Things we say to children that make no sense

[Justgivemethebrie]

I have 19 month old ds and he is at that stage of coming into the bathroom with me still, pottering until I'm ready to leave. Earlier, I was getting him to help and asked him to, 'Pull the chain for mummy.' It got me thinking that I have not pulled a chain in a loo since my own childhood but was refering to pressing the flush.

Wondering if anyone says anything to their children that, when you think about it, doesn't really make sense this day and age? Do you continue saying it as it is normal to you or do you change it so it makes more sense in today's world?

I am sure there are other things that I say to him that are about 20 years out of date!

Going to the Flicks... i don't even know why we called it the Flicks, maybe the screen flickering! Or the pictures as per PP.

I still tape stuff on the Sky box. I also Switch things when I go shopping, as in how I pay for it. Hasn’t been Switch for years, it’s all Visa Debit now but I can’t stop saying it.

Conversely, I’ve repeatedly asked my preschooler to switch off her colouring book/Duplo (she giggles and corrects me). Just assume everything is on a screen.

My dad asks if I can Xerox him something (photocopy).

I say going to the pictures instead of the cinema. Also, I love it when people use frock for dress.

It's not just children / teenagers.

I set a task for an ESOL class that was a shopping list, they had to check the prices in different supermarkets. They couldn't find the 'pint' of milk I'd put on the list.

And I suppose also the camera click noise that the phone makes- completely pointless!

It's there to alert you to upskirting

My DH still refers to us getting a movie from sky store as ‘watching a video.’ I don’t know why, we’ve never had a video player and I haven’t used one since I was about 8.

I call the swimming pool 'the baths'! Baffles the children.

Was listening to The Cardigans.
"Mummy, what does erase and rewind mean?"

I then explained to him about cassette tapes and their curious relationships with biros. He looked at me like I'd got two heads.

I find watching 'boxsets' weird on Netflix, prime etc.

@Moorlander

I call the swimming pool 'the baths'! Baffles the children.

I do too. It actually confused my university house mates too when I asked if they knew where the local baths was. They all called it the pool.

I'm 40s but not heard anyone irl refer to "the baths" (Id think they meant the bathroom! Or at a push the Roman Baths). Ive not heard "switching" something for paying ever either! Was that in common use?

Love the pint of milk example.

My kids cannot conceive I went to uni and arranged to meet people by leaving notes on their door. And had to walk to their rooms to do so...

Maybe “baths” is regional? I certainly grew up referring to them as “swimming baths” rather than “swimming pools” (as a child I’d have assumed that the latter meant somewhere you’d swim outdoors).

@Hidehi4

When popping into my neighbours I say to the kids I’m just popping over the road. They ask every time why I say that as we live on a terrace street and there’s no road down the middle

But a road is the same as a street isn't it?

@YesPleaseMary

Told my DDs they were “skating on thin ice” the other day. They looked at the floor then at me as if I had gone bonkers. Also have previously had to explain that we don’t actually peel our eyes.

Reminds me of my cousin declaring to her toddler on a very hot day that she was 'melting' - she instantly had a screaming toddler clutching her wildly because she thought her mummy was going to literally melt away!

I enjoy the whole thing to be honest, explaining how stuff was and seeing them wonder if you're joking.

@RainyDay2020

My Nanna still listens to “the wireless” but she can say that as she’s over 90!

My grandma did too. I know someone who is younger than me who refers to it as the 'wireless' but he's a bit of a prat.

@Kanaloa

My DH still refers to us getting a movie from sky store as ‘watching a video.’ I don’t know why, we’ve never had a video player and I haven’t used one since I was about 8.

I'm fine with that, there's nothing in "video" that says it has to refer to a chunky plastic cassette.

Some places still have 'swimming baths'.

moseleyroadbaths.org.uk/

Historically they would have been 'public baths' which is where you went for your weekly bath, local councils often built them with a swimming pool.

visitvictorianengland.blogspot.com/2013/11/keeping-clean-victorian-public-private.html

Put that on the ‘telephone table’ there’s no telephone on the table, it’s just a hall table.

If we're going on a long car or train journey and DS (4) asks to watch his kindle I say "there's no internet so you'll have to watch a video" meaning one of the films or tv shows that's been downloaded....I haven't "watched a video" since I was a kid in the 90s but it's just habit to say "video" rather than "download" 🤷🏻‍♀️

For sheer nonsense, I always enjoyed the Billy Connolly one, “BIKE? I'll give you bike!”

@Dilbertian

Not so much say, as do. The phone gesture, something like this 🤙 beside your cheek. It's been years since phones have had curved handsets with transmitter in front of your mouth and receiver over your ears.

Yes - and the universal symbol for a phone is still an original phone handset. This is increasingly meaningless but I think it will stay - like the red-and-white barber's pole, representative of the barber's shop being where you went if you fancied having your blood let in medieval times (it's a bandaged limb).

Turn on the big light.

@OublietteBravo

Maybe “baths” is regional? I certainly grew up referring to them as “swimming baths” rather than “swimming pools” (as a child I’d have assumed that the latter meant somewhere you’d swim outdoors).

Me too-I'm Brighton born and bred. The swimming baths were indoors, and the pools outdoors. As regards tv, I only discovered by accident that I could pause live telly (though not re-wind!)