Why do American women call themselves "mums."

[Anonymous]

My kids call me Mum and Mummy. I did the same with my mother and she did the same with hers. This, despite the fact that we all write "Mom" or "Mommy." Come to think of it, a number of my childhood friends did the same.

I was raised in the Boston suburbs but my mother was raised in New Hampshire by a mother who grew up in Maine, so I think it's a regional thing. Maybe it's just a function of English roots running deep in Puritanical New England or maybe it's something that spread south to Maine and New Hampshire from Canada.

[Anonymous]

I have not been following this thread, but as I see it has hit SEVEN pages, I wonder what you all could possibly be discussing at such length. Seems like such a banal thread title. That's all. Carry on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You are overestimating the time it takes me to write a paragraph like that. I can do this while watching my kids on the playground (they are old enough to play by themselves, don't worry). But you're right, it wasn't really worth the mental energy. I just get annoyed with parochialism when it leads to judgmental comments like the one PP made. In real life, politeness would keep me from exposing it, so don't be concerned about my popularity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are overestimating the time it takes me to write a paragraph like that. I can do this while watching my kids on the playground (they are old enough to play by themselves, don't worry). But you're right, it wasn't really worth the mental energy. I just get annoyed with parochialism when it leads to judgmental comments like the one PP made. In real life, politeness would keep me from exposing it, so don't be concerned about my popularity.

Really it ought to be Mamma and Pappa (emphasis on second syllable for both words) in English. Or Mater and Pater. As in, I'm going out tonight with some of my mater friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are overestimating the time it takes me to write a paragraph like that. I can do this while watching my kids on the playground (they are old enough to play by themselves, don't worry). But you're right, it wasn't really worth the mental energy. I just get annoyed with parochialism when it leads to judgmental comments like the one PP made. In real life, politeness would keep me from exposing it, so don't be concerned about my popularity.

Really it ought to be Mamma and Pappa (emphasis on second syllable for both words) in English. Or Mater and Pater. As in, I'm going out tonight with some of my mater friends.

Sounds like you're also overestimating your wit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have not been following this thread, but as I see it has hit SEVEN pages, I wonder what you all could possibly be discussing at such length. Seems like such a banal thread title. That's all. Carry on.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You are overestimating the time it takes me to write a paragraph like that. I can do this while watching my kids on the playground (they are old enough to play by themselves, don't worry). But you're right, it wasn't really worth the mental energy. I just get annoyed with parochialism when it leads to judgmental comments like the one PP made. In real life, politeness would keep me from exposing it, so don't be concerned about my popularity.

So you're a polite Know It All? Whew, good to know. Thanks for again taking the time to explain yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You are overestimating the time it takes me to write a paragraph like that. I can do this while watching my kids on the playground (they are old enough to play by themselves, don't worry). But you're right, it wasn't really worth the mental energy. I just get annoyed with parochialism when it leads to judgmental comments like the one PP made. In real life, politeness would keep me from exposing it, so don't be concerned about my popularity.

You really just need to stop talking. You are not helping yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are overestimating the time it takes me to write a paragraph like that. I can do this while watching my kids on the playground (they are old enough to play by themselves, don't worry). But you're right, it wasn't really worth the mental energy. I just get annoyed with parochialism when it leads to judgmental comments like the one PP made. In real life, politeness would keep me from exposing it, so don't be concerned about my popularity.

Really it ought to be Mamma and Pappa (emphasis on second syllable for both words) in English. Or Mater and Pater. As in, I'm going out tonight with some of my mater friends.

Sounds like you're also overestimating your wit.

No, no, I'm a different poster. I amused myself. I'm sorry you didn't think it was funny.

[Anonymous]

I'm British and a mum. I actually don't know how to pronounce mom so that it doesn't sound ridiculous. Haven't ever heard anyone American say mum.

[Anonymous]

This is a bizarre thread. Never heard anyone call themselves "mum" before and I don't understand why OP cares.