UK Writers - Mom or Mum?

[Hypoxia]

Really? What connotations do you think that it carries in the USA with people who use it that it doesn't carry with people in the UK who use it? I'm not at all sure what you mean.

I'm not sure of Ogg's specifics, but I do feel rather different class / status implications in North American Anglophone use of Ma, Mama, Mamma, Mammy, Mater, Mom, Momma, Mommy, Mum, Mummy -- not counting Spanglish, Cajun, and other ethno-linguistic variants.

 

[CharleneBarr]

All this illustrates is that you haven't paid as much attention as you think you have. Sorry!

I'm from Birmingham by the way, so I believe I speak with some authority on the subject.

I wouldn't shout that from the rooftops -
A study was conducted in 2008 where people were asked to grade the intelligence of a person based on their accent and the Brummie accent was ranked as the least intelligent accent. It even scored lower than being silent, an example of the stereotype attached to the Brummie accent.

 

[oggbashan]

Really? What connotations do you think that it carries in the USA with people who use it that it doesn't carry with people in the UK who use it? I'm not at all sure what you mean.

"Mom and Apple Pie" is used in the US as a appeal to family values that doesn't translate to the UK. It is a reference to the 'Good Old Days', perhaps the 1950s, when Mom was at home rearing the family, not outearning her husband.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mom_and_apple_pie

'Mom-Made' and 'Mom-Baked' can be used in US advertising. In the UK they tend to replace Mom by Granny.

We have different phrases 'Victorian Values' and 'Back to Basics' - but they have been discredited by overuse by politicians - as has 'Mom and Apple Pie'.

 

[DeYaKen]

Generally, mum is the most common form - although in certain parts of the country mam runs a close second. I don't think I have ever heard a Brit using mom.

In the West Midlands they do use Mom.

Myrule on this is that if the story is set in Britain and the Characters are British I use UK English, which includes Mum, Mam or Mom. Would it really sound authentic to have a Scotsman saying Y'all ?

 

[edwalu2]

I wouldn't shout that from the rooftops -
A study was conducted in 2008 where people were asked to grade the intelligence of a person based on their accent and the Brummie accent was ranked as the least intelligent accent. It even scored lower than being silent, an example of the stereotype attached to the Brummie accent.

Goodness, someone alert the press, this is news!

Luckily for me, I don't have a Brummie accent. I still love the place though, moms and all.

 

[edwalu2]

"Mom and Apple Pie" is used in the US as a appeal to family values that doesn't translate to the UK. It is a reference to the 'Good Old Days', perhaps the 1950s, when Mom was at home rearing the family, not outearning her husband.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mom_and_apple_pie

'Mom-Made' and 'Mom-Baked' can be used in US advertising. In the UK they tend to replace Mom by Granny.

We have different phrases 'Victorian Values' and 'Back to Basics' - but they have been discredited by overuse by politicians - as has 'Mom and Apple Pie'.

Those are different words though. You said 'mom' on its own had a connotation. If you append the word with other words so that it specifically carries a connotation, that's not the same thing at all.

 

[CharleneBarr]

Goodness, someone alert the press, this is news!

Luckily for me, I don't have a Brummie accent. I still love the place though, moms and all.

Got your specs on? Good. Now look at the date I mentioned.
Also your comment 'It's mom in Birmingham and the Midlands, so it's actually very common to use that spelling in the UK' - last time I looked, those places don't represent the majority of the UK.

 

[oggbashan]

Those are different words though. You said 'mom' on its own had a connotation. If you append the word with other words so that it specifically carries a connotation, that's not the same thing at all.

Take 'mom' away from 'mom-made' and 'mom-baked'. I still think 'mom' is the significant factor.

What's the 'm' in MILF?

 

[Handley_Page]

Got your specs on? Good. Now look at the date I mentioned.
Also your comment 'It's mom in Birmingham and the Midlands, so it's actually very common to use that spelling in the UK' - last time I looked, those places don't represent the majority of the UK.

I quite agree; I have spent a fair time in various parts of Brum, and I've not heard any English mother referred to as 'Mom'. What incomers do is their own affair.
Unless it is a particular sub-dialect of, perhaps, foreign origin?

 

[DeYaKen]

I quite agree; I have spent a fair time in various parts of Brum, and I've not heard any English mother referred to as 'Mom'. What incomers do is their own affair.
Unless it is a particular sub-dialect of, perhaps, foreign origin?

I can assure you it is used there. I heard a Brummie copper using it on TV lately
"I doubt if their mom even knows they're here let alone the state they're in"

Of course in t' north it's Mam and southerners use mum. posher folk than me use mummy and daddy.

 

[49greg]

Money?

There's yet another variation of Mom/Mum/Mommy/Mummy et al. A buddy back when I was still in my early teens had a little brother that had only been speaking for a few years, he called his Mom "Money" instead of "Mommy".

 

[Tigersman]

Just ignore those persons who are making negative comments. If they are so ignorant they can not tell you are from the UK by the way you spell some words or the way you describe things then they are not worth your time. As long as you proofread you writing, checking your spelling and making sure you did not forget a word or duplicated a word then your readers should be fine with your work. Also make sure you flesh out the characters too.

 

[edwalu2]

Got your specs on? Good. Now look at the date I mentioned.
Also your comment 'It's mom in Birmingham and the Midlands, so it's actually very common to use that spelling in the UK' - last time I looked, those places don't represent the majority of the UK.

You seem to be having some trouble understanding words.

Let me explain: The word 'common' does not have the same meaning as the word 'majority'. So saying that something is used very commonly does not then mean that it is used by the majority.

Birmingham has a population of over one million people. The population of the West Midlands on census day 2011 was 5.6 million, according to the ONS.

So, that means that people using the word 'mom' in the UK is very common. Perhaps it's you who should be groping for your specs!

 

[Handley_Page]

You seem to be having some trouble understanding words.

Let me explain: The word 'common' does not have the same meaning as the word 'majority'. So saying that something is used very commonly does not then mean that it is used by the majority.

Birmingham has a population of over one million people. The population of the West Midlands on census day 2011 was 5.6 million, according to the ONS.

So, that means that people using the word 'mom' in the UK is very common. Perhaps it's you who should be groping for your specs!

But in which part of that area uses Mom, not Mum?

But there IS an aspect of West Midland-speak that I had ignored.
The letter U is often lowered in tone to a soft O, so it is likely to be
mis-interpretted.

Do not assume it is MOM as spoken by a child of the USA; Rather, it is a regional dialect method of speaking.
It's Mum, but said differently.

 

[edwalu2]

But in which part of that area uses Mom, not Mum?

But there IS an aspect of West Midland-speak that I had ignored.
The letter U is often lowered in tone to a soft O, so it is likely to be
mis-interpretted.

Do not assume it is MOM as spoken by a child of the USA; Rather, it is a regional dialect method of speaking.
It's Mum, but said differently.

Sorry, you are completely wrong. It is also spelled mom.

As I have mentioned before, for your edification, refer to 'West Midlands English: Birmingham and the Black Country' by Urszula Clark and Esther Asprey.