I’ve heard the catcall type “mami” or “mama”, I’ve heard friends/acquaintances call a woman of any age “mami” or “mama” and I’ve heard parents call their daughters “mami” or “mama”. I don’t recall ever hearing someone use it for a stranger, the way one might use “Miss” or “Ma’am”, although I imagine it might be used between a regular customer and a cashier or waitress.
My mom hated being called “ma” or “mama”. So I’d never consider using the term when addressing a woman.
In THE East, as in Asia, it’s ‘Auntie’, meant as a term of endearment and respect to an older women. (Pronounced as ‘awnt’ not ‘ant’!) I call my Chinese friends Moms Auntie when I visit. It’s very common. But I don’t ever hear Mama used this way, there or at home in Canada.
I agree. I am a mother so when I am not with my child, I want that part of my brain to be turned off.
I know it’s not meant as disrespectful, but I find it overly familiar and insulting personally.
I had a boss that called us all that. I quit unrelatedly, but I was super stressed about it, not knowing how I could get her to stop without looking awful. She was not right in the head and would complain about us in Spanish… which I can understand and keep to myself.
I feel like a stereotypical northeaster fuddy duddy, hung up on protocol and decorum, but I hate it and I’m too old to fake shit any more.
This for me in the Midwest through 2014 & South Florida since.
Is there any demographic connections here? Are the folks using “mama” at the OP from some particular ethnic or language or immigrant group? How old are they? Educated or not? Etc.
I have never seen or heard anyone using “Mama” as a term of address for an elderly woman.
Mamacita or mamasita (both spellings are valid) is a diminutive of mamá, which in turn is a pet word for madre.
It was explained to me as a title of respect given to a woman considered wise. Several other of the neigbors would also be addressed as “Mama [name]”, but not by Mama Lena because she had been the first to get it: the other Mamas called her Mama.
It’s fairly standard here for a middle aged Black lady (see: Miriam Makeba, Mama Afrika), baba is the equivalent for an older man (You can hear T’Challa use it to T’Chaka in Civil War). A really older (grandparent) level lady would be a gogo.
When I was growing up in New England (Boston) you had “aunts” referring to blood relatives, and your mother’s friends were “aunties.”
Thanks for all who answered. It’s an interesting read.
I have heard Latina CNAs call all their women patients “Mama” - sounds like a term of respect when they do.
Brits apparently pronounce “Ma’am” in a way that sounds exactly like “Mum” to me, which was really bizarre the first time I heard it on a show where subordinates kept calling their commander ‘mum’.
So glad someone said it. And etymologically, it’s from “madam” not “mama.” Though the origins of “mama” and “madam” I don’t know anything about.
I’m a middle-aged white woman living in South Florida. When my kids were tiny and I was a stay-at-home-mom, it was pretty common for other mothers in my group to call one another “Mama.” Not just in front of the kids, but as a greeting or term of endearment. The kids referred to adults as “Miss FirstName.” Once the kids were school-aged, it became more common for them to refer to adults as “Mrs. LastName.”
Now, I sometimes hear “Mama” as a term of endearment or respect at work. I work with many Latinx and Caribbean people.
I’d never heard “Mama” used in either of those ways when I lived in the northeast. We did use “Aunt” or “Auntie” to address close family friends or our parents’ close cousins.