Why do American women call themselves "mums."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is common in the Pittsburgh/western Pa area. Pittsburghese.

not in my circles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It cracks me up when a whole country can bugger around with a perfectly good language and then get peeved when people use it properly. PP - a bit back - William and Harry always called Diana 'mummy.' What's weird about that? It was their dead parent, surely they could choose what to call her via a note on her coffin? She may have been a frightful head-case but she was still their mummy. Other PP - A mobile phone was just that until it was differently branded by Nokia for brand recognition. Just as a vacuum cleaner is sometimes a hoover. Not losing sleep there either and nor should you. I think you need to chill. I don't care if it's a money machine or an ATM or a cash-flow machine as long as it gives me money. I'll catch a lift or an elevator as long as it gets me to the floor I want. You don't see many English people grimacing when someone says "I'll write you" (doesn't make sense) or "I could care less" (when it means precisely the opposite of what it purports to say) but then they'd probably be too polite to comment and might also be aware that it's all part of the rich global tapestry of lnguage that allows us to watch and enjoy Downton Abbey and Two and a Half Men in one easy sitting. Both excellent and enjoyable examples of their respective genres.

Just a little on the critical side, can I just add a special nurturing shout-out people around the world who are required to put up with the needless inane repetitive "likes" which litter the sentences of most young Americans like cigarette butts at a bus stop. That really is desperately tiresome. If any of your children are interviewing for a job with me (lucky blighters they'd be) then do be aware I play hang-man with the word 'like' which is most excellent for making many an interview a great deal shorter.

Best Wishes
Mummy of three who frequently write to people and couldn't care less about overly sensitive moms

Like I'll write you a letter.
makes sense to me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11.34.

Both of your contentions are utterly wrong.

The first egregious claim that "I'll write you" is good grammar , is legit clearly stems from some dodgy reference book - perchance the equivalent of 'Dianetics' which must be true because they sold loads of copies.

But I'm more intrigued to know how the phrase "I could care less" is logical? (I think that's what you were implying). Please discuss.

No, I was stating (or I thought I was stating) that I could care less is illogical but not ungrammatical.

And I don't need to refer to any reference book, dodgy or otherwise, about "I'll write you". It may not be correct grammar in Standard Australian English, or Standard English English, but it is correct grammar in Standard American English. And I'll horrify you further -- "gotten" is also correct grammar in Standard American English (as in "She's gotten tall!").

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's better than "mama"

Really, my 4 year old still calls me this once in a while. I've never encouraged it one way or the other. I think it's sweet.

It's fine if your 4-year old calls you that. It's annoying when women call themselves "mama." Has a man ever called himself a "dada"?

Is it more annoying than when women call themselves "mom" or "mommy"? (Or "mum")?

Yes, it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's better than "mama"

Really, my 4 year old still calls me this once in a while. I've never encouraged it one way or the other. I think it's sweet.

It's fine if your 4-year old calls you that. It's annoying when women call themselves "mama." Has a man ever called himself a "dada"?

Just FYI, the male equivalent to mama is papa, not dada.

We use those words in our family because I am German and those are the customary terms there. I haven't encountered a purely American family who uses them. And I only refer to myself as "mama" when speaking to my kids, not to other parents.

Thanks for the "FYI" but I'm not sure that there is some official documentation that states that papa is the male equivalent of mama. All of my kids called us mama and dada when they were babies. My dad (their grandfather) was papa.

[Anonymous]

What's wrong with mama? I'm Latina and we say mama in Spanish. My kid calls me mama, mami, mommy, mom... It's all good. Life's too short to spend energy judging people on silly things like what their kid calls them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's wrong with mama? I'm Latina and we say mama in Spanish. My kid calls me mama, mami, mommy, mom... It's all good. Life's too short to spend energy judging people on silly things like what their kid calls them.

This thread is not about what the kids call their mothers. It's about what the women call themselves. As in, a woman saying "I'm a tired mama today" to other adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's better than "mama"

Really, my 4 year old still calls me this once in a while. I've never encouraged it one way or the other. I think it's sweet.

It's fine if your 4-year old calls you that. It's annoying when women call themselves "mama." Has a man ever called himself a "dada"?

Just FYI, the male equivalent to mama is papa, not dada.

We use those words in our family because I am German and those are the customary terms there. I haven't encountered a purely American family who uses them. And I only refer to myself as "mama" when speaking to my kids, not to other parents.

Thanks for the "FYI" but I'm not sure that there is some official documentation that states that papa is the male equivalent of mama. All of my kids called us mama and dada when they were babies. My dad (their grandfather) was papa.

Your family's usage notwithstanding, mama and papa is absolutely a traditional pairing in many languages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_and_papa

I don't think the same can be documented for mama and dada.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's better than "mama"

Really, my 4 year old still calls me this once in a while. I've never encouraged it one way or the other. I think it's sweet.

It's fine if your 4-year old calls you that. It's annoying when women call themselves "mama." Has a man ever called himself a "dada"?

Just FYI, the male equivalent to mama is papa, not dada.

We use those words in our family because I am German and those are the customary terms there. I haven't encountered a purely American family who uses them. And I only refer to myself as "mama" when speaking to my kids, not to other parents.

Thanks for the "FYI" but I'm not sure that there is some official documentation that states that papa is the male equivalent of mama. All of my kids called us mama and dada when they were babies. My dad (their grandfather) was papa.

Your family's usage notwithstanding, mama and papa is absolutely a traditional pairing in many languages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_and_papa

I don't think the same can be documented for mama and dada.

Wow, thank you, I definitely consider Wikipedia as official documentation. I guess I just live in a strange bizarro world, in that not one family I know refers to the father as Papa except those from other countries. Every single American-born kid in my circle calls their father Daddy and many of them started out as Dada. Several call their grandfathers Papa or Poppy.

But the point of this is what people refer to themselves, so I will also add that I have never heard men refer to themselves as Papa when talking to other adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's better than "mama"

Really, my 4 year old still calls me this once in a while. I've never encouraged it one way or the other. I think it's sweet.

It's fine if your 4-year old calls you that. It's annoying when women call themselves "mama." Has a man ever called himself a "dada"?

Just FYI, the male equivalent to mama is papa, not dada.

We use those words in our family because I am German and those are the customary terms there. I haven't encountered a purely American family who uses them. And I only refer to myself as "mama" when speaking to my kids, not to other parents.

Thanks for the "FYI" but I'm not sure that there is some official documentation that states that papa is the male equivalent of mama. All of my kids called us mama and dada when they were babies. My dad (their grandfather) was papa.

Your family's usage notwithstanding, mama and papa is absolutely a traditional pairing in many languages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_and_papa

I don't think the same can be documented for mama and dada.

Wow, thank you, I definitely consider Wikipedia as official documentation. I guess I just live in a strange bizarro world, in that not one family I know refers to the father as Papa except those from other countries. Every single American-born kid in my circle calls their father Daddy and many of them started out as Dada. Several call their grandfathers Papa or Poppy.

But the point of this is what people refer to themselves, so I will also add that I have never heard men refer to themselves as Papa when talking to other adults.

You are correct, my point was about worldwide usage, not just about Americans. Your attempt to discredit Wikipedia as a reliable source doesn't change the fact that mama and papa is globally MUCH more widely used than mama and dada, which isn't even that common the US, given that Americans generally use the terms mom(my) and dad(dy). I am not saying that nobody uses mama and dada, but mama and papa is a firmly established pair of terms to designate parents, even used by adults when talking to their parents. That is all I was informing you about, since your comment seemed to imply that mama could only be used by a 4yo, like is maybe true for dada. The common usage of mama and papa, by the way, is generally well known in America as well, as you can tell by the 1960s band The Mamas & the Papas, or the fact that there is even an American baby product company named Mamas & Papas. Show me examples of usage like this for mama and dada if you want to argue seriously that what I'm saying is wrong.

(Btw, my browser's spell check flags "dada" but not "papa" as an unknown word.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's better than "mama"

Really, my 4 year old still calls me this once in a while. I've never encouraged it one way or the other. I think it's sweet.

It's fine if your 4-year old calls you that. It's annoying when women call themselves "mama." Has a man ever called himself a "dada"?

Just FYI, the male equivalent to mama is papa, not dada.

We use those words in our family because I am German and those are the customary terms there. I haven't encountered a purely American family who uses them. And I only refer to myself as "mama" when speaking to my kids, not to other parents.

Thanks for the "FYI" but I'm not sure that there is some official documentation that states that papa is the male equivalent of mama. All of my kids called us mama and dada when they were babies. My dad (their grandfather) was papa.

Your family's usage notwithstanding, mama and papa is absolutely a traditional pairing in many languages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_and_papa

I don't think the same can be documented for mama and dada.

Wow, thank you, I definitely consider Wikipedia as official documentation. I guess I just live in a strange bizarro world, in that not one family I know refers to the father as Papa except those from other countries. Every single American-born kid in my circle calls their father Daddy and many of them started out as Dada. Several call their grandfathers Papa or Poppy.

But the point of this is what people refer to themselves, so I will also add that I have never heard men refer to themselves as Papa when talking to other adults.

You are correct, my point was about worldwide usage, not just about Americans. Your attempt to discredit Wikipedia as a reliable source doesn't change the fact that mama and papa is globally MUCH more widely used than mama and dada, which isn't even that common the US, given that Americans generally use the terms mom(my) and dad(dy). I am not saying that nobody uses mama and dada, but mama and papa is a firmly established pair of terms to designate parents, even used by adults when talking to their parents. That is all I was informing you about, since your comment seemed to imply that mama could only be used by a 4yo, like is maybe true for dada. The common usage of mama and papa, by the way, is generally well known in America as well, as you can tell by the 1960s band The Mamas & the Papas, or the fact that there is even an American baby product company named Mamas & Papas. Show me examples of usage like this for mama and dada if you want to argue seriously that what I'm saying is wrong.

(Btw, my browser's spell check flags "dada" but not "papa" as an unknown word.)

PP here again. And to add (although this was clear from my initial post), I agree with you and others that referring to yourself as mama when talking to anybody but your own children is ridiculous. But that is equally true for mom(my), dad(dy), etc. The fact that fathers tend to do this less than mothers has nothing to do with the specific terminology, but with other factors that make women more inclined than men to define themselves by their role as the parent.

[Anonymous]

*a parent*, not the parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's better than "mama"

Really, my 4 year old still calls me this once in a while. I've never encouraged it one way or the other. I think it's sweet.

It's fine if your 4-year old calls you that. It's annoying when women call themselves "mama." Has a man ever called himself a "dada"?

Just FYI, the male equivalent to mama is papa, not dada.

We use those words in our family because I am German and those are the customary terms there. I haven't encountered a purely American family who uses them. And I only refer to myself as "mama" when speaking to my kids, not to other parents.

Thanks for the "FYI" but I'm not sure that there is some official documentation that states that papa is the male equivalent of mama. All of my kids called us mama and dada when they were babies. My dad (their grandfather) was papa.

Your family's usage notwithstanding, mama and papa is absolutely a traditional pairing in many languages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_and_papa

I don't think the same can be documented for mama and dada.

Wow, thank you, I definitely consider Wikipedia as official documentation. I guess I just live in a strange bizarro world, in that not one family I know refers to the father as Papa except those from other countries. Every single American-born kid in my circle calls their father Daddy and many of them started out as Dada. Several call their grandfathers Papa or Poppy.

But the point of this is what people refer to themselves, so I will also add that I have never heard men refer to themselves as Papa when talking to other adults.

You are correct, my point was about worldwide usage, not just about Americans. Your attempt to discredit Wikipedia as a reliable source doesn't change the fact that mama and papa is globally MUCH more widely used than mama and dada, which isn't even that common the US, given that Americans generally use the terms mom(my) and dad(dy). I am not saying that nobody uses mama and dada, but mama and papa is a firmly established pair of terms to designate parents, even used by adults when talking to their parents. That is all I was informing you about, since your comment seemed to imply that mama could only be used by a 4yo, like is maybe true for dada. The common usage of mama and papa, by the way, is generally well known in America as well, as you can tell by the 1960s band The Mamas & the Papas, or the fact that there is even an American baby product company named Mamas & Papas. Show me examples of usage like this for mama and dada if you want to argue seriously that what I'm saying is wrong.

(Btw, my browser's spell check flags "dada" but not "papa" as an unknown word.)

PP here again. And to add (although this was clear from my initial post), I agree with you and others that referring to yourself as mama when talking to anybody but your own children is ridiculous. But that is equally true for mom(my), dad(dy), etc. The fact that fathers tend to do this less than mothers has nothing to do with the specific terminology, but with other factors that make women more inclined than men to define themselves by their role as the parent.

Wow, this is clearly very important to you so let me put you at ease so that you can move on with your life. YOU ARE 100% RIGHT AND THE OTHER PERSON IS WRONG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's better than "mama"

Really, my 4 year old still calls me this once in a while. I've never encouraged it one way or the other. I think it's sweet.

It's fine if your 4-year old calls you that. It's annoying when women call themselves "mama." Has a man ever called himself a "dada"?

Just FYI, the male equivalent to mama is papa, not dada.

We use those words in our family because I am German and those are the customary terms there. I haven't encountered a purely American family who uses them. And I only refer to myself as "mama" when speaking to my kids, not to other parents.

Thanks for the "FYI" but I'm not sure that there is some official documentation that states that papa is the male equivalent of mama. All of my kids called us mama and dada when they were babies. My dad (their grandfather) was papa.

Your family's usage notwithstanding, mama and papa is absolutely a traditional pairing in many languages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_and_papa

I don't think the same can be documented for mama and dada.

Wow, thank you, I definitely consider Wikipedia as official documentation. I guess I just live in a strange bizarro world, in that not one family I know refers to the father as Papa except those from other countries. Every single American-born kid in my circle calls their father Daddy and many of them started out as Dada. Several call their grandfathers Papa or Poppy.

But the point of this is what people refer to themselves, so I will also add that I have never heard men refer to themselves as Papa when talking to other adults.

You are correct, my point was about worldwide usage, not just about Americans. Your attempt to discredit Wikipedia as a reliable source doesn't change the fact that mama and papa is globally MUCH more widely used than mama and dada, which isn't even that common the US, given that Americans generally use the terms mom(my) and dad(dy). I am not saying that nobody uses mama and dada, but mama and papa is a firmly established pair of terms to designate parents, even used by adults when talking to their parents. That is all I was informing you about, since your comment seemed to imply that mama could only be used by a 4yo, like is maybe true for dada. The common usage of mama and papa, by the way, is generally well known in America as well, as you can tell by the 1960s band The Mamas & the Papas, or the fact that there is even an American baby product company named Mamas & Papas. Show me examples of usage like this for mama and dada if you want to argue seriously that what I'm saying is wrong.

(Btw, my browser's spell check flags "dada" but not "papa" as an unknown word.)

PP here again. And to add (although this was clear from my initial post), I agree with you and others that referring to yourself as mama when talking to anybody but your own children is ridiculous. But that is equally true for mom(my), dad(dy), etc. The fact that fathers tend to do this less than mothers has nothing to do with the specific terminology, but with other factors that make women more inclined than men to define themselves by their role as the parent.

Wow, this is clearly very important to you so let me put you at ease so that you can move on with your life. YOU ARE 100% RIGHT AND THE OTHER PERSON IS WRONG.

+1 The amount of time the PP has spend making her point is pretty insane. Get off DCUM and enjoy this beautiful day. And since I can only assume you are like this in real life, here's an "FYI"..... no one likes a Know It All.

[Anonymous]

My mom and her family are from Boston, and I grew up calling her "Mummy." I was born in 1975.