So I read somewhere that in spite of movies having kids refer to their parents as “mother/father” that in real life, this never happens regardless of social standing? That the British (My MC is loosely based on that despite that it’s a fictional world with made up countries/cities/ethnicities), they refer to their parents as mum/dad. And various other cultures have similar sounding monickers: mum, mama, ma, mut, ommi, papa, baba, dada, tata etc.
I’ve had my MC referring to her dad as “father” because she’s a rich, mobster girl, but now I feel like that’s not realistic. At the same time, “dad” sounds off for her considering she, and her father are not close. Maybe I should have her call him by his first name out of spite? What do you guys think? I was also considering just making up new words entirely for this fictional world as I’ve already done for countries/ethnicities, but fictional language are a whole other rabbit hole.
Yes, please do that if they are not close. Saying “Father” in Britain really reminds me of Charles Dickens or some really annoying rich kid who is close to her Dad but doesn’t have Daddy issues if that makes sense to you? To me, it seems more realistic to just use his name to refer to him if they aren’t close or in good standing.
I’ve always seen mother and father as mockery when a kid calls their parents that. Except for the whole Draco thing. But in all honesty I would switch between the father and his name thing. Otherwise all I can think about is “my father will hear about this.”
But, then again not being close doesn’t mean you should mock someone… so yeah.
Hmm, she kind of is rich, and has “daddy issues”? Her father does love her, but he’s crap at communicating of course because you know, big mobster boss, and all. He also became more distant once her mother passed. So while he’s fine throwing empty gestures like gifts/paying for her education, he’s otherwise an absent father who only gets involved with her when it concerns her inheriting the family/getting her out of trouble. I’ll see if her referring to him by first name feels right.
Right? See, even in Harry Potter! Lots of movies do the whole, “mother/father” thing, but apparently it’s just Hollywood? She does refer to him as “father” when it comes to lines like, “My father will hear about this,” but to him directly, she calls him father. Now I’m not so sure about that.
I’m 41. I call my father Mike or dad. Mom was always Mom or Mum.
When I refer to my parents as Mother and Father is when I’m explaining things about them to strangers, but then it’s because I’m not calling them an endearment, but a public designation for strangers.
It really depends on the family and culture. Not everyone uses “mom” and “dad,” and not everyone uses “mother” and “father.” Some people, like my family, will even use both and more.
I’m white (and 25) and live in the US (people will call me a “northerner” but my family has moved all over from the west coast to the east coast, down south to up north, and currently live in the Midwest), and for my family, we use a combination depending on moods. If we’re happy and excited about something, we call them “mama bear” and “papa bear” or “daddy” and “mommy.” If we’re in good moods, our neutral is “mom” and “dad.” If we’re frustrated, we use “mother” and “father.” And if we’re joking, we use “madre” (mother in Spanish) and “pops.” Or sometimes, I call my dad “old man” or “pop-pops.” We’ll also use references from movies and shows, like we’ve called our dad “Mr. Krabbs” and our mom “Dory.”
What I call my parents—even how I interact with them—is going to be different to someone else, whether based on their wealth status, culture, or just mere preference.
I’d say this is realistic. Mostly because they aren’t close. Most close families will have a nickname or use “dad.” It can also be realistic to refer to him as his first name, especially if they’re speaking to someone else, like instead of saying “My father didn’t do anything for my birthday,” she can say “Richard didn’t do anything for my birthday.”
A good example of this is in Switched at Birth. Bay and Daphne were switched and don’t refer to their biological parents and “mom” or “dad” unless in some scenes. Bay often refers to her parents (not biological) as J and K—John and Katherine—and will call her biological mother Regina as well. Daphne often refers to her biological parents on a first name basis, and then uses “mom” for her non-biological mother.
Growing up I called my parents “mummy” and “daddy”. Now it’s “mum” and “dad”. I only use their names or call them mother/father if I’m patronising them or being sarcastic.
I know too many rich kids who call their dad “Sir”. So it’s “mum/ mummy” and “Sir” when addressing parents. It deffo establishes a distance.
i genuinely call my parents mother and father — idk why, but i just don’t like how mom and dad sounds. my parents don’t mind it, never have
edit because i forgot to expand: me and my parents arent best friends, but we’re chill. my mom (i refer to my parents in text as mom and dad) is someone i can talk and vent to and stuff, so decently close i guess? we also aren’t upper class at ALL, and i am not british, am mexican-american lol. so i dunno why i landed on mother and father, but it just sounds the most natural for me so i’d say it’s possible, i don’t think it’s unrealistic at all.
I know only one person who calls their mom “mother” and I’d say she’s close to her mom. She calls her dad “papa” though. She’s not British but she grew up in the UK so…
Generally from what I’ve seen, people don’t call their parents “mother” and “father” if they’re close, regardless of social class. I have a lot of friends who I’d say are upper-class—as in “my family owns half of this fancy neighborhood” upper-class—and they usually call their parents “mama,” “papa,” “mom,” “dad,” “papi,” stuff like that.
I’ve never seen people refer to their parents by their name, but then again I’m Asian. It’s usually extremely rude in our culture to call our elders by their names. It’s more lax in the West from what I’ve seen. I may or may not have heard a few Americans refer to their parents by their first names or nicknames, idk about Brits
Me personally? I still use “mommy” and “daddy,” and sometimes even “mama” and “dada”
In your case I can see your character calling her dad “father” since they’re not close, or even by first name if they’re really distant. As for her mom, well, I think it’d be more realistic for her to call her “mum.” Although if she’s speaking to someone else and referring to her mother, I guess she can say “My mother…” instead of “My mum…” especially if the situation is more formal.
I use dad and Sarkisian Senior for my protagonist. Mom, dad are the most natural sounding for me. First names seems weird when addressing parents? My kid can jokingly say mother/father or parental unit, just like we can call her child or firstborn, but if we are not trying to be comedians, mom/dad it is.
I know right, but Ricky doesn’t really care. His rule is, as long as he gets called Enrique, he’s gonna call his Pops Wilmer. Dory, Fur Ass, and everyone else says Pops/Papa/Dad because they’re on decent terms with him.
I personally refer to my birth parents as mother and father but it’s also because I have an extremely poor reltionship with them. It’s like that meme, “dad (affectionate) and father (derogatory).”
Saying “Father” in Britain really reminds me of Charles Dickens or some really annoying rich kid who is close to her Dad but doesn’t have Daddy issues if that makes sense to you? To me, it seems more realistic to just use his name to refer to him if they aren’t close or in good standing.
so i’d say it’s possible, i don’t think it’s unrealistic at all.