Biological father I refer to as Tom to everyone else, to my mom, he is my real father. What I called him when I was 15 is unprintable…now, he is worm fodder, so I don’t worry any more.
My stepdad I usually just call Rich or Richie. If he gets on my nerves, it is Richard Herman Matthew…
No kids here…the fur kids used to stand at one end of the apartment and scream at the top of their lungs to me, “Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” They referred to my mother as “Meh!” smart little critters…I miss them.
I’m 24. My parents are Mom and Dad. That’s what my dad called his parents as well. My mom called her folks Mommy and Daddy except her mom had a heavy Southern accent so it was pronounced “Mummy” and “Deddy.” I knew them as “Grandmother” and “Granddeddy” (or “Granddiddy” depending on how fast it comes out). It took me years to make the association between the normal written spelling and the strange pronunciation.
I’m 30.
I usually call my father “dad”, but will occasionally use “daddy” - usually in a slightly overly-happy/excited context “Hi, daddy!!”
For my mother, it depends on what language I’m speaking in - if I happen to address her while speaking in English, it will be “mom” or something closer to “m’am”, but if I’m speaking in French it will either be “maman” or “ma” (said nasally, like the second half of maman). If I’m pretending to be annoyed or pretending to be really insistent in order to then say something inane, then I’ll use “Mother” (think: Stewie in that Family Guy episode…mom…mom…mom…lois…lois…mother…mother…HI!).
FWIW, I don’t speak to my father in French at all, but I speak to my mom in both languages.
I’m 50. To others, I say “my mom” or “my dad.” To my mom and dad, my siblings and I say “mother” and “father,” and no, we don’t remember why or how it started. For a little while when we were tweens in Europe we used to call them “ima” and “aba” respectively, but my dad put the kibosh on that when we came back to the US and it’s been “mother” and “father” since then.
I can’t conceive of calling my mom “mom” or my dad “dad” to their faces. It feels kind of disrespectful.
I’m 35 and I call them Mum and Dad… however, now that I have children, I usually call them Nanna and Pa because that’s what my kids call them. This Christmas I couldn’t get my mother’s attention calling her Mum and I had to switch to Nanna - that came as a surprise.
I’m 51, male. Growing up it was Daddy and Mom. Teenage years to present, Daddy was shortened to Dad.
As I got older, Dad, Pop or Old Man, with all three being used interchangeably at whim, even in public. (It kind of depends on the level of respect that I want to show due to the company at hand, as to which one I use.)
Never by his ‘given’ name of Harvey. (Which, by the way, is his middle name).
Mom is, well… Mom and sometimes Ma, always have and always will be. (Also, never by her given name.)
I’m a ‘junior’, but unlike my Dad I was always called by my first name, Johnny. (More precisely a variation, my name is actually John.)
My son (21 yrs) calls me Dad or Old Man.
Never by my given name.
Dad if he’s wanting something or we’re in ‘public’ and he should be (read, he’d better be ;)) a little more respectful, otherwise Old Man.
I have long time friends (20+ yrs) that live in Dallas, and their three sons call them by their first names.
Personally, I’ve always found that a little odd.
I’m 47. I come from a relatively traditional WASPy family; my parents were always “Father” and “Mother” growing up, although when we were in our teens my sisters and I coined the nickname “Pudder” for my dad, and he didn’t mind. I still call them by those names.
My sons (the oldest of whom is now 15) call me “Papa,” and their mother “Mom.” They call their paternal grandparents “Granfadder” and “Grandy,” and their maternal grandparents “Grandpa [firstname]” and “Grandma [firstname].”
Have addressed (and referred to) them by their names for decades now. Habit I picked up from various times we shared work environments and felt it proper to use the work-appropriate form of address when others were present. If talking about them to a third person who does not know them it’s “my Mom/Dad” so they understand.
I’m 29, and they’re mom and dad. My (57 year old) mom’s a foster child, so I have no idea what she refers to her biological parents as, but my (62 year old) dad called his mama and daddy.
I call my parents Mom and Dad, although the more inappropriate the context (calling to him in public; at a party with his work colleagues, etc.), the more likely I am to use Daddy without realizing it.
I called my mother “mom” after I got to a certain age, but I was actually afraid to for a couple of years before I finally did. Also I first asked her if it was okay with her. (If this makes her sound like kind of a monster? Well. Too bad.) When I talked about her, I used her first name, unless I was talking to my kids, then I used what they called her (Grammy).
My father died when I was very young, so when I talk about him I call him “my father” but I think of him as “Daddy” since I never got around to calling him “Dad” in real life. I would have, I’ll bet, and I wouldn’t have needed to ask him. And if he’d been around I probably wouldn’t have been afraid to ask my mother, either.
My kids call me “Mom.” My youngest is 16, the oldest is 41. The teenager occasionally calls me “Mother” or “Ma,” but not usually.
