Anonymous wrote:

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

+1

My family is from central PA and my father, aunts and uncles call my grandmother 'mum.' Trust me, these people aren't trying to be trendy - it's just a regional thing.

I'm from western PA and we call our mom Mum or Mummy.

I grew up calling my mother "mum." I'm from the Boston area.

She signs cards, "Love, Mum." She is "mum" to me and I won't stop saying it.

Anonymous wrote:I do this, OP. I'm Canadian. It's a British Commonwealth thing, not an attempt to fake a higher class status.

Perhaps your friends who use "mum" are infiltrators from the Great White North, covertly passing as Americans because they don't sound British. Test them -- ask for an "about," or accidentally-on-purpose call a Canadian entertainer American.

OP here. I'll ask her "aboot" that great American singer Alanis Morrisette!
I grew up in upper peninsula of Michigan. I'm more Canadian than she is.

I do this, OP. I'm Canadian. It's a British Commonwealth thing, not an attempt to fake a higher class status.

Perhaps your friends who use "mum" are infiltrators from the Great White North, covertly passing as Americans because they don't sound British. Test them -- ask for an "about," or accidentally-on-purpose call a Canadian entertainer American.

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

Anonymous wrote:

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

+1

My family is from central PA and my father, aunts and uncles call my grandmother 'mum.' Trust me, these people aren't trying to be trendy - it's just a regional thing.

Have a lifelong friend whose family is from that area. They all say Mum.

Common in Boston too...our accent maybe as Maine poster pointed out?

I referred to my mother as Mumma, short form Mum, as did friends. That is what my kids call me, tradition.

My other pet peeve is when a cell phone is referred to as a "mobile."

Anonymous wrote:Get a life.

You actually took the effort to write that? Take your own advice.

Get a life.

Lived in the UK for many years and I am still mom/mommy. I'd feel utterly ridiculous otherwise. We go on vacation still, too.

When my husband talks to the kids and refers to me as "Mummy" ( as in "Mummy is going to take you to the pool today....") it makes me nuts. Not British (he is) - don't want to be called mummy. I actually love that my DD calls me mama because she says it is such a sweet way.

Because this is what I called my mum and DH called his so it just works for us. Its better than mommy.

Anonymous wrote:Not as bad as a New Jersey native's out of office message saying she is on holiday.

I was just going to say this. I know a woman born and raised in this area and she says holiday for vacation and she definitely does it in an attempt to sound cosmopolitan.

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"?