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Original poster

To think it is posh and or pretentious to say you are "drawing" a bath?

181 replies

OonaStubbs · 09/06/2026 22:34

What do you think. My DP always says this but I think it is very strange and old fashioned to say this instead of just saying you are running a bath?

OP posts:
ReignOfError · 09/06/2026 23:00

My grandparents - who were anything but posh or pretentious - used say draw(ing) a bath. I’d not thought of that in decades and now I’m feeling all nicely nostalgic.

MasterBeth · 09/06/2026 22:59

EVERYONE DRAWS THE CURTAINS!! THAT WAS THE POINT!

MrsCarmelaSoprano · 09/06/2026 22:59

Totally normal,along with drawing the curtains.

ForTipsyPlumWriter · 09/06/2026 22:58

noworklifebalance · 09/06/2026 22:56

We actually do say draw the curtains - I thought everyone did!

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I say draw the curtains too! And I’m northern and definitely not posh!

DH likes to say elevenses (although he is posher than me, and from the south). I find it rather quaint and endearing.

BIWI · 09/06/2026 22:58

We draw the curtains as well!

MasterBeth · 09/06/2026 22:58

noworklifebalance · 09/06/2026 22:56

We actually do say draw the curtains - I thought everyone did!

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Yes, the previous poster is saying that "draw the curtains" is a normal expression.

MasterBeth · 09/06/2026 22:57

xrayted · 09/06/2026 22:55

It’s correct grammar, but I am old.

It's not a question of grammar; it's a question of vocabulary.

UndertheBeard · 09/06/2026 22:56

noworklifebalance · 09/06/2026 22:56

We actually do say draw the curtains - I thought everyone did!

Show quote history

We draw ours, too.

StillgotmyiPod · 09/06/2026 22:56

My husband says "draw" a bath - and he's certainly not the posh one out of the two of us!

I just say "I'm going to have a bath".

OrdinaryGirl · 09/06/2026 22:56

I rather like appearing in the door and saying haughtily to DH in a Noel Coward voice: ‘Sir’s BATH IS DRAWN’

noworklifebalance · 09/06/2026 22:56

Pistachiocake · 09/06/2026 22:51

What about draw the curtains? It's the same thing-you aren't actually getting out pencils and paper to draw them. Is that pretentious too?
Most of us might now say pull the curtains and run a bath, but others might criticise those terms too.

We actually do say draw the curtains - I thought everyone did!

UndertheBeard · 09/06/2026 22:56

Nutmuncher · 09/06/2026 22:44

It’s more weird than anything else. Draw a bath? Wtf

Edited

It’s not that weird. It’s just an idiom from when people had to ‘draw’ water from a well or pump or whatever, heat it and carry it to have a bath. ‘Running’ a bath dates from having hot and cold running water in a bathroom, so is much more recent.

xrayted · 09/06/2026 22:55

It’s correct grammar, but I am old.

Nofeckingway · 09/06/2026 22:55

Only in England is this phrase used . I think it's funny . Nobody else says draw curtains either . Everywhere else uses close curtains, run a bath .

Shinyandnew1 · 09/06/2026 22:54

It’s old fashioned but I rather like it. If he’s always said it since he was little because that’s what his parents/grandparents said, then that’s not pretentious, just tradition (sung in the voice of Topol!)

noworklifebalance · 09/06/2026 22:52

It can’t really be that pretentious because it was to do with drawing water from a well for the bath

Pistachiocake · 09/06/2026 22:51

What about draw the curtains? It's the same thing-you aren't actually getting out pencils and paper to draw them. Is that pretentious too?
Most of us might now say pull the curtains and run a bath, but others might criticise those terms too.

noworklifebalance · 09/06/2026 22:49

Who cares? I kind of like it, may start using it.

DierdreDaphne · 09/06/2026 22:48

"when youve finished dear are you going to paint it?"

Even my old, posh grandad ( born in the 1900s and who used to pronounce off "orf" much to my young entertainment) didn't say this..and I know he went to a super posh boarding school too!

So I'm assuming your dh is about 150??

Nutmuncher · 09/06/2026 22:44

It’s more weird than anything else. Draw a bath? Wtf

Onelifeonly · 09/06/2026 22:43

It's how people used to say it. It amused me as a child due to the alternate meaning of the word. It's not pretentious, its just language use has changed. Why is 'run' a better word? Draw means to take water, Run means to cause it to flow.

Agathassorethumb27 · 09/06/2026 22:42

If one is forced to draw one’s own bath in the absence of a valet, then no, it doesn’t qualify as pretentious… 😉😊

MasterBeth · 09/06/2026 22:40

Old-fashioned, not pretentious.

Pemba · 09/06/2026 22:39

Well it's a very old turn of phrase, kind of amusing to hear. Why would it bother you though?

Runsaway · 09/06/2026 22:39

It’s a bit antiquated these days, not necessarily pretentious. My PIL, long dead, used to say it.