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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Tell me if I'm being precious over this

88 replies

Dancergirl · 01/04/2011 09:43

My dds have been learning a Mothers Day song at school. Dd2 sang it to me in the car yesterday and it contains this line:

'Sometimes she gets stressy'

I'm a bit of a stickler for spelling/punctuation/general good grammar and I object to the non-word 'stressy'. How can we expect our children to speak well and properly if they're learning things like this....?

Would this annoy you?

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 01/04/2011 09:44

no,it wouldnt.....new words are being added to the dictionary all the time

nethunsreject · 01/04/2011 09:45

Yab precious, yes.

squeakytoy · 01/04/2011 09:46

chillax Grin

HandMini · 01/04/2011 09:46

Yes, I would also be annoyed, for the reasons that you are and also by the fact that children are being indoctrinated with the steretype that women are hysterical / uncontrolled? For goodness sake, what a crass and stupid line anyway - can you imagine a song with a line like that about a man????

Yes, I am a bit of a feminist and high horsey about this.

pingu2209 · 01/04/2011 09:47

No it wouldn't. Are you one of those people who gets angry when someone uses the apostrophe in the wrong place?

StickyProblem · 01/04/2011 09:49

YANBU. Boak.

Niceguy2 · 01/04/2011 09:50

ffs....seriously....you got some wound up by this that it needed a post in AIBU????

StickyProblem · 01/04/2011 09:51

Thanks Handmini. I was about to say the song sounds like sexist crap but need to get some work done instead of arguing on MN. You have given me courage.

The song sounds like sexist crap.

AliceWorld · 01/04/2011 09:52

Yep it was the sexism that I thought was going to be the subject. That bothers me.

tethersend · 01/04/2011 09:53

I'd be incandescent with rage. Seriously.

Although I would appreciate the irony.

squeakytoy · 01/04/2011 09:53

How on earth is it about sexism? Men can get stressy too you know!.. its not gender exclusive.

senua · 01/04/2011 09:55

Go on. Give us all the lyrics.
I bet that they used the word 'stressy' because of the rhyme.

HandMini · 01/04/2011 09:56

Just for the record, I wouldn't actually blow up about this and do anything crazee like refusing to let my child sing it or complain to the school, but I would have a bloody good laugh / rant about it with DP/friends/on MN because that's the reaction it provokes in me. Granted that it's a cute idea that school children sing a song about their mothers, but SURELY it could be better than that??!

Pingpong · 01/04/2011 09:56

I get stressed. I don't get stressy.
This would annoy me.

emsyj · 01/04/2011 09:57

YANBU. It's just laziness to use a non-word in these circumstances. They couldn't be bothered to think of a better rhyme!

New words coming into the language where they are needed and useful (or even just fun) is one thing, but making stuff up just to facilitate a rhyme is so very wrong!

NB Don't care if I am precious.

squeakytoy · 01/04/2011 09:57

probably along the lines of "sometimes I am messy, so my mum gets stressy" ... Grin

FudgeGirl · 01/04/2011 09:58

Oh the (stressy) irony Grin

HandMini · 01/04/2011 09:58

Squeakytoy - it's a song about mothers!! If it were a song about parents with the line "Sometimes they get stressy" it would be fine. It's definitely stereotyping to include that line. I want to know all the lyrics now actually - I bet there's a good number about "rushing about" "doing lots of washing" and "making the dinner"....

Original poster
Dancergirl · 01/04/2011 09:59

No it wouldn't. Are you one of those people who gets angry when someone uses the apostrophe in the wrong place?

Yes, afraid so! Blush

Handmini - if you think that bit's bad, there's another line about 'mum doing the cleaning and shopping' Wink

OP posts:
squeakytoy · 01/04/2011 10:00

making stuff up just to facilitate a rhyme is so very wrong

I can think of countless poets and songwriters who have done very well out of doing just that.... :)

Original poster
Dancergirl · 01/04/2011 10:01

Can't remember the exact words, but stressy doesn't rhyme with another word but the 2 syllables fit the rhythm.

Yes new words come into the dictionary from time to time but this isn't one of them! I like my children to speak/write good English. It's v important.

OP posts:
Antidote · 01/04/2011 10:02

Yanbu

My teeth are itching and there is a full on cats bum mouth going here, both at the crappy grammar and the sexism.

squeakytoy · 01/04/2011 10:03

This is presumably a song written by children, who see their mums doing these jobs, which in a normal world, is a normal daily event...

prettywhiteguitar · 01/04/2011 10:04

God what a load of sexist crap......personally I would have a bit of a bitch to the teacher and see what she/he thought

but then maybe I expect better in schools nowadays than a song about how mums are obsessed with cleaning and tiding Hmm

senua · 01/04/2011 10:04

I googled 'mothers day song stressy'. Google said do you mean 'mothers day song stressed'. See, even Google knows that it is wrong.

And they don't even have the rhyme excuse! Here it is in all its sexist awfulness ...

My Mum

My mum?s one in a million,
I?m sure that you would agree.
I wouldn?t say that she?s perfect,
But she?s the best one for me.
Sometimes she can get grumpy.
And sometimes she gets upset,
But I still know that she loves me,
And that I?ll never forget!

CHORUS
Oh! This is a Mother?s Day song for you.
Mum, you?re ever so special and I?m
Gonna find ways to say I love you too.

My mum?s ever so clever,
She may not have a degree,
But she can help with my homework,
And that?s what matters to me.
Sometimes she can be stressy,
Sometimes even she shouts!
But I still know that she loves me,
And that?s what really counts!

CHORUS

My mum?s really an angel,
She?s great at caring for me.
She does the cleaning and shopping,
And makes a wonderful tea!
Sometimes she is too busy,
Sometimes she is worn out,
But I still know that she loves me,
And that?s what this is about.