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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Or is 'crap' not a word a 3 & 6 year old should use?

46 replies

devonsmummy · 01/08/2013 20:54

Ds age 6 - dad what's a slum?
'D'H - it's a craphole
Me - er, that's swearing
Kids in fits of giggles while dh saying crap's not swearing
So who's right?

OP posts:

gordyslovesheep · 01/08/2013 20:56

some people think it's sweary some don't

I don't count it as a bad word it doesn't bother me, doesn't mean I'm right though

I am helpful aren't it

kinkyfuckery · 01/08/2013 20:57

I guess it's open to interpretation. I wouldn't be impressed by his 'definition' though as now your DS still doesn't really have an answer to his question.

Justforlaughs · 01/08/2013 20:57

I've heard worse (from a 2 yo) but it's not a word that I would want my DD using tbh.

WhoNickedMyName · 01/08/2013 20:59

I wouldn't say it's swearing but I wouldn't like to hear a child saying it. I'd tell my DS off if he used it.

Snazzyenjoyingsummer · 01/08/2013 21:00

Not a good explanation at all, no, and the word's not great either.

tarantula · 01/08/2013 21:04

Crap first meant the rubbish left over after brewing. It then came to mean general rubbish in some places and shit in other places.
So to me (Irish)it means rubbish and is a word that my mother (who doesn't swear at all in any way) will use.
To dp (London) it is another word for shit and he would say 'going for a crap' which to me just sounds wrong.

MrsPercyPig · 01/08/2013 21:06

It's not a swear word but it's a really inappropriate word for children to use.

Quite a lazy word also in my opinion- I think "surely you can think of another description" when I hear people use it!

Not allowed in my classroom or house!

ilovecolinfirth · 01/08/2013 21:06

I think these days crap isn't classed as a swear word, but its not polite, and certainly one I wouldn't want my children to use.

If your kids repeated that word at school they would be told off I should think.

WorraLiberty · 01/08/2013 21:08

It's not a swear word but crap or 'bloody' for that matter are not words I like to hear from children.

Anyway, they need to grow up knowing when it's appropriate/not appropriate to use these words.

Telling a job interviewer that you left your last job because it was a pile of bloody crap, isn't going to go down well....

Scruffey · 01/08/2013 21:09

I let my kids say crap.

Don't think your dh's context is very good though

"That film was crap" - I would allow dc to say at home but they would never ever say crap at school (7 and 5).

"Crap hole" is ruder IMO due to the use of the word hole!

Also h could think of a better definition of slum!

nannynewo · 01/08/2013 21:11

I think it's up to the individual parents. I use it sometimes but wouldn't really like hearing a child hear it.

Sorry to hijack but what do people think about the word bloody?

My mum thinks it's swearing and hates me using it however my dad uses it a lot! I must add my mum is english and dad welsh...Welsh people tend to use bloody a lot!

ShabbyButNotChic · 01/08/2013 21:15

Its one of those borderline words for me. I work with young kids so have to really watch my language! When i have heard them say it (7-11yrs) i have usually said 'it might not be swearing but its not nice language, i dont want to hear it again'.
We have had to really clamp down on language in school in the last term though, everything is either gay/crap...it sounds awful.

maillotjaune · 01/08/2013 21:16

Crap and bloody are mild but as other posters have said, I don't want to hear my children say them.

Have given them a patient explanation about appropriate use of words on the couple of occasions they have used 'crap' but not the telling off that the whispering to a younger brother about knowing the 'proper swears' brought

MsVestibule · 01/08/2013 21:48

Crap and bloody is mild swearing (bloody is worse than crap IMHO) and although I use them sometimes, I wouldn't want to hear my children using them. Hypocritical, I know. I also would avoid using either word in front of my mother as she'd give me the cat's bum mouth.

Whothefuckfarted · 01/08/2013 21:53

Where I am from in the North of Scotland it isn't a swear word or a rude word, it's simply another term for 'rubbish'.

Where I live now in North England it's considered a rude word even a swear word by some.

Same goes for 'knackered' Home town = tired, not rude at all.
Where I live now = been shagging all night! Very rude apparently...

LongTailedTit · 01/08/2013 22:01

I'd say it's swearing, albeit rather mild.
Bloody is a swear word too, and I would be surprised to hear children use either word.

tarantula crap comes from crapper, which is slang for toilet, due to the popularisation of said item by one Thomas Crapper

PeppermintPasty · 01/08/2013 22:08

I don't like it. It's crude, lazy and coarse.
I am aware that the previous sentence makes me sound like Mrs Bucket but there we are.

bababababoom · 01/08/2013 22:10

I'd be horrified if my children (6 and 4) said it!

mrsjay · 01/08/2013 22:11

i think of it as more of a rude/crude than a swear word I dont like to hear it at the dds are older than yours

VeryDullNameChange · 01/08/2013 22:17

Took DCs (age 9 / 11) to see a relatively mild 12A film the other day. Met up with a mate afterwards and DD was saying delightedly that it had rude words in it, including "the C word". I pointed out rapidly (as friend's jaw hit the floor)that the word in question was "crap" .

ChippingInHopHopHop · 01/08/2013 22:24

It's mild for an adult, but equal to shit when a child says it, in my warped view :)

Altinkum · 01/08/2013 22:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ChippingInHopHopHop · 01/08/2013 22:26

Oh and your DH needs to act like a grown up when your children ask him stuff. Saying a 'slum' is a craphole is judgemental, not informative

Craphole is also more sweary than crap on its own.

auntmargaret · 01/08/2013 22:28

I think it's a swear word. My DD1 started using it when she got a new teacher who used it in the classroom . I, ahem, asked her about it at parents night. She appeared surprised, but after discussion, agreed it may not be an appropriate word to use in a classroom of 8 year olds. It stopped after that. All of my teacher acquaintances were gobsmacked that the teacher in question could ever have thought it acceptable. It's not a nice word, not used in polite society, and definitely never by a child.

2rebecca · 01/08/2013 22:31

Live it in Scotland, use crap quite alot and knackered. Never considered either of them remotely offensive or sweary.
I'll happily talk about making crap decisions and being knackered.
No idea at what age my kids started saying crap. It didn't seem important.

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