BlogHer - Mama, Mommy, Mom, Momma, etc... - Comments

It doesn't matter to me....

Denise — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 11:57:38 -0500

It doesn't matter to me, as long as there isn't a sarcastic tone or a whiney tone or a fake tone of voice behind it. ;-)

~Denise

For some reason

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 01:31:46 -0500

For some reason â€œMommyâ€? is associated with cuteness, and Mama has a trendy ring to it. I would probably call myself a Mum but that comes down to linguistic geographical location. Mother sounds very formal and reminds me of that movie â€œMommy Dearestâ€?.
I have seen a new trend with â€œMomâ€?, or â€œMamaâ€?

Mommy

Mistress Of The Dorkness — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 22:18:09 -0500

That's me. Mommy. I don't know why, but, it just sounded right. He did go through a mummy phase, which I didn't mind at all.

I call mine 'Momma'. Sort of feels like it's taken, you know. She, on the other hand, *hates* Mommy, because that's what her stepmother insisted on using.

Mom can wait until he's older. Mommy just sounds like me to me. :-D

Mother isn't even on my radar.

(he's 3, I'm 26 if that might matter)

Melanie Perry
***not all who wander are lost***
http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com

I'm the Mumma

Dana J. Tuszke — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 21:30:21 -0500

My little one calls me "Mumma" and I don't know if I like it, but I can't really teach him anything else quite yet. He finally mastered this!

Dana From The Dana Files

Bloggin' Mommas...Changing the World One Blog At A Time!

Just don't like "mother"

Nancy Watzman — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 18:40:07 -0500

I don't mind "mommy" or "mom." I wouldn't mind "mama" except my 21-month-old doesn't say it. "Ma" makes me think of "ma" and "pa" in the Little House books. The one term that I feel the weirdest about is "mother."

www.muckrakingmom.com
Because MUCK doesn't scare MOMs

I prefer mama

feministmother — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 18:18:14 -0500

Interesting post. This is an issue I've been thinking about a lot lately as my toddler is just learning to speak. Although she has taken to calling me mommy, I have to say I don't like being called that. I prefer mama. I agree that I would never use the term "mommyblogger" but I would be ok with using "mamablogger"

Feminist Moms

Mama, Mommy, Mom, Momma, etc...

Atena — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 16:19:33 -0500

I've been having this discussion with a friend of mine, and it's been kind of touched on in the earlier Grappling with Semantics, Grabbing the Power discussion: How do you feel about associating yourself with the term 'mommy?'

At first I figured it didn't matter, but now I have to admit that I actually have very particular feelings about which maternal ID tag I'm wearing, and I also gotta admit, I don't much care for 'mommy.' Which is not to say that mommy is bad, but I don't think it quite fits my style.

And beyond issues of my own personal preference? What really brought this up for me was looking for parenting stuff online, I began to notice a trend: stuff that said 'mommy' on it, I tended to be less inclined toward. I tended to find more affinity with 'mama' associations. Clearly this is no hard and fast rule, but when I came upon the blogher discussions about identifying and a 'mommyblogger,' it immediately came to mind. I can't quite wrap myself in 'mommyblogger,' but I find 'mamablogger' fits rather nicely.

Do others find that this kind of linguistic subtlety has come up for them? I'm interested in hearing what others have to say - does it affect which groups or communities you ally or associate yourself with (I admit that I continue to be annoyed by the blogher category 'Mommy & Family). How do these subtle semantic differences affect you?

Atena