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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:
Needhelpsupport · 17/12/2023 20:23

I cannot bear the word toilet. I always say loo and always corrected my children if they said toilet…awful word !

Quitelikeit · 17/12/2023 20:24

What a lot of nonsense on this thread.

Corgiowner · 17/12/2023 20:24

narniabusiness · 17/12/2023 20:22

@Corgiowner 😂I’ve not seen that poem before. I’m left wondering what’s wrong with some of the phrases though.

Which bits?

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 17/12/2023 20:24

Agree with poster saying that Bog probably referred to the name of a toy .

So, I'm common and may say 'I need the bog' to my family or if I'm in the pub. However it's not a phrase I would use with strangers, at work, and nor would I teach it to a child .

Cwtshcwtsh · 17/12/2023 20:25

Well it seems the Daily Heil has an opinion.

Is this a middle class saying?
fishfingersandtoes · 17/12/2023 20:25

Hollowgast · 17/12/2023 20:18

I think the polite term is "Dump station"

You're mistaken, it's actually crap hole or log depository.
Dump station marks one out as very lower middle clarse.

Corgiowner · 17/12/2023 20:25

Quitelikeit · 17/12/2023 20:24

What a lot of nonsense on this thread.

Or harmless fun? 😂

QueenMegan · 17/12/2023 20:25

Do I want bog not even the bog. Are you sure they didn't trot of to get a stuffed toy. That's very low brow talk.

PhulNana · 17/12/2023 20:25

narniabusiness · 17/12/2023 20:12

Nancy Mitford wrote the U and Non U lists as a bit of a light newspaper column in the beginning but it proved to be very popular. The Non U words were often French in derivation - hence Toilet and Serviette. Why she had a downer on French words I don’t know. She lived in France for much of the latter half of her life.

Show quote history

She was said to not take anything very seriously, and I have felt for a long time that there was a strong element of gentle mischief in those lists. I am not alone, and a number of critics have called many of her list entries 'arbitrary'.

A 2021 'Town and Country' article said:

'Works of armchair sociology often don't endure, but there was something pernicious to Mitford’s creation. The author assumed unspecified authority on a murky subject and doled out unverifiable pronouncements. All but the most self-confident readers could not resist checking themselves against the list. Even those who denied Mitford’s assertions or insisted it was all just a big joke unwittingly participated in her project simply by engaging in the argument.'

StarlightLime · 17/12/2023 20:25

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.

You actually shudder? Why does it matter so much to you if someone uses a word you wouldn't choose to? It sounds quite... performative to me.

Mimikyuu · 17/12/2023 20:26

I don’t understand what the problem is with toilet??

snowfootsteps · 17/12/2023 20:27

The bog (never just bog) was a term used when I was at boarding school in the 1980s. Haven't heard it much since.

NotTerfNorCis · 17/12/2023 20:28

Bog is definitely 'common'!

Wouldn't have said 'bog' at home when growing up. At secondary school with friends I would have!

Mind you, I never heard anyone say 'common' until I went to university.

Hedjwitch · 17/12/2023 20:28

Bog is crude and unpleasant. Might as well say " I need a piss/ shit"

Kdtym10 · 17/12/2023 20:28

The middle class use the definite article in such sentences.

Blueblell · 17/12/2023 20:28

Bog is probably the dog or a cuddly toy left in the back of their posh car

ClareBlue · 17/12/2023 20:29

Toilet meant something else to upper class. It was fixing makeup, hair pieces and perfuming yourself, not going to urinate or defecate. You didn't tell people you needed to sort your makeup out or were getting a bit smelling or sweaty so you never said 'I'm going to toilet (or the toilet)'. If you were going to not toilet you indicated this by saying you were going to the lavatory. If you said you need the toilet, this was not good at all.
Bog is a public school slangy term for the lavatory. It's not generally used outside school settings and definitely not used generally by the upper class.

DrMarshaFieldstone · 17/12/2023 20:31

The only person I’ve known IRL to use ‘bog’ was a very UC tutor at my college. She would never have omitted the definite article, however.

Spaghettieis · 17/12/2023 20:31

Worrying about sounding common is common. Bog is contrived grimness.

fishfingersandtoes · 17/12/2023 20:32

Bog is more house of lords, some of those lot are very low born. I'm thinking, if we're talking about going for a shit and wanting to impress, do it how the royals do: CALL THE PORT AUTHORITY! There's been a release!
That's what the truly smart people say.

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 17/12/2023 20:32

Mimikyuu · 17/12/2023 20:26

I don’t understand what the problem is with toilet??

It goes back to upper class people looking down on language used by middle wannabees. It appears that a lot of MNers like to think they had an extremely posh upbringing.

NotTerfNorCis · 17/12/2023 20:33

I assumed the missing definite article is because the speaker was an Eastern European.

Zarah123 · 17/12/2023 20:33

My mum says latrine 😆

Corgiowner · 17/12/2023 20:33

*”Bog is a public school slangy term for the lavatory. It's not generally used outside school settings and definitely not used generally by the upper class.”
@ClareBlue your right my DS went to world famous boys boarding school he and all his friends used to call them “bogs” I’d forgotten about that.

ConstantRain · 17/12/2023 20:34

I use the word bathroom if I'm in someone's house and toilet or loo if I'm out and about.
I had no idea about the class thing as my family aren't originally from UK so it doesn't bother me anyway.