Pardon?

[MothersGrim]

AIBU to not bother with the word "Pardon" for my young children? It seems like a generational thing to me but my parents and in laws correct my young children when they ask "What?"

I was just curious what the expectation is nowadays, should I be teaching them 'pardon'? Is it bad manners not to

Just read that u and non u Wikipedia thing. Surely 'smart' people don't still say ice instead of ice cream, looking glass instead of mirror and chimney piece instead of mantelpiece?? Any 'smart' types here want to elaborate?

Yes to chimneypiece, no to looking glass and ice.

'What?' is short for 'What did you say?' - if you find 'what' abrupt, use the full sentence. Saying pardon will mark you out as being nocd (not our crowd, dear) by certain people. Sad but true that this may create a glass ceiling.

Incidentally, 'living room' is Amercian and can also be frowned upon. Sitting room is preferable or, if you have a very smart house, drawing room.

It is all silly nonsense (but honestly can affect interview outcome). When we were young the words pardon and toilet made us flinch.

Surely 'smart' people don't still say ice instead of ice cream, looking glass instead of mirror and chimney piece instead of mantelpiece??

Jabcob Rees-Mogg probably still does but I'd imagine most of the 'smart set' have made peace with 'ice-cream' and 'mirror'.

Hmmm I use most if not all of the u words.....but my big Lancashire accent is going nowhere.

Chimneypiece! Really? That is so quaint sounding to me!
How about spectacles, wireless and scent?

Wireless and specs here.

WellErr you are so posh! Do you live in a big draughty stately home? I hope you do! Can I come and stay?

I think most people say specs don't they? Or at least they say 'specs' as well as 'glasses'?

My parents say 'wireless'. I don't. I'm not old enough to remember a radio sans wires (v. common use of the French 'sans' from me there. Most non-U).

No I live on a farm. It's not draughty but we do have mice.

And I am not very smart but I have lots of friends who are.

Haha WellEr you're one of those smart people who says 'I live on a farm' and it's really like half of Wiltshire or something.

Only old people say specs and wireless. What about pictures / movies / cinema....although maybe really smart people don't go there.

I'm sure it's not regional. I'm from NE England where it's broadly assumed that I'll have chips and gravy for my tea and I say

What
loo
napkin
specs
wireless
scent
looking glass
dinner/supper (unless it is tea)
sitting room

but not

lavatory
chimney piece

I would never say pardon or lounge. I would have been bollocked for that as a kid. ( I also say kid)

DH does the myself thing on the phone and says 'passed away'. It makes me want to murder him until DEAD. He is forrin though so I forgive him.

What about pictures / movies / cinema....although maybe really smart people don't go there.

It's probably still the 'moving pictures'.

"wireless" - I might start saying that as an affectation. My mother called it that, but then she would be 83 or so if she were still alive.

One should never wear brown in town.

And the very smartest probably only use the word phone in writing so they can write 'phone and make sure everyone's aware they know it's an abbreviation. Same for 'bus.

depends on your job though doesn't it? Brown shoes and beards are OK for architects. surveyors wear pinstripe / chalk stripe suits. No pockets. Double cuffs. Windsor ties.

I know someone whose mum used to make Drs use the servants entrance because they were trade. Supposedly. They must have had a 'very nice house'. Like weller and bunty.

We would wear our specs to the pictures.

Midcentury you are very smart too. I bet you have a grouse moor. Do WellEr and Bunty go on shooting weekends at your house? Do you cook them a kitchen supper?

I do not believe you say looking glass! How can that be?

At Figglethwaite Manor we prefer to roll out the gramophone and listen to some jolly Noel Coward tunes rather than risk sitting next to a working class person at the local picture house. Fenella Fitzwallop-Pemberclump once had to endure sitting next to the butcher. She hasn't been the same since. Poor dear Fenella.

Bunty. I am crying.

Smart is very U. I am deeply unsmart, but have smart friends, and oddly, being a WC foreigner sits quite comfortably with very smart parents and the like in class terms, because I just don't register at all.

The only thing that bugs my DH is when he says how do you do and they say fine thanks!

I bet if you asked a lot of people on here what you are meant to say in response to 'how do you do?' they wouldn't know!

In fairness, it's possibly one of the odder exchanges...