AIBU to expect parents to control children even in the likes of Pizza Express

[Jewels234]

I know it's more of a family restaurant, but there are children all around me going mental. Screaming, having tantrums, standing on chairs. It's horrendous.

I am probably being unreasonable being here in the first place, but I love a leg gera salad.

I've got a badge saying Clarks Children's Shoe Fitting Specialist too. I got that while I was working ever so hard for that degree.

Well done - redefining words away from both common and accepted definitions is definitely a skill that requires an advanced degree.

I am a member of the Tufty Club.

Goldenbear, you missed the point. Your degree (and mine for that matter) has no relevance, no matter how much you protest that it gives you a higher understanding of the word 'stare'. Any fool can read a dictionary.

If you have an English degree, Goldenbear, perhaps you're familiar with the work of people like Laura Mulvey or John Ellis on 'the gaze' or 'the glance' with regard to objects of vision and media texts. Care to expand on how your theory of the stare fits alongside their work? Or shall we be content with a more quotidian definition? Dictionary.com, which I find more than adequate for explaining the everyday meanings of words, describes a stare as 'to gaze fixedly and intently'. Not really a momentary thing, then, is it?

PS I have three English degrees. Do I win the thread?

'Staring — an open-eyed look of interest or amazement', I would certainly argue that this could be momentary.

DoctorDoctor, I studied English 'Literature' not film or Media studies. Besides, the 'content' of my degree is completely irrelevant to the wider point I was making- i.e that I'm very familiar with the constructs of all text in various forms. This familiarisation allows me to understand that it is perfectly acceptable to use the word 'staring' with the above definition in mind. That's not to suggest the definition provided up thread is not a valid one, it's just an additional one. If you (or any other poster) won't acknowledge that meaning, it is an argument in semantics on 'your' part not mine!

Maligning somebody else's academic achievements to make your point just makes you look desperate.

It could be momentary, as it is of unspecified duration in that definition. Given that other definitions do mention the prolonged nature of a stare, however, you would be unwise to assume that.

(2nd Runner-up, 1987 County Cross Country Championships)

Aww the tufty club is that still around i did a project on that when i was doing a diploma in child development i so win

It was when my kids were in nursery 16 years ago .

I think Tufty was keen on following the rules. I don't expect he'd have been too keen on children exploring their world He'd have probably wanted them to stay seated in PE

This was 20 odd years ago no tufty would have wanted everybody to sit with arms folded listening to teacher.

the Noddy Club had really sensible rules:
I will look both ways before I cross the road
I will be kind to animals
I will help Mummy all I can.

Words to live by.

What about Daddy?

I'm sure Noddy expected Daddy to help Mummy too .

Well exactly Dixie, so why the talk of curtailing it? Are people so precious they can't cope with young children momentarily staring at them?

I think you mean "looking", Goldenbear, and that's not something that anybody has said they've got an issue with.

No I don't, I mean momentarily staring.

If it lasts just a moment? That be a glance. Maybe a wide-eyed glance, but it's hard to fix someone with a stare (primary in most definitions I've looked up is the fixed nature of same) in just a moment....

Interesting. 'Stare' comes from the Old English starian: to be rigid.

I am learning all sorts on MN today.

I was a member of the Butlin's Beaver Club, so I win.

I had my own, exclusive club in my Gran's shed.

Even more interesting: stare is star plus "e".
It's also an anagram of tears and aster.