Posted: 10/23/2014 7:48:20 AM EDT
| Why do people say "mum" when referring to their mother, momma, or mom. Mostly I hear it coming from a yankee mouth. Does this annoy the crap out of anyone else? |
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Born and raised in northern NH, I can attest to it being a New England thing. Quoted:
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I never heard anyone from America refer to their mother as "Mum." Born and raised in northern NH, I can attest to it being a New England thing. Must be that New England / Olde England connection. |
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Why do people say "mum" when referring to their mother, momma, or mom. Mostly I hear it coming from a yankee mouth. Does this annoy the crap out of anyone else? It's a Brit thing actually. It actually "annoys the crap out of you"? That's certainly ... petty 
I think the term "paw paw" is stupid - it sounds like something a brain damaged civil war second place finisher would call their dog. Never crossed my mind to care enough to be annoyed though 
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Quoted: Why do people say "mum" when referring to their mother, momma, or mom. Mostly I hear it coming from a yankee mouth. Does this annoy the crap out of anyone else? It's an interesting point. It's a primarily English (and, based on other posts here) New England affectation, but all variants ("Ma", "Mam", "Mum", "Mom", etc) have a common root in the infant's early attempts to form sounds. "Ma" has an alternative root in Latin ("Mater") but is usually distinguished through pronounciation (cf. posh elongated "Mar" and northern shortened "Ma"). In other words, someone saying "Mah-Mar and Pah-Par" is drawing on "Mater et Pater", while someone saying "MaMa/MoMa" is drawing on an early infantile sound. Mama, Momma, Mum, and Mom are all equally valid variations, the variation more likely being dictated by custom more than anything else. Meemaw does sound retarded, though. |
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My Mum is British, that's the reason for me. My whole family is from England, but I say mom because I was born and raised here, not there (although I can switch accents at will). Regional influence, I guess? Regardless, I don't see why anyone would care. |
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Why do people say "mum" when referring to their mother, momma, or mom. Mostly I hear it coming from a yankee mouth. for the same reason some hicks call their grandmother "mee-maw"... it is what they were taught to do Quoted:
Does this annoy the crap out of anyone else? nope |
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Thats what I thought. |
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Mum I can handle. It pisses me off when I hear people pronounce "aunt" as awnt How do you pronounce it? Ant? Yes I think this stuff is regional for sure. I've just never lived anywhere for more than 4 years, so I speak a bastardized version of the language. 
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