Mum's the word …the majority of Irish people use to refer to their mother, the results of a study have found.
The survey which was carried out by bookmaker Paddy Power Bingo and published today has finally settled the nationwide debate.
Out of the 32 counties, 14 counties used “mum” more than other variations.
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Researchers concluded that the further north a person lived in Ireland, the more likely it was for “mum” to be used.
Some of the counties which predominantly used this turn-of-phrase include Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Carlow, Cavan, and Wicklow.
The survey split those living in Dublin into two where 42% of Northsiders overwhelmingly preferred “mam” and 38% of Southsiders preferred “mum”.
In North Dublin, the second most popular term was “mum” with 14% followed closely by “ma” with 13%.
While across the Liffey in South Dublin the second most popular way to describe a mother was “mam” with 22% followed by “ma” with 13%.
The next most popular way to describe a mother across all counties in Ireland was “mam” which is predominately used in 12 counties.
Some of these include Cork, Wexford, Kildare, Tipperary, Clare, Limerick, and Waterford.
Mammy was the third most popular and mainly used in Donegal, Roscommon, and Kilkenny.
While those in Kerry were the only ones in the country who mainly used “mom”.
Those who conducted the survey also determined that people living in all six counties in Northern Ireland mainly used “mum”.
While “ma” was said to mothers most in Offaly. The data showed that all the variations were used in some capacity in all counties.
Out of the survey, just 2% used alternatives not listed in the poll.
Researchers surveyed 1,100 people across all 32 counties in what is believed to be the biggest poll on the topic ever which was released ahead of Mother’s Day tomorrow.
It comes as Rachael Kane, a spokesperson for Paddy Power Bingo, said “This debate has raged for decades so we decided to give everyone a much clearer picture by carrying out the mother of all polls on the subject which captured the opinion of over 1,100 people across all 32 counties.”
She added: “While “Mum” may have topped the poll, we learned that almost every other iteration is used widely across the country.”
“The most important thing however is no matter what you call your Mother make sure you tell her you love her today!”
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