My son's reaction to the phrase "picky bits".

[SquirrelsAreGo]

My son is having a weekend of birthday moments ahead of the day on Tuesday. He is turning 17, and we've been teasing him about how he needs to know the dark side of being an adult (for some context, he is ND, funny, and plays along beautifully, adding his own roasts about how his older brother not adulting properly). He really enjoys word play, and learning British phrases that haven't made it to Oz where we now live.

We were discussing what he wanted for lunch, making suggestions for picnic type foods. At the time I was grasping for the word "picnic" so said "if we were in the UK, some people would describe them as 'picky bits'. He looked me straight in the eye and said " Why? Why would you do that to me? Is this what comes with being an adult?? Gdammit!"

Fascinating that, even without me giving any idea of how I feel about the phrase, his reaction was the same as mine. I sat him down and explained that this is what we meant by having to get used to the adult world, and that I was sorry we had to ramp it up so hard, but we only had until Tuesday to get him educated.

And then I remembered the word picnic and the world tilted back onto its axis.

Where im from 'picky bits' translates as the phrase meaning fluff that gathers down the crack of your buttocks on a sweaty day, so he was right to hate it.

Nibbles

Oh, they're lovely!
Clever m&s troll.

Nose picking. That's why it's such a horrible expression.

I'm nearly 60 and from East/South and have always used 'picky bits' as did my DM. The word has been around since 70's. It's just basically odds n sods, now that sounds worse, lol. Even finger buffet sounds a bit grim.

'picky tea' is equally as bad.

I sometimes call it '(family surname) tapas' (tongue in cheek) but that also applies to 'raid the back of the freezer for assortment of random leftovers that need using up' meals too.

Looks like I found my tribe, I hate the phrase too, and had to put that in print.

Aren’t odds and sods the things you find in drawers that only get opened once every few years?

Nevertheless, I’d still find that term preferable for food than picky bits with it’s unforgivable tweeness!

I honestly can't say I've ever made that connection before but it is irreparably ruined for me now!!!

Picky bits is vile.

If anyone remembers the kids tv show Maid Marion and her merry men, there was a song in that and in one section an old lady scratched her warty flaky skin into a plate of food, and that is what Picky Bits conjures up for me. That scene haunted me for my entire childhood

me too
this brings me out in a rash and I start twitching uncontrollably
(same as holibobs, hubs and furbaby)

if you remember Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom)
in the Pink Panther films,
that’s me, strait jacket, jabbering…

or a modest melange ?

I'm usually quite snobby about language and words, but I quite like the expression.

When I was a kid in the 80's my parents would serve picky bits with drinks. Small bowls of peanuts or bombay mix (which I'm still not convinced is actually food).

It never referred to any type of meal, just snacks to go with drinks. So I can cope with the phrase picky bits, picky tea on the other hand revolts me.

'Finger buffet' 😂😂😂
Surely no one can say that without smirking.

We call it a party tea.

We call it a picnic tea

I must be posh.. Does picky bits mean items of food that can be eaten without knife or fork? If so , and it's at a family get together, this would be cold buffet lunch or tea, where I come from. If it's plated up small items at home to be eaten at an ordinary mealtime, then we use order army words like lazy lunch or tea time. Picky bits sounds too much like picky eaters .

It is a Northern phrase as in picky tea.

Picky tea isn't as bad in my opinion. It's the picky + bits that sounds awful to me.

Oh come on! I thought that was fine (past tense).

Sorry I also came to say birthday moments made me want to barf

Can be both, but generally a softy that feel the cold a bit too sharply(coughDHcough)

My Australian MIL calls them picky doos, so I do think the saying has infiltrated somewhat.

I thought it was just me! 'Picky bits' is a very off-putting description for food.