# Mama, Mamma, or Momma: how do you spell it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072 "2016-03-15T15:08:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/21 "2016-03-15T23:29:18Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > For me (from California), all those words rhyme with each other. Mama, drama, llama, and comma. Well, since we’re at it, drama and llama rhyme with one another, and mama and comma don’t rhyme with one another, for this Canadian. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/22 "2016-03-15T23:57:26Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > “Drama” and “mama” rhyme with “llama.” The first syllable of “comma” and “momma” rhymes with “mom” and “bomb.” This Mamma, I’ve never seen, but if I did it would be like mammy only drop the y and and an a. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/23 "2016-03-16T00:21:59Z")
It was Mummy for the first few years of childhood, until it was Mum for us, in New Zealand. And still is. But if I write Mama, it’s… well, it’s Mama. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/24 "2016-03-16T00:47:20Z")
I call her Mom or Mommy, so if I write it out, it’s Momma. However, when I call her on the phone, I say “Hey, what’s up Mamacita?” We’re both from Kentucky and about as latino as…mac n cheese? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/25 "2016-03-16T01:08:51Z")
Usually I call mine “mother” but if you are asking spelling from the choices given, its “Mama”. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/26 "2016-03-16T03:53:17Z")
Whenever I see “Mamma Mia” posters, my mind translates it as “my mammaries”. Or some approximation thereof. I’ve never seen it spelled “mamma” anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/27 "2016-03-16T04:07:52Z")
It’s spelled ‘mama’ in the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody on Queen’s official website. I don’t know what more authoritative cite one could ask for. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/28 "2016-03-16T05:03:10Z")
Mama for me. It looks better. Isn’t “Mamma” the Italian way? I don’t like their “caffe” spelling, either. Mell Lazarus spelled it “Momma”, but then he also spelled “Mel” with two L’s. I’m from NYC, and for me, mama, llama, drama, and comma rhyme mutually, reciprocally, and with each other. Alabama doesn’t, though, and neither does gamma. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/29 "2016-03-16T05:09:26Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > I’m from NYC, and for me, mama, llama, drama, and comma rhyme mutually, reciprocally, and with each other. Alabama doesn’t, though, and neither does gamma. But gamma does rhyme with Alabama. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/30 "2016-03-16T07:11:13Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > For me (from California), all those words rhyme with each other. Mama, drama, llama, and comma. Same here, Chicago. The vowel in “mom” is the same as in “llama” and “comma,” and I live in a dialect without the caught/cot merger that often causes confusion. I assume the vowel in question is like a British “o”? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/31 "2016-03-16T13:46:21Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > However, when I call her on the phone, I say “Hey, what’s up Mamacita?” > We’re both from Kentucky and about as latino as…mac n cheese? Well, if we’re getting into nicknames, I called my mom Mome, Momey or Momalome, and she called me Honus or Honus Bolonus 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/32 "2016-03-16T13:49:15Z")
I spell it Mama but I pronounce it Mama. That is to say I don’t pronounce it MaaMaa like Americans seem to do. It’s really almost Muh-Ma. I also say Papa the same way. Sometimes I call my dad Dad but mostly it’s still Papa. Mama doesn’t rhyme with drama to me, but drama rhymes with llama for sure. Comma is another, different pronunciation. My pronunciation is still mostly flatlander, where I spent my formative years (Michigan). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/33 "2016-03-16T14:17:23Z")
I’m surprised. I would have assumed that Mama vs Momma would be about even, and Mamma would be right out, since it would be pronounced like Mammy. I assume people who spell it Mama also use Papa–a word I find to be really uncommon, but I understand is popular in other parts of the country. I expected that people who use Dad or Pop would use Momma, since the short word is Mom. (I assume those who use Daddy say Mommy, and avoid the whole issue.) I use Momma. Even though I have the appropriate merger, Mama just does not look right–it feels stuffy, like Papa does. And I could definitely see it being pronounced like Anamika does, with the accent on the last syllable. Like _papá_ in Spanish or Papa in French. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/34 "2016-03-16T14:28:27Z")
[QUOTE=BigT] I assume people who spell it Mama also use Papa–a word I find to be really uncommon [/QUOTE] I called my parents Mama and Daddy and so did at least half of the people I knew growing up in rural Alabama. It transcended socioeconomic class and race, which few things did at that time. Several transplanted people have commented over the years how funny it was to them hearing grown or even old people, some of them major league professionals or very rich, call their father Daddy. (IIRC Bobby and JR called their parents Mama and Daddy on _Dallas_.) Many of us used Papa for one of our grandfathers. (Come to think of it, in all cases where Papa was used it was for the maternal grandfather; no idea if that’s significant or not.) I’ve known people who called their father “Pop” but more as a nickname- usually they called him Dad or Daddy but would occasionally say “Hey pop”. I’ve known a few people who called their mother “Mother” (usually not a terribly warm relationship when they did that) but never anyone who called their father “Father”. My father called his parents Muh and Dah which I understand is common in Ireland but he’s the only person I knew who did it here. I think it was just an individual thing with him; I called one of my grandmothers Meemaw growing up and while it’s not terribly uncommon nobody knows why I did that as none of her other grandchildren called her that. I called the other one “Grandmother”, as did my siblings, because she was not anybody’s notions of a Grandma or Granny. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/35 "2016-03-16T14:41:16Z")
Mama. But it doesn’t rhyme with drama. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/36 "2016-03-16T15:18:06Z")
As a kid in 3rd-4th grade having my first run-in with phonetics (using the old dictionary diacritical markups long before IPA) I first rebelled against the idea that the a sound from f **a** ther is the same vowel sound as the o sound in b **o** ther or l **o** ck. But after a day or two experimenting with trying to say the other vowel in such words I came to agree that the only differences were psychological (having to do with how I _thought of_ the respective vowels) and not auditory. I can’t know how you other folks are pronouncing drama, llama, mama, and comma, but to me they’re all that same found, the a in father / o in lock sound. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/37 "2016-03-16T15:19:32Z")
[QUOTE=AHunter3] I can’t know how you other folks are pronouncing drama, llama, mama, and comma, but to me they’re all that same found, the a in father / o in lock sound. [/QUOTE] Ditto. I hear the difference in mama and daddy of course, but the a’s in the above words all sound like “ah” to me. Of course my German professor in college never could convince me of a difference between singer and finger, so, there’s that. (I don’t have a thick regional accent at all, btw; I’m usually told I have a generic newscaster voice.) ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/38 "2016-03-16T17:06:54Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > I used momma. I grew up in the south. GA to be specific. x2 ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/39 "2016-03-16T18:36:53Z")
My kids call me Mama. I call my mother “Mom”, but when my father is writing to me about my mother, he refers to her as “your momma”. (Which sounds like a joke.) Mama, momma, drama, llama, and comma all rhyme. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mamma, so I’m not sure how I’d pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072/40 "2016-03-16T20:47:54Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Mama. But it doesn’t rhyme with drama. You probably say Mama like I do. Also Papa. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-mamma-or-momma-how-do-you-spell-it/749072.md?page=3)