Uses Of The Term "Mum" in the UK

[ed2962]

I have a question and I'm going to ask it here because there's a few people who post here sometime from the UK and also because I'm thinking of it cuz I'm watching the show Luther.

It's not super serious, but it's about the uses of the term "mum"...most of my life I thought it was just another version of "mom", you'd say it to your mother or a matriarchal figure.

I've seen in used in the show Scott and Bailey about British policewomen, but I didn't think about it because the people were women saying it to other women maybe a man has said too, but I just took it as a term of endearment...women in the states have called each other "mami" and "momma". But now I'm watching Luther which is a cop show as well and I'm seeing men and women say it specifically to women in authority.

So I guess that's my question...if I lived in the UK and say worked in a real estate office under a female boss, would it be common for me to say,"Here's that account report you wanted mum" ?

[Iron Maiden]

My mother was a British war bride and I do recall using "mumsy" as a term of endearment. Must have learned it from her I guess.
Maybe it sounds like "mum" but they might be saying "ma'am". But it comes out sounding like it it rhymes with "farm"

[Spike-X]

Maybe it sounds like "mum" but they might be saying "ma'am". But it comes out sounding like it it rhymes with "farm"

Yes, that.

[ed2962]

My mother was a British war bride and I do recall using "mumsy" as a term of endearment. Must have learned it from her I guess.
Maybe it sounds like "mum" but they might be saying "ma'am". But it comes out sounding like it it rhymes with "farm"

Hmm...I hadn't thought that i might have been just mishearing it. Part of me was kinda hoping that they were saying mum as mother...LOL

[ed2962]

Yes, that.

I guess that makes sense.

[Mormel]

Yee, they're saying "Ma'am", which is actually pronounced quite differently from "Mum" (Ma'am has a long vowel, you can stretch it a bit).

Now the real question is perhaps why Americans pronounce "Ma'am" to rhyme with "ham". :P

[dancj]

Now the real question is perhaps why Americans pronounce "Ma'am" to rhyme with "ham". :P

If we're going to start picking on strange American pronunciations, that's not even on the radar. We have to deal with lever, route, herbs, homage, tomato, oregano, basil and mirror first.

[ed2962]

Yee, they're saying "Ma'am", which is actually pronounced quite differently from "Mum" (Ma'am has a long vowel, you can stretch it a bit).

Now the real question is perhaps why Americans pronounce "Ma'am" to rhyme with "ham". :P

Yeah, I feel kinda silly now. I continued to watch and I realized that they were saying "ma'am"

[ed2962]

If we're going to start picking on strange American pronunciations, that's not even on the radar. We have to deal with lever, route, herbs, homage, tomato, oregano, basil and mirror first.

How about the difference between "shit" and "shite"?

[Iron Maiden]

How about the difference between "shit" and "shite"?

Yeah, I thought when I saw "shite" that it rhymes with "kite". As for "ma'am" wouldn't that be a derivative of the French "madame" as in "Madame LaFarge" from Tale of Two Cities (and not someone who runs a brothel ?

[jeanvaljean]

I guess in this case, mum's not the word?

[Brigonos Chomhgaill]

ZING!

I'm more interested in the Freudian implications of someone automatically assuming women in a position of authority are referred to as "mother".

[The Celtic Batman]

Yes, as stated above it's Ma'am. Which in this context originates as an abbreviation for MADAM.
It's also phonetically pronounced: 'Marm'... Not 'Mam'. I'm from Newcastle Upon Tyne (North East of England) and there it's a cultural norm to call your mother 'Mam' not 'Mum'. Just sayin yo :-)

[dancj]

How about the difference between "shit" and "shite"?

Yeah, I thought when I saw "shite" that it rhymes with "kite".

It does rhyme with kite. It's just a northern way of saying "shit" - but we southerners use it too sometimes because swear words often sound better in a northern accent.