“Although the southern mother doesn’t have the national fame of her Jewish counterpart, she has been celebrated locally in novels, verse, folklore, and song.”

Although the southern mother doesn’t have the national fame of her Jewish counterpart, she has been celebrated locally in novels, verse, folklore, and song. And when we’re referring specifically to a southern mother, the word that comes to mind is “Momma” (or “Mama”). With the possible exceptions of “Maw,” stereotypically linked to the mountain South, and “Mammy,” which is another story altogether, no label for one’s maternal parent is more southern. When we speak of Elvis’s devotion to his momma, when Merle Haggard sings “Mama Tried,” when Jeff Foxworthy jokes about the southern word “momma’nem” (as in “How’s your momma’nem?”)—in none of these contexts would “Mom,” “Mommy,” or (God knows) “Mater” be quite appropriate.