The Boys Are Back In Town

Well, actually, it is the mama who is back in town but no one ever wrote a catchy song about that.

Hey, this has nothing to do with my trip, but can we talk about mama/mommy? Maybe it's because I grew up in the South, but I have always been mama and not mommy. My 5yo, the chatty one, will tell you all about it if you make the mistake of commenting on his "mommy." If a stranger at the library says something like, "Is your mommy reading you a good book?" -- there will not be an answer to the actual question forthcoming. Instead he will say, "My mom hates to be called mommy. She only likes mama or mom."

Recently there was a post at Homebirth Debate (why am I still reading Homebirth Debate, you ask? an excellent question to which I have no satisfactory answer) about the "infantilizing" word mama, after which a commenter decreed that "mama" connotes a fat frumpy woman in a denim jumper whose many kids all have snot-encrusted faces. Niiiice. Couldn't be, you know, regional or cultural variation.

I'm curious about preferences and connotations in a less adversarial environment. What did you call your own mom? What do your children, if you have them, call you?

Oh -- trip was fine, talk was fine, Pete was mostly fine. Glad I did it; glad to be home. I am going to make pink pancakes for breakfast, using strawberry yogurt because we're out of milk and buttermilk and plain yogurt. Will they eat them? I guess I'll find out.