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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to hate the expression "the boy"

66 replies

PetersburgPrincess · 03/01/2013 02:19

I'm not even sure why.

My friend uses it all the time - "Me and the boy are going out tonight"

Or I see a photo on facebook of a couple entitled "Me and the boy"

I don't know why it annoys me so much when I see it but it really does.

OP posts:
InNeedOfBrandy · 03/01/2013 07:14

I really like being called bubs and boo and such Blush my dc also have nicknames chicken and munch

The boy and lil man are awful though.

noddyholder · 03/01/2013 07:19

My dp is my partner and I refer to him as such. What do you suggest I call him?

captainBeaky · 03/01/2013 07:20

I hava a fb friend who does this too. Also calls niece and nephew 'the king' and 'queen'.

niceupthedance · 03/01/2013 07:24

Was just about to say, king and queen for boyfriend and girlfriend is the worst offender I've seen. Just wow.

everlong · 03/01/2013 07:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VBisme · 03/01/2013 07:31

I have a feeling that the narrator in "diary of a call girl", referred to her boyfriend as "the boy", so since then I've always thought it was v v naff and a bit affected.
Not the same when used for children obviously!

captainBeaky · 03/01/2013 07:34

everlong she wasn't talking about naming children. She calls her OH the boy.

surroundedbyblondes · 03/01/2013 07:40

It's what grandad Tumble calls Mr Tumble Grin

SantasNaughtySack · 03/01/2013 07:42

It's slightly better than 'Manshape'

Proudnscaryvirginmary · 03/01/2013 07:43

Gives me the rage too and I also can't put my finger on why. Also hate the many smug unfunny female columnists who routinely refer to their family members as 'the husband' and 'the daughter'.

everlong · 03/01/2013 08:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bulletwithbutterflywings · 03/01/2013 08:20

'The Boy' for a partner is just weird. We call our son The Boy all the time though.

Meggymoodle · 03/01/2013 08:29

The Boy is what Belle de Jour, a "high class" call girl, uses to describe her boyfriend in her diaries. I'm not sure that does anything the recommend the term.

chris481 · 03/01/2013 08:30

"boy was what the whites called the black slaves"

You should have said servants, not slaves. Slavery was abolished in South Africa in 1834. However "boy" is an offensive term when applied to black men by whites.

peaceandlovebunny · 03/01/2013 09:57

my mum sometimes calls my dad 'the lad'. he's eighty.

TheFallenMadonna · 03/01/2013 10:02

I sometimes call my 64 yo mother's 65 yo partner her lover. Just for effect really.

DH and I call our DS and DD the boy and the girl. Just between us.

LotsaTuddles · 03/01/2013 10:06

I call my DP a very odd name, it's not fault though. When his niece was small, she couldn't say his name, so started calling him something completely different, it's stuck, and we all call him it because if you say to her, oh uncle(Tuddles' DP) asked you to get him something, she looks at you as if you've grown another head, I think she's actually forgotten his name

shellshock7 · 03/01/2013 16:05

My MIL calls my DS 'the boy' and 'a boy', I hate it and my DH has started doing it too so i cant get away from it. It is so impersonal and lacking in affection. Our boy is ok I guess but anything else gggrrrrr

FobblyWoof · 03/01/2013 16:09

YANBU. I hate it. It sound very possessive and patronising. Like if my DP called me "the mrs".

ComposHat · 03/01/2013 16:12

I really dislike 'partner' it sounds so clinical and businesslike.

The only people who should be allowed to use the term 'partner' are those who actually have a civil partnership and cowboys.

I prefer to use the term 'live-in lover' it sounds like something you'd only see in a tabloid newspaper and has a slightly louche and lascivious ring to it.

sweetkitty · 03/01/2013 16:12

We sometimes call DS the boy, but he is our only son and has three sisters, he is the only boy, DP is not a boy and u wouldn't call him one.

He also gets called "the wee man" that's a Scottish thing though, DD3 is the "wee lady" as it suits her as she thinks she is a lady.

whois · 03/01/2013 16:18

In relation to a partner it's really icky. The boy, the boyf, the chap. Ugh ugh fucking ugg does he not have a name???

In relation to your child I think it's ok as they are actually a boy.

TheMonster · 03/01/2013 16:21

We refer to ds as the boy.

InLoveWithDavidTennant · 03/01/2013 16:22

i call my dh husband sometimes tbh i cant believe he married me and i like that we're husband and wife now he also calls me wifey sometimes. no harm in it, we're both happy and dont do it that often

BarredfromhavingStella · 03/01/2013 16:27

In relation to a partner it sounds awful but for a child I think it's fine. I used to call my brother our kid which I suppose some would find irritating.......