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?

Fr Ted brought 'feck' to the non Irish masses but they didn't create the word.

My DD is 8 and says 'please can I go to the toilet?' or similar, not that she needs a wee or pee. Wee and pee are obviously seen differently in different countries and even in different parts of the UK, so arguing over whether the word pee is rude seems pointless! Where I live no one really says pee and it would sound a but strange and as though it was being used as a shortening for piss, but I understand that in Scotland wee is used for small so pee would be the preferable word.

Hester I have good and bad news.

The bad news is, there is a Latin verb that could be responsible- cacare.

The good news is that that can be traced back to a proto-indo-european root of kakka.

So at this point, no-one knows whether the derivations across Europe were formed pre-Latin or post-Latin! www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=caca

Ah Mitzy thank you. I'm from Norn Iron but only heard the phrase after Father Ted, and I'm sure I heard an interview with the writers where they claimed to have made it up.

I don't recommend asking to use the "bathroom". I asked where the bathroom was once, assuming I'd be shown the loo. I was directed to a room which had a bath in it, but no loo! "Please can I go to the toilet" is unambiguous.

We use "merda", but it's a rude word here.

Tara I salute you! Thank you for the update.

Come on everyone. Do you not find this fascinating?

They must have been fibbing MrWriter. My Uncle Sean has been liberal with the fecks for as long as I can remember!

And 'kaka' means 'brother' in Kiswahili!..

Coincidence?

My kids were taught 'going to the toilet' from the first.

Yes, but that is soooooo lower classes.

Coming a bit late to this thread and reading it through when OP wrote the words "crap mum" it thought for a sec we were going on to the topic of how her dd told her mother she needed to do a no.2!!

We actually say wee and I was brought up that it was uncouth to say pee. However, apologies if someone has already said this on the thread, but I heard that the word pee comes from 'pass urine' so is actually more 'correct'

Seems like it depends where you live and your background. I don't care but both sets of grandmas would be at pee. We're for small children, and within close family or friends. I recall my reception teacher telling my friend she had tummy ache and not belly ache. That is something that has stayed with me.

I'm in the South East and I would be quite taken aback if a small.child said pee
Not that it's rude per se, but definitely coarser than wee

I'm taken aback at how many people would be taken aback.

Truly.

People who think pee is bad what do they expect their 6 year old to use for Shit? Surely Poo, which is the matching word to pee is the normal one?

another one where north american (or at least, some part of it) usage differs - belly ache would sound like a more adult word, though still slang - stomach-ache would be the normal way (Belly-aching would also be used to mean moaning about something). Coming to the UK and hearing adults - even doctors - talking about my tummy, seemed very bizarre! (Where I grew up, it was definitely a word for small children only).

Pee= piss

We say both here. It is coarser but I think the head is still BU.

I grew up in Devon but both my parents were from the north west, and I now live in the BBC South Today area. For me, wee is fine, pee is a bit vulgar and I'd probably say I needed the loo.

I used to say "pump" rather than "fart" but now use fart. Maybe that's become more acceptable these days or maybe I'm just selectively vulgar?

The objection to tummy and belly is odd IMO. I've seen people (only on MN) say that you should use 'stomach'. But that's often incorrect

If you are talking of tummy-ache, it could be your intestines, liver, kidney, uterus etc etc. It would have to be abdominal-ache to be correct (until you know source of pain) but no one ever says you should replace tummy with abdomen

I couldn't refer to my 'tummy'. I'd feel like a 5 year old if I did that.

My dad used to go to the cludgie or the shunkie.

I think pee was originally 'P' as in p*ss, which is why it's considered a bit coarser than wee.