Why Do Americans Say Mom And We British Say Mum?

[dave50]

I would have thought mum is short for mummy, so why the mom?

[bobbinwales]

So why do some here say ma

[bobbinwales]

Cross between mum and mother??

[DTCwordfan]

There are folk in the midlands who use Mom - so it's not just the pond-waders who use it. There are plenty who use Mum or Ma, Maw and the rest, just like over here.

For most Americans, they probably associate 'Mummy' with this - https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-026ebbe2b64a10794878dfbad33a49ff-c

[davebro]

American English is a different language!

[Georgiesmum]

Plenty of people over here say mam as well.

[emmie]

my mum was always just mum, never ever ma or mummy.

[Bobbisox1]

I say Mam, everyone here does

[davebro]

always "Mum"

[davebro]

and Dad - not Pa, Pop or Daddy!

[barry1010]

We British don't say 'mum'. Folk like me from Birmingham and the Black Country say 'mom'. 'Mother' is spelt with an 'o', not a 'u'.

[youngmafbog]

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/mommy

Mommy is the US equivalent of Mummy, Mom is the abbr.

[Atheist]

Where I come from we called mother 'Ar Mam'.

[xstitcher]

In my childhoood home in Canada if somebody said pls pass the to mate toes my father would say, we have no to mate toes but would you like some to mate toes.

[douglas9401]

It could be because they tend to momble.

[DTCwordfan]

"Let's call the whole thing off"......quote, the delicious Fred.

[piggynose]

It must be an irish thing barry cuz i was brought in Brum to say Mum.

[piggynose]

Also, why do the septics call a tap a faucet?

[DTCwordfan]

The Americans are technically more correct than we are.

When used as nouns, faucet means an exposed plumbing fitting, whereas tap means a tapering cylindrical pin or peg used to stop the vent in a cask.

So a faucet is a device with a hand-operated valve for regulating the flow of a liquid. It originates from French and appeared in Mediaeval English writings.

Technically, a tap is used when there isn't a pipe, like when you tap a keg of beer, or tap a maple tree for syrup. Tap is a little unusual because it can also be the act of tapping as well as the device you use to control the flow. A tap has the sense to an American of poking a hole in something that has liquid in it, and being able to keep the liquid from just gushing out with some sort of device. Faucets and spigots are plumbing, with connectors and pipes.

What seems to have happened is that we Brits use 'tap' for all three in a generic sense and this emerged from Old English in Tudor times onwards. Spigot resulted from French by the way.

[xstitcher]

Correction.......my father said to mat toes.

[Mamyalynne]

Mum or Mam here, Lancs.