When was the shift...from "mommy" to "mama?"

[eyesroll]

I called my mother "mommy" until I graduated to "mom" (and sometimes, an exasperated "MOTHER!!!!") So did most of my peers (at least -- that's what they reported when asked).

However, most of the small children I know call their mothers "mama." It seems also many women refer to themselves as mamas -- "I'm a 40-year-old mama of 3 and a part-time professor" or whatever. Case in point...I was in a cafe that was sponsoring a kids' music program and every hipster parent in Bay View was there and their kids were all calling them "mama" and they were calling themselves "mamas" instead of "moms" or "mothers."

When did this happen? Did I miss the memo? Was this at the same time grown adults began calling pacifiers "binkies" and stuffed animals "loveys" even when discussing them with other adults? What are the dads called these days? My SO is "papa" to his 4-year-old (although she also calls him "Daddy")--is there a hipster equivalent of "mama" for men?

[AlCzervik]

1. don't know. I am "Mom" so is "Dad" and i called my mother "Ma"

stuffed animals were and still are "Stuffed animals" in my house.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. I don't know. Me mum was all meat with two vegs.

:rofl:

Just kidding.

I have no idea, but I have noticed it, too, this switch to "mama". And not "momma" - there seems to be a slight sound difference from the way we used to say "momma" and the way the kids today say "mama".

I don't remember ever using mama or papa, except when I would occasionally intentionally use it. Nor did I ever use ma or pa.

It was Mom and Dad, or Mother and Father. Mommy and Daddy when I was little.

[Pithlet]

3. Could be regional.

I'm mommy, and I live in the south, though I come from the midwest. It seems about 50/50 between mommy and momma. The thing I can't get used to around here is the sir, ma'am thing. A lot of parents insist their kids address them that way around here. It's weird to me.

[eyesroll]

5. Yeah, my experience is purely Midwestern (although my Pittsburgh cousin is a "mama" to her son)

Dunno...nobody's really sir or ma'am around here... I usually introduce adults to Kiddo as "Mr. X" and "Ms. Y" unless it's very clear they want to be called something else, and most immediately say, "oh, call me by my first name."

Hm.

[Pithlet]

6. They do Mister and Miss with the first name, here.

When children address adults, in addition to the Sir/Ma'am thing. Even the teachers. My son's teacher isn't Mrs. Last Name, like she would have been where I grew up, but Miss First Name. When I referred to her as Mrs. Last Name, she chuckled and said "You must not be from around here". That took some getting used to, too. I don't dislike it, it's just different.

[AlCzervik]

when i lived in Texas i remember that, my neighbor kids called me Miss Kim.

[kath]

13. I grew up in the Pgh area, and we said it like the Brits - "mum"

or when we were little, "mummy".

[NC_Nurse]

18. I STILL say sir and ma'am to people...

and I'm older than a lot of them! It's INGRAINED by my Southern nana! Oh well....:)

[Reverend_Smitty]

4. It's got to be a regional thing...

I've grown up calling my parents mom and dad, however I do use "Ma" quite a bit, as in "yo ma, make me a sandwich!"...just kidding :) I really do say "yo ma", It's gotta be a NJ/Philly thing

[Redbear]

7. I say everything is okay except "my kid's mom."

What could be a sweet phrase ruined forever by that awful woman.

[raptor_rider]

8. My daughter called me "mama"

for about 3 years then it graduated to "mom" or when she wants something, "mommy". She is nine now. She calls my husband "dad" or "daddy." My parents are "nana" and "papa", however, all of my parents grandkids call them that. My 9 month old son is already starting with the "mama" and of course "dada". Do not know if he will do like his sister, we will have to see.

[crim son]

9. All my kids called me "mama" when they were small, because that's

one of the first words they learned... that and "dada". I've evolved into "Mom" over the years.

[Connonym]

10. I like the sound of the word "binkie"

I want to think Binkie is a brand name of pacifiers and used generically like Kleenex. We always called them Binkies. I HATE being called Ma and I won't answer to it. I go by Mom but my kids tend to call me Connie in public becuase otherwise I think every cry of "mom!" is directed at me.

[Left Is Write]

16. We always called pacifiers "suckers" because that's what my mom called them when I was little.

And, well, that IS what they are. :D

My son couldn't say "sucker" - it came out "guckoo." So his were called guckoos.

[dolo amber]

11. I blame Maury.

[noonwitch]

12. My 7 year old neice uses "Momma" when she wants something

and "Mommy" the rest of the time. Her 4 year old sister always says "Mommy".

[CTyankee]

14. My 40 year old daughter calls me "mom" but her kids call her "mama"

and she lives in a fashionable suburb of Boston with lots of Ivy League grads, highly professional and well paid people. I think it is because it sounds slightly European and "mommy" has a downscale feel to it. Mom is for your 65 year old mother. So mama is better for this group.

[Left Is Write]

15. My younger two call me Mommy AND Mama. They are seven and five.

My oldest, 19, calls me Mother. She transitioned from Mommy to Mother around the time she entered middle school.

My husband is Daddy.

Occasionally the little ones do say Mom.

[CTyankee]

20. Interesting. I NEVER called my mother anything but mother.

However, my father was Daddy (but I was raised in Texas, ya see). "Mother" just fit my mother so well. She was so lovely...

[Madspirit]

17. 53 year old Texan

It must be regional. I called my mom "mama" when little and "mom" from teen on....

My mother hated the word "mommy".
Lee

[trof]

19. In the south, I think we mostly have 'mommas'.

The classic "Are we goin' over to your momma an' nems (and them's) Sunday?"
I think I was in 6th or 7th grade when she became 'mom'.

[Maine-ah]

21. papa = grandpa (one of them anyway)

[CTyankee]

26. Yes, that's back. My granddaughters have 3 grandfathers since

I am remarried. So we have 3 "papa" whoevers.

I think it is nice. It gives kids a sense that they are being cared for by a large, extended family of caring adults who are persent in their lives to help them with their science project, to be present for them when they are in plays and sports matches, who come to their school and read to the class, etc.

Kids need a caring community of adults to help them transition into adulthood. It is sad that so many kids don't have this.

[xmas74]

22. I wanted my daughter to call me "mommy".

She calls me "momma" unless she's trying to sweet talk me.

And she calls her grandfather "papa".

[KatyaR]

23. And when did "Grandma and Grandpa" become "Nanna and PawPaw?

I hate that--it sounds really backwoods and uneducated, but I haven't heard kids use Grandma and Grandpa in years.

[pitohui]

25. aren't these degenerated french words?

i've heard nanna and pawpaw in louisiana for decades, i thought it was an americanization of the french terms, but i don't actually know the french terms, so probably i'm wrong!

not louisiana born, we still say grandma and grandpa

[Critters2]

30. In French, grandmother is "grandmere"; grandfather "grandpere" nt

[Critters2]

29. I know. It always sounds so odd to me. If I had kids

(and I've learned to be careful around whom I start a sentence with that!), they'd call their grandfather "Grandpa", and I'd talk about my mother by calling "your Grandma". The way God intended :)

[pitohui]

24. i don't know, "mama" is lower class, i don't really hear it much

not to be classist, since i'm the poorest person in my neighborhood but i have the impression that "mama" is used by people who are not so educated whereas "mom" is still the word used by those who have college degrees

just my impression, it's either a marker of class or people pretending to be slumming, such as doctors who slum by riding harleys on the weekend

doesn't mean it's that way everywhere of course

[I Have A Dream]

31. I come from just about the lowest class that there is in the US...

and I've never heard anyone ever say it in my background.

I am now college educated with a very successful, well-paying job, and I think that the term mama is very sweet. Unless I tell someone my background, they would never know that I wasn't raised in a middle class family. My like of the term is certainly not an indication of my upbringing, at least in my area of the country. Maybe it's different in other parts of the US.

[I Have A Dream]

27. I think that the term mama is very sweet and not at all faddish. n/t

[Critters2]

28. Don't remember what I called her when I was really little, but I do know

that from about junior high until her death, I always called my mother "Ma". To my my brother and sister, she was "Mom". But to me, she was "Ma".

[Ms_Dem_Meanor]

32. I still say "mommy."

I am 33 and still call my mother "mommy." If ever there was a shift, I missed it.