Sir, – Des Hughes (August 13th) beat me to the draw, but I applaud his contribution, and your newspaper for giving him space.
In all my times in Ireland, I never heard the rather insipid description “mum”, a word which seems to reflect a wish to gentrify the old and more acceptable term of “mammy”. As the gentleman said, this development is aided and abetted by the Fourth Estate and its offshoots. – Yours, etc,
PJ HILL,
Liverpool.
Sir, – I’m an Irish “mam” and proud of it, as was my Mam before me. – Yours, etc,
EITHNE HIGGINS,
Clonsilla,
Dublin 15.
Sir, – Let me reassure Des Hughes that at least “mam” is alive and well and living in rural Ireland. She’s even made it to Rio! Did he not hear the O’Donovan boys referring to their mother after their silver medals last Friday? – Yours, etc,
NESSAN O’DONOGHUE,
Murroe Village,
Co Limerick.
Sir, – Call us what you will, we are still the same overworked, undervalued, multitasking mothers we’ve always been. But unlike the mammies of yesteryear, we are expected to cook like Nigella, look like Angelina, produce little Einsteins, have a career, and give Mata Hari a run for her money in the bedroom stakes. So, men of Ireland, this new breed of “super mammy” is born. Isn’t evolution a wonderful thing? – Yours, etc,
ANGIE NOLAN,
Dublin 13.