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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:
SnaillikeCantaloupe · 17/12/2023 20:47

Well I never, ‘toilet’ is looked down upon? 😂 Glad I don’t hang around with some people on here - how exhausting to constantly worry about people smugly smirking that you’ve just outed yourself as not ‘one of them’.

My partner says bog because he thinks it’s funny, definitely not because he thinks it’s a more palatable alternative to toilet or loo. It might just be their family in-joke?

Whataretheodds · 17/12/2023 20:48

CharlotteSometimes1 · 17/12/2023 19:44

Using the word toilet indicates your class, those in the know are aware it’s ‘common’ as are many words that aren’t traditionally English. Many people think it’s perfectly acceptable, they don’t know they’re signaling that they’re not middle class. Therefore given the choice between bog and toilet, bog wins.

You may think this is all nonsense, but that’s the class system for you. See Nancy Mitford U and NonU.

This. Traditionally the upper classes shunned French (-originating) words (toilet, loo, serviette, pardon, mirror) in favour of lavatory, napkin, what (sorry at a pinch), (looking) glass.

Middle classes used French-originating words because they thought they sounded sophisticated. Middle classes using those words was even more reason for the uppers to avoid them.

Middle classes tend to be more euphemistic.

Lavenderflower · 17/12/2023 20:48

I associate it with independent/private school children. I wouldn't expect an adult to say it.

Whataretheodds · 17/12/2023 20:49

Jilly Cooper's "Class" is an entertaining read on the subject if you're interested. Of course out of date now but much remains true.

Corgiowner · 17/12/2023 20:49

LauderSyme · 17/12/2023 20:41

I think the Sir John Betjeman poem is a gentle satire poking fun at nouveau-riche middle class wannabees, who like to ape the social graces of the genuinely old moneyed class, but are doomed to always have inherently less taste and to try that little bit too hard.

Of course it is Betjaman loved mocking the aspiring middle classes and the nouveau riche.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 17/12/2023 20:50

Never might the bathroom , tell me about the Guinea-Pigs Grin

MistletoeandJd · 17/12/2023 20:50

I just want to be there tbh to see the well dressed declare bog

Hedjwitch · 17/12/2023 20:51

I only have one very posh (smart) friend.
He says "rum" for room and "scent" for perfume. Parents are mummy and pa

CathyorClaire · 17/12/2023 20:51

Hedjwitch · 17/12/2023 20:28

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

Is slash or wazz OK?

Asking for a friend who may divulge such vulgar details to her longstanding dh in a most ironic manner

peppermintcrisp · 17/12/2023 20:52

My DH always says he is going to 'spend a penny' :(

Thedogscollar · 17/12/2023 20:53

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.

Thank God I'm not the only one that thinks there's nothing wrong with saying the word toilet.
Honestly this place is nuts sometimes.
I would never use the word bog.

Happytoeatchips · 17/12/2023 20:55

No bog is not posh. As a high school teacher (north of England) for many years, toilet or loo were the usual (polite) terms pupils used if asking to go there, now bathroom is increasingly common. Sounds American to me!

Alliwantforchristmasisbooooze · 17/12/2023 20:55

This made me laugh, definitely not posh, we’d say it in the mid 90’s at school. Now I usually say ‘I need the loo’ or ‘I need a wee’ sure I’ve said ‘I need the toilet’ too and don’t see anything wrong with it?!

HoppingPavlova · 17/12/2023 20:56

Nope, it’s right up there with Dunny and Shitter.

Are you sure she wasn’t referring a stuffed cuddle toy?

OhCrumbsWhereNow · 17/12/2023 20:57

Bog is fine and I would definitely say that if I was made to choose between bog and toilet (shudder).

But it's more of boy thing though - my father and brother would probably use it. Certainly prep schools loos were termed 'the bogs'.

Lavatory always seemed a bit too formal, 'lav' is awful. Loo is definitely the best term, bathroom if not in the UK.

Also on the banned list - pardon, lounge (unless in a hotel or airport), couch and serviette.

TisTheDarnSeason · 17/12/2023 20:57

Middleagedmeangirls · 17/12/2023 20:40

@TisTheDarnSeason

I work with mainly working class young people in a fairly deprived London borough. They all say 'are you going Nandos' or 'I went Nandos'. They never say going to or went to. Of all their little idiosyncrasies that's the one that drives me mad.

Thinking about it, I've never heard one of them refer to a 'bog'. They nearly always say toilet or ladies/gents. To me bog is a very old fashioned and vulgar working class London word.

I'm old and MC and I say loo.

It's like nails down a blackboard for me.

peppermintcrisp · 17/12/2023 20:57

I hate saying loo. I usually say can I use the bathroom. All signs say toilet. I hate all the MC/UC angst.

The word loo makes my skin crawl.

Zone2NorthLondon · 17/12/2023 20:57

Cludgie

DrMarshaFieldstone · 17/12/2023 20:58

Toblecorleone · 17/12/2023 20:43

She definitely meant toilet, it was very obvious that the child needed the toilet at this point.

we’re in Yorkshire if that makes a difference.

Ah, so was it ‘t’bog’ then?

CathyorClaire · 17/12/2023 20:59

I'm re-adopting 'bog' from now on.

Underused classic IMO.

OhCrumbsWhereNow · 17/12/2023 21:00

Hedjwitch · 17/12/2023 20:51

I only have one very posh (smart) friend.
He says "rum" for room and "scent" for perfume. Parents are mummy and pa

I spent half my life being told off for saying perfume instead of 'scent'. I still feel minor angst when I say perfume.

I did refuse to use 'looking glass' instead of mirror though.

instantick · 17/12/2023 21:00

its equal to saying lets go to the crapper

sunglassesonthetable · 17/12/2023 21:00

Had forgotten about going 'to the bog'. 😄

That's what we called it at my private girl's boarding school.

But then we did swear like a navvies.

Janinejones · 17/12/2023 21:00

School, or Guides/Scouts at camp or outdoors.

Maverick101 · 17/12/2023 21:01

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.

It's very very Hyacinth Bucket

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