AIBU to think ‘Fart’ isn’t a swear word.

Toddlerteaplease · 2026-06-08T18:31:57+00:00

Aged 44, my mum had told me off for complaining that their cat farted, when sitting on my knee. Apparently fart is a swear word. 🤣🤔

Ohthatsabitshit · 09/06/2026 16:33

Thebinisrightthere · 09/06/2026 15:27

I think what the poster means is that if you saw it in a news article, for instance, some of the letters might be blanked out or with asterisks instead, which would indicate that it's an offensive word to some

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The wild asterisk and other punctuation marks instead of swearing or rude words isn’t something particularly prevalent in broadsheets. I think more The Beano or Mail/Sun. Purple nonsense, and more a sort of faux gentility than a real indicator of what is “swearing”.

Mumandcarer80 · 09/06/2026 16:10

hugasaurus · 08/06/2026 19:33

My 7yo and 3yo use it! I hate all those cutesy words for it, pumps and trumps and puffs and bottom burps and whatever else. Let’s call a fart a fart!

Edited

I take great delight in telling American Trump supporters online. That trump is a more polite word for fart in the uk.

Thebinisrightthere · 09/06/2026 15:27

Ohthatsabitshit · 09/06/2026 12:39

Ahhh I see. You are asking if I’m an immigrant?

I can assure you that “shit” is not an uncommon word in the English language. Possibly it’s more common in the countryside (as is shit being talked about because dogs roll in it, animals produce it and piles of it have to be managed)? But no, I don’t think you have to be Dutch to use the word shit. How funny.

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I think what the poster means is that if you saw it in a news article, for instance, some of the letters might be blanked out or with asterisks instead, which would indicate that it's an offensive word to some

LakieLady · 09/06/2026 13:21

PauliesWalnuts · 08/06/2026 19:46

It was a swear word according to my dad c.1983 and we weren’t allowed to say it. We had to say “rude noise” 😁

What, even if it was a silent one?

Now that would just be silly.

MidnightMeltdown · 09/06/2026 13:02

I wasn’t allowed to say fart as child, but my mum doesn’t care now that I’m an adult!

I guess it depends on your definition of swear word. It’s probably not something that you would say in polite company.

Ohthatsabitshit · 09/06/2026 12:39

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 09/06/2026 12:21

Swear words, including “shit” are usually asterisked in news articles as some people find them offensive. That’s why I’m surprised that anyone who grew up in the UK wouldn’t know that “shit” is a swear word.

The only place I know of where “shit” isn’t really a swear word is the Netherlands. I can easily imagine a Dutch person moving to the UK and having no idea it was an expletive here.

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Ahhh I see. You are asking if I’m an immigrant?

I can assure you that “shit” is not an uncommon word in the English language. Possibly it’s more common in the countryside (as is shit being talked about because dogs roll in it, animals produce it and piles of it have to be managed)? But no, I don’t think you have to be Dutch to use the word shit. How funny.

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 09/06/2026 12:36

I used to use “windy-pop” with my elder daughter when she was tiny. But after starting school, she started saying “I forted” and “someone did a fort”. I didn’t correct her as I preferred “fort”. Although inevitably her peers did after a while.

Thebinisrightthere · 09/06/2026 12:31

I remember my mum was outraged when I sang "beans means farts" when I was about 12! Maybe she just didn't like to hear kids saying it. She certainly swore a bit herself!

DysonHoover · 09/06/2026 12:26

RedPurpleyBlue · 08/06/2026 20:58

I'm intrigued. I never would have considered fart being a swear word at all.

For those banned from saying fart as a child, were you just banned from talking about flatulence completely or were you allowed to mention it but only using a fluffy reference like pop or trump or something similar?

We had to say windypop 😂😂. Funnily enough my mum now has no issue using the word fart - she's in her 70s.

Personally I love guff and letting rip

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 09/06/2026 12:21

Ohthatsabitshit · 09/06/2026 09:30

I’m sorry you’ve lost me? What asterisks? What article? Why might I be Dutch?

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Swear words, including “shit” are usually asterisked in news articles as some people find them offensive. That’s why I’m surprised that anyone who grew up in the UK wouldn’t know that “shit” is a swear word.

The only place I know of where “shit” isn’t really a swear word is the Netherlands. I can easily imagine a Dutch person moving to the UK and having no idea it was an expletive here.

Maray1967 · 09/06/2026 12:10

MotherofPearl · 09/06/2026 07:10

I dislike it, but then I was brought up by a DM who taught us that saying “shut up” is swearing!

Oh that takes me back! My DM hated ‘shut up’ and never said it. We got ‘be quiet’. I followed suit and told mine that ‘shut up’ was rude. When MIL said it to one of them they both looked at me and she asked me what the problem was, so I told her it wasn’t a term we used. Awkward.

Wac90 · 09/06/2026 10:06

Isittimeformynapyet · 09/06/2026 08:39

What's with the exclamation marks? Those are not exciting sentences.

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You’re right, I forgot about the shortage of exclamation marks, there was me using up precious resources - in my defence it was a clearly vain attempt to add the sort of value to the thread you clearly find so easy to do! Oh darn it, I did it again…

Ohthatsabitshit · 09/06/2026 09:30

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 09/06/2026 09:09

😮 Weren’t the asterisks in news articles a bit of a clue? Or are you Dutch? Shit doesn’t really seem to be a swear word in the Netherlands.

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I’m sorry you’ve lost me? What asterisks? What article? Why might I be Dutch?

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 09/06/2026 09:09

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 09/06/2026 08:50

It’s a good Old English word - good enough for Chaucer! Personally I dislike all the prissy, prudish euphemisms. They make me think of what my DF used to call ‘the net curtain mentality’.

Though for obvious reasons I don’t dislike ‘trump’ as a euphemism, as much as I used to!

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 09/06/2026 09:09

Ohthatsabitshit · 09/06/2026 08:21

I wasn’t aware “shit” was a swear word till my children started school and definitely don’t think “fart” is. I don’t think most people discuss bodily functions in polite company, but it’s the topic that’s inappropriate not the vocabulary in this case.

😮 Weren’t the asterisks in news articles a bit of a clue? Or are you Dutch? Shit doesn’t really seem to be a swear word in the Netherlands.

LochLoughton · 09/06/2026 09:08

I find it a brash and impolite word. I still pull my adult DC up on it (and always will). They just laugh!

I'm afraid I do (very mildly ) judge other people who say it. I wouldn't drop a friendship because of it. Though I might not cultivate a new one quite as readily.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 09/06/2026 08:50

It’s a good Old English word - good enough for Chaucer! Personally I dislike all the prissy, prudish euphemisms. They make me think of what my DF used to call ‘the net curtain mentality’.

Isittimeformynapyet · 09/06/2026 08:39

Wac90 · 08/06/2026 19:45

See I would say crap is 100% a swear word, albeit a low level one! Wouldn’t cross my mind to think of fart as a swear word, though!

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What's with the exclamation marks? Those are not exciting sentences.

andnowwhatdowedo · 09/06/2026 08:34

Anotherdayanotherdollar · 08/06/2026 23:19

How do I decide if my company is polite??

You fart loudly and ask them what that noise was?

Ohthatsabitshit · 09/06/2026 08:21

I wasn’t aware “shit” was a swear word till my children started school and definitely don’t think “fart” is. I don’t think most people discuss bodily functions in polite company, but it’s the topic that’s inappropriate not the vocabulary in this case.

MajorSamanthaCarter · 09/06/2026 08:12

Gowlett · 08/06/2026 20:03

Not a swear word here. We’re a farting family.

Also a swearing household. No words are banned.

What's a farting family?

Original poster

Toddlerteaplease · 09/06/2026 07:35

@HoppingPavlovai work on a paediatric surgical ward. One of the admission questions is when did they last have bowels open. Without fail the kids, (and most of the parents) look at you gone out.

OP posts:

Bananananna · 09/06/2026 07:20

Hooplahoophoop · 08/06/2026 19:55

Not a swear word, but not polite. We call them parps. My parents called them pardon-mes. If I were being polite, I'd say someone has passed wind.

But then I could suggest even the mere mention of someone “passing wind” is rude in itself. If you need to be so polite that you need a particular phrase for it, surely mentioning it at all is just as rude?

I don’t consider fart to be a rude word. My child has always used it. But I’m also not bothered if he says “oh my god”, which very much bothers other people.

JustinesGraspingAvarice · 09/06/2026 07:17

HelpMeGetThrough · 08/06/2026 22:36

Absolutely not used in my “polite society circle”.

I only asked Tarquin the other day if he had fired off a “rectal retort”.

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Tinkly laugh Jolyon and I were discussing this the other day, because nanny said to Torquill and Cecil that farting was rude. I had to tell her in this house we say "one has just baked an air biscuit"

MotherofPearl · 09/06/2026 07:10

I dislike it, but then I was brought up by a DM who taught us that saying “shut up” is swearing!