Is it wrong for my 8 year old to say she needs a pee instead of a wee?

[feellikeanalien]

AIBU. My 8 year old has had some issues about using the toilet at school and the teachers and teaching assistants have been helping her with this.

She a attends a small rural first school (69 pupils) and is in a composite Year 1/Year 2 class.

The other morning in the playground the headmistress called me aside and said that they were trying to get my DD to ask for a wee instead of a pee.

I was slightly surprised as I did not really see any problem with this and when I spoke to my DD about it she said that they had told her that it was a bit of a rude word.

Generally the school is fantastic and very supportive and I am wondering if I am being a little over sensitive about this.

Any ideas?

Crystal I'm not interested in a one-on-one argument / thread derailment.

Again, I'd suggest your time is better used to consult a dictionary.

Can people who feel that pee is much ruder than wee explain why? When someone announces they need a pee or a wee, we all know exactly what they mean: we don't have a mental picture of something much ruder when they say they need a pee as opposed to when they say they need a wee.

Scottish here too...I have absentmindedly asked my young niece "a wee what?" when she was asking me to take her to the bathroom!

Oh dear, picking on an obvious typo. The last resort of the already lost.

How hilarious....that the school have got enough time to actually worry about it......pee isn't a rude word! We say wee but in no way whatsoever is pee a rude word. Surely the head has more to worry about than that. It's obviously just her own bugbear.

I think people think pee is ruder because in the eighteenth century it was "P" , short for piss.

However, as we are no longer in the eighteenth century I think anyone who finds "pee" rude is a little odd.

Beauty, I think it is somewhat to do with American English, as 'piss' has its origins in Latin, an onomatopoeic vulgar word.

All over continental Europe, men urinate into pissoirs, and obviously American is mostly made up of Europeans, Germans forming, I believe, the highest percentage of immigrants historically. It's a continental European word which travelled to the USA, and has since travelled back to the uk, a route that many words have ended up taking.

The best I found trawling through online dictionaries (2 out of a few) was "sometimes vulgar".

All over continental Europe, men urinate into pissoirs

Ahem, that would be in francophone Europe, perhaps...

I don't think it's rude either, not at all. Wee to me sounds really babyish somehow. I grew up in North america though, and wee wasn't used there.

'pee' is the standard form. But interestingly, it's much more commonly used as a verb in that situation - so "I need to pee" is fine. or "I need to go pee". "I need a pee" would be a bit less common, and still sounds a bit odd to my ears. (Fine to use it as a noun in other usages, though, like "my pee had blood in" or something).

No Whirly, you clearly have no interest in an argument.

Do remember to take your own advice and keep a dictionary to hand so as to avoid those typos in future!

HTH

Lweji, in France of course, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Denmark etc, in other words countries which supplied a lot of immigration to the USA. The point I was making.

mama, ich habe kaka gemacht!

Does that mean what I think it means? If so, how interesting. Cachu (with the "u" pronounced as "ee) is Welsh for shit. One Celtic language and one Germanic, both neatly correlating with the English slang word "cack". Maybe it's the Latin influence.

I love languages :o

Pee is more vulgar than wee. I would say wee in front of my mother, but not pee.

GruntledOne

1. A retained awareness that it is short for 'piss'.
2. "Blind linguistic chance" in the words of sleeponeday who understood my question but not what I was trying to do with it. (From which I infer I need to drink some coffee/coca cola.)

Lweji I'm finding similar entries and references to "piss" in multiple online dictionaries. I have a hard copy Chambers to hand and it reads (colloq) to urinate Also n. [for piss].

Really need an OED, but it's subscription only online.

Really there is no difference. We all say wee but my dad always says pee.

Surely the school have better things to worry about, iy's not like she is saying she wants to piss is it

Well crystal, I'd rather be blunt than thick. grin

Hester I think those predate Latin. Which is even more exciting, really.

My Latin is very poor these days, but I think the French merde looks rather like Latin for dung: merda!

Pee isn't rude at all. Start teaching her to say "I need a slash, miss."

Oh.

It's one of those parallel universe Mumsnet threads where apparently lots of people are scandalised by an innocuous word such as pee or fart.

The headmistress is being silly OP. Tell her that your daughter's issues around going to the toilet trump (another scandalising word!) the pee v wee debate.

She's being ridiculous, but I think pee sounds a bit chavvy, sorry. Wee does sound more gentle. Silly to insist on it though. She should exclaim that she needs to micturate instead!

Crystal I don't know why you persist. Really, your energies are better spent elsewhere. It's a bit childish and not germane to the thread.

Or she could go to "rain over china" or "go to shake the dew off a daffodil" (favourites of a great aunt of mine).

Whirly I can get access to the OED, I think. Give me a sec.