Why do British say mum to superiors?

What you are hearing is not mum as in mother, but ma'am, contraction of madam, with a strongly reduced vowel. In British English, it is mostly used as a sign of repect for a woman of superior rank, say, in the military or police.

What does the British term mum mean?

In the U.K. and other places, mum is used as a word for mom or madam. It's also commonly used as a short way of saying chrysanthemum, a type of flower. Example: Mum's keeping mum—I can't get a word out of her!

Why do the British say mum instead of mom?

Language evolution: The Great Vowel Shift

One possible reason for the difference between the 'o' and 'u' of the more common 'mom' and 'mum' may be the Great Vowel Shift (GVS). The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in pronunciation in England and is the reason many of our words have irregular spellings.

Why do they say mum in Bodyguard?

The use of the word “ma'am” — the correct way for police officers to address a female boss — had some thinking it was all part of the gripping storyline.

How do the British say ma am?

Back in the day, the word ma'am (when addressing the Queen) was always pronounced “marm”. British TV shows from before the 80s confirm this. In the movie The Queen, we are told that the correct pronunciation for ma'am is “ma'am” as in “ham”, and not “ma'am” as in “farm”.

Do British people say mum or mam?

Why do British people have an accent?

At first, English speakers in the colonies and England used a rhotic accent. But after the Revolutionary War, upper-class and upper-middle-class citizens in England began using non-rhotic speech as a way to show their social status.

Do British people call their bosses mum?

'mam' also means mother, see: soundcloud.com/faberbooks/… "Ma'am" would be appropriate for a junior police officer addressing a more senior female officer in Britain (while a male superior would be addressed as "sir").

Why do British people say bloody?

Don't worry, it's not a violent word… it has nothing to do with “blood”.”Bloody” is a common word to give more emphasis to the sentence, mostly used as an exclamation of surprise. Something may be “bloody marvellous” or “bloody awful“. Having said that, British people do sometimes use it when expressing anger…

Is mum a slang?

quiet. Mum's the word. See more words with the same meaning: quiet, secret.

Why do British people say Zed?

The British and others pronounce “z”, “zed”, owing to the origin of the letter “z”, the Greek letter “Zeta”. This gave rise to the Old French “zede”, which resulted in the English “zed” around the 15th century.

What do they call mom in Australia?

Certainly if you're in the US, your mother is your “mom” – short for “mommy” and in the UK, Australia and New Zealand it's “mum” – shortened from “mummy”.

What do British call the police?

bobby, slang term for a member of London's Metropolitan Police derived from the name of Sir Robert Peel, who established the force in 1829. Police officers in London are also known as “peelers” for the same reason.

Is mum grammatically correct?

Mom is the American English version. Mum is the British English version.

Why do British people say cheers?

The difference is that people from the UK also use “cheers” to mean “thank you”. In fact, British people say “cheers” all the time without noticing they're doing it – a bit like the way they say “sorry” all the time. They often use, “OK, cheers!” to mean “Goodbye!”.

Why do British say oi?

"Oi" has been particularly associated with working class and Cockney speech. It is effectively a local pronunciation of "hoy" (see H-dropping), an older expression. A study of the Cockney dialect in the 1950s found that whether it was being used to call attention or as a challenge depended on its tone and abruptness.

Why do British say pants?

In British English, pants means underpants or, informally, nonsense. In American English, pants means trousers; the singular form is used as adjective. [BrEn] He thought we were going to be absolute pants. [AmEn] His pant leg was broken.

Do British swear a lot?

The study, by Dr Robbie Love at Aston University, found there was a 27% drop in swearing in Britain over the 20-year period, down from 1,822 to 1,320 swearwords per million. Men still swear more than women, and swearing still peaks in people's 20s and declines thereafter, Love found.

Where in the UK do they say mom?

In Birmingham and the West Midlands, in England, most say and write mom. Even the local newspapers and schools spell it as mom. Although Mother's Day occurs on a different date in the UK, Brummies and Americans would both be sending cards to the “Best Mom.”

Where did mum originate from?

The word "mum" is an alteration of momme, which was used between 1350 and 1400 in Middle English with very close to the same meaning, "be silent; do not reveal".

Which is the weirdest English accent?

What is the prettiest accent?

According to a recent poll in the Independent, the British accent has been chosen as being the most attractive accent in the world, beating the French accent which was once know as the loveliest accent.

Why doesn't America have a British accent?

The first is isolation; early colonists had only sporadic contact with the mother country. The second is exposure to other languages, and the colonists came into contact with Native American languages, mariners' Indian English pidgin and other settlers, who spoke Dutch, Swedish, French and Spanish.

Is the Queen mam or Marm?

On presentation to The Queen, the correct formal address is 'Your Majesty' and subsequently 'Ma'am,' pronounced with a short 'a,' as in 'jam'. For male members of the Royal Family the same rules apply, with the title used in the first instance being 'Your Royal Highness' and subsequently 'Sir'.