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AIBU?

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Original poster

Is this a middle class saying?

478 replies

Toblecorleone · 17/12/2023 19:36

Light hearted!

earlier today DH and I took DD to a small petting zoo type place. Not many people there and at one point it was just us and another woman with a girl aged about 3. Woman seemed quite posh, well spoken, both dressed rather posh - the woman was explaining something about guinea pigs to her daughter and then broke off and said “do you want bog?”

The girl said she did so off they went to find the toilets. I was quite suprised by the this phrase from someone who seemed so well spoken but DH says it’s a very middle class saying and he’d have thought “toilet” would have sounded more “common”.

I totally disagree!! Before anyone starts I know it doesn’t matter, I’m just amused by it and interested in how others would perceive this saying?!

YABU - Bog is very middle class
YANBU - bog is common talk

OP posts:
Needmorelego · 17/12/2023 19:53

I haven't heard "bog" (as the word for toilet) since about 1988.
It was never posh - pretty much the opposite.

LoobyDop · 17/12/2023 19:54

I think it’s a private schoolboy thing, but that’s not quite the same as “middle class”.

The only one I personally find unacceptable is “lav”, which just sounds disgusting and makes me cringe. I say “loo”.

MrsClatterbuck · 17/12/2023 19:55

Haven't heard that term in years and only heard it in school when some people referred to the toilets as the bogs. That's over 40 years ago.

YoureALizardHarry11 · 17/12/2023 19:57

I really don’t understand what’s wrong with toilet, it’s literally what it is 🤣 if you search on google it’s what it’s described as in the likes of B&Q.

TisTheDarnSeason · 17/12/2023 20:00

Well, if you have to say it (please don't, though) it would be 'the bog', surely?

It's the same as people who say 'I'm going gym'. Drives me insane.

pizzaHeart · 17/12/2023 20:00

SecondHandFurniture · 17/12/2023 19:49

I just say to DS "Do you need a wee?"

Or will announce I'm going for a wee myself...

That’s posh^ when you are confident in yourself, isn’t it the main goal of private education?

Thepeopleversuswork · 17/12/2023 20:02

YoureALizardHarry11 · 17/12/2023 19:57

I really don’t understand what’s wrong with toilet, it’s literally what it is 🤣 if you search on google it’s what it’s described as in the likes of B&Q.

There's nothing wrong with it at all, it's a perfectly good functional work. But in the U vs non U class system of the 1920s its considered very lower middle class. It's not a word the upper classes use.

Benibidibici · 17/12/2023 20:03

Loo is definitely the most mc term.

Corgiowner · 17/12/2023 20:04

Clarinet1 · 17/12/2023 19:39

I would suggest that “bog” is pretty common. “Loo” is acceptable virtually anywhere but this who are truly what my DM would have called “PLU” (people like us) would insist on “Lavatory” - NEVER the “T” word!

I was told as a child you never say “toilet” it’s up there with ”serviette”.🤪🤪

Benibidibici · 17/12/2023 20:05

"The bogs" was the standard word for the loos at my working class/lower middle class suburban comprehensive school during the 90s.

Sirian · 17/12/2023 20:05

Toilet is bad enough, but at least it’s plain speaking. Bog is absolutely foul - it’s not just common it’s absolute trash, lower than low.

Bathroom is probably ok in a small private home where the loo is likely to be in the same room as the bath, but it’s always a gamble. It’s utter nonsense in a public place though - there is unlikely to be a bath in the public ladies or gents! I once lived in a house where the bath was in a separate room to the loo, and took great delight in directing people who asked for the bathroom to the actual room with a bath (and no loo)!

Gallowayan · 17/12/2023 20:05

I'm working class and from the North of England. This was common parlance when I was at school .

DrCoconut · 17/12/2023 20:06

My posh and privately educated late friend used to say "do you need a pee?" to her kids.

Corgiowner · 17/12/2023 20:07

pizzaHeart · 17/12/2023 20:00

That’s posh^ when you are confident in yourself, isn’t it the main goal of private education?

Edited
Show quote history

I often say ”Im off to do a pee” or “I’m busting to do a pee”.

Bemyclementine · 17/12/2023 20:07

"Do you want bog" sounds distinctly northern to me. I was born and lived in yorkshire and heard it a lot. Working class.

Thepeopleversuswork · 17/12/2023 20:07

I was told as a child you never say “toilet” it’s up there with ”serviette”.🤪🤪

Same here. I still shudder at the word "serviette". Old habits die hard.

Devonshiregal · 17/12/2023 20:07

Isn’t bog just a jokey word. My mother enforced terribly strict rules around “bog” language - toilet absolutely not - too common. Lavatory absolutely not - too faux posh. lol - just right.

she also wouldn't let us say ‘posh’ because it sounded too common.

I think bog is a cross class word that’s just funny, probably a family in-joke.

Devonshiregal · 17/12/2023 20:08

loo not lol

Devonshiregal · 17/12/2023 20:08

Thepeopleversuswork · 17/12/2023 20:07

I was told as a child you never say “toilet” it’s up there with ”serviette”.🤪🤪

Same here. I still shudder at the word "serviette". Old habits die hard.

Oh yes add this to the list. Along with couch.

RedRobyn2021 · 17/12/2023 20:08

Bog 🤣🤣🤣🤣

PropertyManager · 17/12/2023 20:09

I'm resolutely middle class, public school educated and have taught in independent schools for 20 years, here my take..

At school we used (and use still) the slang term "bog/bogs" to informally refer to communal or public lavatories, more formally would be "gents, ladies or convenience" in the home always lavatory or loo, never toilet.

Wellhellooooodear · 17/12/2023 20:09

My mum is working class and I would have been bollocked for saying bog. I'd still get bollocked now age 44, I got told off for saying gob the other day!

rainbowbee · 17/12/2023 20:09

Both grandmothers would have shot me if I'd said 'toilet'. It's the loo or lavatory or may I use the bathroom. I have never heard bog used other than very occasionally by my DF (went to all-boys English boarding school) if he is being deliberately crude.

ElevenSeven · 17/12/2023 20:10

‘Do you want bog?’

No, surely no one actually says it like this..

PhulNana · 17/12/2023 20:10

@Thepeopleversuswork

the more socially confident people are the less likely they are to care about class based markers.

Well, exactly. I puzzle people sometimes because I have a rather posh RP speaking voice but I do fairly often find myself using cockney/London type expressions when they seem to be the best available.