To just call a fanny a fanny?

[teafortoads]

Apologies if this has been done before/to death but i am new to this Mumsnet Lark (posting not lurking, I have happily lurked for years). What on earth word do you give to your toddler to describe their girl parts? I have and always will, have a fanny, where as I am aware of friends who have foofs, fairies (could cause some confusion when you go to put the fairy on top of the Christmas tree) lady gardens vulvas and so on. I see no reason to pretty things up, and always arrive back at good old trusty fanny in the end having massively overthunk things. When DD2 is a little bit older I will furnish her with all the proper words, but are fanny and willie (not that she will encounter any of THOSE until she is at least 40 given that I am a single Mum and our house is happily a man free zone nowadays, and boyfriends will not be permitted until she is at least 40) acceptable? Is fanny a bit coarse?

"It some find it offensive, how on earth do you cope when you hear 'cunt'?"

Cunt is only used against someone the speaker hates so when it's used it's meant to cause offence/shock.

Snatch IMO is much worse than cunt.

Cunt isn't always used against someone you hate, my dh and his mates seem to use it as a term of endearment between them selves much like a PP described with her sister.

It's also used a lot in Sarf East London ime

I know some people blanch at the word ( my best friend included, she positively faints!) but I can't real really get het up about it.

BeckyWithTheMediocreHair, yes I do - in fact the rest of my message was:

(And yes, I know it means 'shameful' before anybody says that - I just don't think it really matters. How many of you knew you had a basin, vinegar cup or flute?)

I don't see why it can't be claimed - like queer for example. A word needn't be pejorative for ever.

And, how many children regularly learn Latin now and would link it?

For some unknown reason I have started calling dd's(6mo) her 'minnie' but I think that would confuse ds(6) as we do a 'Mini' count when we are in the car! Of all of the suggestions so far, I like 'Wilma'! It was called a 'wotsit' when I grew up, I still can't eat those crisps without thinking it's just wrong.

Fanjo is the best word

"I find a child using the term "peepee" absolutely awful. Hearing anyone say "I need to pee/piss" actually makes me shudder! I find those terms horrendous!"
In the US 'pee' is the colloquial equivalent of 'wee'. You would ask a potty-training child if they need to pee, for example. It's hardly comparable to piss, except that it describes the same bodily function.

"Are you aware that 'pudendum' literally translates from Latin as 'thing to be ashamed of'?"
And 'sinister' translates to 'from the left' or 'left-handed' but that's not what we mean by it.

Look the word cunt up. It has been appropriated as a word used to cause offence in recent times, this wasn't always the case. It says a lot about our misogynist culture that the most horrific, awful word you can to describe someone is a word which describes the entire female genitalia. Speaks volumes.

It's a Maureen

BeckyWithTheMediocreHair, yes I do - in fact the rest of my message was:

(And yes, I know it means 'shameful' before anybody says that - I just don't think it really matters. How many of you knew you had a basin, vinegar cup or flute?)

Apologies, Polkadots; I missed that. That'll teach me to speed-scan a thread.

I see your point about reclamation - I performed the monologue 'reclaiming cunt' in a production of the vagina monologues many moons ago. I also appreciate Ninja's point about the etymology of 'sinister'.

However, in the school where I work we are now once again in the time of year where we are on red-alert for warning signs that girls are going to be taken abroad during the summer holidays to have FGM inflicted on them. As long as these girls are vulnerable to mutilation because of the deeply-held and widely ingrained cultural belief that their genitals are a shameful symbol of an insatiable sexual appetite which must be curtailed, I won't be using any terms for the vulva which literally mean 'shameful'.

We have doodars and wotsits. X

No fanny is far too rude, we always used gash or clunge in our house.

Lol@ Poppy

We use doodahs and wotsits too. We also use bits and bobs or girly bits. I love using slang to describe bits of your body. I think it's fun and as long as everyone know the proper words then I don't see any harm.

I am not prudish and like a good swear word but literally cannot say c**t I just can't it sounds so horrible.
My friend uses it all the time and it sounds nasty, c this c that c the other, maybe I'm the only one, possibly on MN anyways

When I was little my vagina was "Mary" and a penis was "Joseph"
My aunty who lived with us found it horrific and sat me down one day and explained it's penis and vagina.
It was more so my dad's doing than my mum's actually.

Mine have picked up the word "widgie" from school!

Rabbit go see the Vagina Monologues, if it's still running. I saw a performance whilst in Uni and it gave me a new found appreciation of the word cunt...my now favourite swearword!

It is also used A LOT in lady chatterly's lover.

ds(5) got a time out for telling (no pointing or flashing, the TA was with the group)the girls in his reception class that boys have a penis and girls have vagina's. I was a bit hmmmm as to why a time out was needed and a chat from the teacher for me but the girls were 'shocked' supposedly.

Laughing at fanny being vulgar. Very Hyacinth B.

I agree it would certainly sound vulgar coming from a child. It's just coarse.

I'm so glad "girly bits" is not only us! I felt very un-progressive not using the correct medical words but DD1 has an unerring ear for these things so it'd have been "mummy I just fell on my VAGINA" at 90 dB in the supermarket/playground/GPs.

fanjo if you ever find yourself in Switzerland please go to Migros supermarket where they sell Fanjo shower gel! It is the best thing in Switzerland (apart from chocolate and the fact that their national football stadium is in Wankdorf )