My mother, for reasons known only to herself, happens to prefer the parental nomenclature "Mother". Maybe she feels it lends a sense of Southern propriety; I don't know. As a child I sometimes called her Momma, but "Mother" was at least as commonly employed. Certainly both of my brothers routinely use "Mother" when addressing her. I never fully realized how odd this sounded until I saw it in print, however. When she signs her emails with "Mother", the cold formality is striking to me:
Thanks for blah, blah, and blah. I'm off to blah and blah. Talk at you later.
Love,
Mother
Feeling a little silly tonight, I responded:
You're most welcome. I hope blah was enjoyable..
Love,
Daughter
12 comments:
From the time I left home, and went to Iceland (I kid you not), I have signed my letters to the Parental Units as "Debbie Daughter." Tickled the old folks, so I kept it up.
I was now, however, forced to call either one of them Mother or Father. I probably wouldn't have liked it, though. ::shrug::
Too damn funny. Sounds like something my smart ass would do.
HAHAHAAAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA!!!!
Oh Wendy!
Mine was always Mother too. Always. She demanded respect. (nanananananabooboo...) blah!
It was always so proper... mom, momma, ma or mommy - not her! I wish she had of been more mommyish.
Cute.
My mom was mommy until she became MA in our teens. When she leaves a message on the machine it's, "this is your MOTHER...."
i would so start insisting she call you daughter. demand the respect you deserve!! lol
Well, then there's the whole Southern thing of calling the maiden Aunt "sister." I had an aunt who was sister until the day she died and she outlived all of her siblings by many years.
I usually get called "Mother" when I've pissed off The Boy.
On a completely different topic, my dear laundry mistress: there is crazy lint all over my favorite black socks. What's up with that? ;)
I have also always called my mom "mother" and my dad "father". Not sure how that started either. Pretty interesting though! LOL.
After the little girl "Mommy" it went to Mom, then Ma, and then back to Mom. Dad was almost always Dad after the little girl Daddy phase, but once in a while still Daddy, even in later years.
Jen generally calls Fran Mom, but sometimes she gets a "Mother" in times of exasperation. Usually it's followed by something like "you're not listening to me."
My grandmother was the same way. I, only living in the South for 6 mos. of the year, used to call her 'Grandma' just to be ornery. Her kids still called her 'Mother'.
Brrr. I feel chilly.
Was there a response to the "Daughter" appelation?
Good point, Sporks. Both my grandmother and uncle always called my mother "Sis".
Sarah, my father is and will always be my Daddy. "Father" would be a ridiculous way to greet such a sweet man.
And, in response to Scout's question, Mother never responded to the "Daughter" at all. Ah, well. Guess I'll have to call her.
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