms but generally speaking they still have a very good command of the English language with good pronunciation without the (sometimes) laughable strangulation that you get here.
 
Geegee said:
Obviously English but they, on the whole and especially in the US, are interested in speaking the language correctly
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Really? Have you ever heard Yanks talk about their house being "burgularized", them "envisioning" something happening or something being "oriented" in a certain way - among lots of other "bastardisations" of the English language?
 
"generally speaking" " on the whole"
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There are always going to be exceptions. Did you hear the numerous media interviews with various people from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katriona? yes, they all had a Southern drawl but were extremely articulate with it. No simplistic speech there: any Americans I know are interested in language improvement and aspire to always use the correct term.
 
Its funny that you use the New Orleans accent as an example. Some people find the New Orleans accent to be closer to New York than the typical Southern accents. Try a google search for "New Orleans accent" for some interesting links.
 
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