To think this was a bit tactless of the teacher

[callherwillow]

The teacher in question referred to friends daughter (Year 4) as 'bonny'. I realise that there are areas of the country where this is just a compliment without any other connotations but here it essentially means 'fat.'

The friends DD was a few minutes late due to helping set up the assembly and upon entering had gone to sit with her friends and was stopped by the teacher who tried to steer her to the year 6s and when she politely explained she was in year 4 the teacher commented (in a whole school assembly where the children could all hear her) 'well, you are a very bonny girl for year 4, aren't you?'

Not the teachers finest hour, I don't think?

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Is the teacher local?

[BrandNewAndImproved]

Bonny doesn't mean fat.

Bonny means healthy and glowing.

Teachers are in general friendly to children, they don't go around purposely insulting them fgs.

[MidnightHag]

Never heard of "bonny" meaning "fat".

[araiba]

i have never heard of bonny meaning fat.

pretty, beautiful etc yes

ive never heard a non scottish type saying it either

[IoraRua]

Depends where teacher is from and how common the local slang is. I've never heard of bonny = fat.

[NeverbuytheDailyMail]

The only context in which that sentence makes sense is if she was saying she was big. She would hardly be saying that she is very pretty for year 4 (which is what bonny means here). Yip - inappropriate. I'd be tempted to have a word with head or deputy head and ask them to remind teachers that commenting on children's weight/size is not acceptable.

[callherwillow]

Yes, I remember a similar discussion last time 'bonny' was mentioned on these boards - I realise that for some of you 'bonny' doesn't mean fat but it definitely does here. The fact that 'bonny' isn't fat in some areas of the country doesn't mean it isn't in others - or indeed vice versa :)

The teacher is local.

[araiba]

well, you are a very fat girl for year 4, aren't you?'

doesnt make that much sense either

[RhiWrites]

Here's a link to last time this came up: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2628469-To-ask-what-bonny-means-when-describing-a-baby?trending=1

Bonny does indeed mean fat. My auto correct tried to make that "Nommy does indeed mean fat" which is probably also true.

[mrgrouper]

no way the teacher was calling the girl fat

[PerspicaciaTick]

Bonny Bobby Shafto wasn't fat.

[BalloonSlayer]

araiba If the local meaning for "bonny" is "fat" and the teacher, who is from the local area, said "well, you are a very bonny girl for year 4, aren't you?'" by way of explaining her mistake, then she was saying that the reason she mistook the girl for a Year 6 is because she is big for her age.

[callherwillow]

I appreciate (as I said in my OP ) that it has regional variations, but I can very confidently state that the teacher was calling her fat, because here bonny means fat.

It was saying - you're big for year 4.

[bumbleymummy]

Can't it mean kind of 'big' rather than fat? As in she's quite tall for her age.

[BalloonSlayer]

willow steel yourself for 985 messages of "YABU, bonny doesn't mean fat round here" before the thread gets mercifully full.

[steff13]

Is she overweight? If she isn't, then it doesn't make any sense that she meant fat.

I am really glad I'm not a teacher.

[callherwillow]

She is tall yes, which is why 'you are tall for year 4' would have been a kinder way of explaining her mistake.

[readytorage]

Where are you from op...the only place in the country where Bobby means fat? It means pretty or cute.

[callherwillow]

I am a teacher.

I've managed never to call any of my pupils fat! If I did, I'd deserve a parental complaint.

She is tall and rather portly. 'Solid' would be how my friend would describe her.

[bumbleymummy]

Even from a baby point of view I thought it could mean just a big, strapping baby iykwim. Not necessarily a bad thing! (I know it typically means pretty - I just mean that this is the way I have interpreted its alternative use)

[acasualobserver]

Complain. This order:

Governors
Ofsted
MP
Pope
MI5
Queen

[kitchenunit]

We had this exact same thread a few weeks ago.

To save you the bother, the conclusion was that it depends which area of the U.K. you're from.

[readytorage]

*bonny

[BrandNewAndImproved]

The teacher wasn't calling her fat.

It doesn't really matter that the teacher is a local, how do you know what language she has picked up on or not? It wasn't that long ago there was bonny baby competitions. They weren't fat baby competitions they were bonny baby competitions.

Either we have nice teachers that like children and have good relationships with them, or we have impersonal robots that never comment on anything either one way or the over because of how parents (not dc) take it.