Big Mother

n. a government attempting to exercise total control over the well-being of its citizens; parents attempting to constantly monitor or control the activities of their children, especially by means of electronic devices. Subjects: English, Government, Colloquial

Etymological Note: After Big Brother, a person or organization exercising total control over people’s lives, from the name of the head of state in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.

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Citations: 1978 Michael Halberstam Washington Post (Dec. 17) “Society’s New Scapegoats” p. D8: We see that Big Brother can come sneaking in the back door in the guise of Big Mother, urging us—indeed forcing usto wear our rubbers on rainy days. 1980 Barbara Yaffe Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada) (July 17) “Genuine suspicion of the central axis” p. P8: Later, looking through the transcribed notes of the interview, I note two phrases used by the Premier: “big brother federal Government” and “big mother central Canada” (at least he has kept it familial). His comments belie a genuine resentment toward the central authority. 1985 Rick Groen Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada) (Dec. 28) “North of the border, the tube’s glow was much brighter” p. D3: In their collective stead, we got the Live Aid concerts, an always exciting and sometimes worrying spectacle that shrunk the globe to an altruistic village ruled by a benign Big Mother. 1986 Arthur C. Heinsen @ San Jose San Francisco Chronicle (California) (Jan. 9) “Letters To The Editor”: Granted, wearing a seat belt is advisable and should be a law when applied to children, but to apply it to adults limits freedom and supports the relentlessly growing Big Mother attitude of government. 1990 Peter Kent Atlanta Journal (Georgia) (Mar. 12) “Food labeling augurs horror of grocery-store gridlock” p. A14: If public interest in diet wanes, the program can be halted without undoing a tangle of law. The federal government has only one legitimate task: fulfilling its constitutional duties. Doing more it verges on becoming Big Brother or worse—Big Mother. 1993 Pete McMartin Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada) (Mar. 19) “Worries about violence are eroding children’s freedom Fear in the neighborhood” p. A9: When a pupil doesn’t show up for school without advance notice from the parents, the school contacts the parents immediately. None of this is thought of as being the least bit unusual. This is childhood in the ’90s. Big Mother is watching you. Mrs. McClelland accepts it as a necessary part of parenting, imposed by the world that preys on children. 2006 Michael Blanding Boston (Masschusetts) (May) “Big Mother”: Advocates of parental spying say kids’ use of technology requires parents to keep up with gadgets of their own. Critics, however, have coined a term for the trend. Instead of Big Brother, they call such surveillance “Big Mother.” And what, they ask, ever happened to trust?

Posted 11 Aug 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Thanks for making this “official”.

by Richard Kuhlenschmidt 14 Aug 06, 0430 GMT