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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think 6 year olds should not be wearing this

758 replies

welliments · 01/02/2018 17:57

Merchandise from a major dance show at the excel centre in London next month. They sell these, and tshirts from age 6 up.

I’m going to have to explain to a 10 year old why she can’t have a jumper...

To think 6 year olds should not be wearing this
OP posts:
Thread gallery
14
nocoolnamesleft · 01/02/2018 19:11

Of course it's referencing sex. If it wasn't, they wouldn't have defaulted to the very heavily used "Xs do it with Y" format, which has always been a double entendre for sex.

Original poster
welliments · 01/02/2018 19:12

whattodoaboutthis2017

I can deal with being called a perv and that my mind is in the gutter. However you know nothing about my life and my problems. For all you know I may well have come through some of the shittiest things life has to throw at someone. Be kind, you never know what people are going through.

OP posts:
NataliaOsipova · 01/02/2018 19:13

Lynne Truss wannabe here!

The lack of punctuation is what makes this a mild sex joke (but only a very mild one....)

Dancers, do it with attitude - would be an imperative. A command if you like, to dance with attitude. Without the comma, the "it" must refer to something else. In the absence of context, without the "it" having some sort of obvious meaning, then the sentence makes no sense. (Think "Mummy cooks it well. Cooks what well? Susie rides it well. Rides what? Her horse, her bike etc)

So it only make sense if "do it" is a phrase which has a meaning. Which it does - to those of us brought up on 80s pop music, anyway. But I don't think it's massively offensive. In slightly dubious taste, I agree, but I've seen worse on tiny babies!

nooka · 01/02/2018 19:14

I'm in my 40s so lived through the period when apparently there was lots of 'x does it in y way' fnarr fnarr missus going on and it didn't strike me that way at all. Nor do I think Nike's 'Just do it' has anything to do with sex. I've always read that in more of a make your dreams come true/ seize the day motivational hype type statement. Makes more sense when selling sportswear than a reference to sex. Plus all the ads were with sports stars doing sporty stuff, not sexy women lusting all over the sportswear.

I'm all for being careful about clothing choices, just don't think this one is the big deal you think it is.

Nottheduchessofcambridge · 01/02/2018 19:16

There’s a lot of naive people on here. OP isn’t bu, this slogan is most commonly used in regards to sex. No, I wouldn’t put my DC in it.

bluesouper · 01/02/2018 19:16

I'm with you OP

NataliaOsipova · 01/02/2018 19:17

... and the double meaning of attitude (in a ballet context) also doesn't make much sense in the context of the sentence as you would refer to "an" attitude or being "in attitude". Not with attitude.....

Whisperquietly · 01/02/2018 19:20

I agree with you OP

Shimmershimmerandshine · 01/02/2018 19:21

Yanbu op, my dc wouldn't wear that until they were 18 Shock. I can't believe all these people saying 'but it's all perfectly innocent' er no it isn't.

everythingstaken123 · 01/02/2018 19:26

I'm with you OP. I think that top is totally inappropriate and would never buy it for my daughter. I don't think you have your head in the gutter. I think your instinct not to sexualise your daughter and to keep her safe by not wearing clothing with sexual double entendres on it is pretty normal to me.

ButterflyOnTheWindow · 01/02/2018 19:28

That really is a stretch

It's not that much of a stretch. It was a thing in the 80s.
'Surfers do it standing up'
I really can't think of any more offhand, but it really was a double entrendre thing on t-shirts and key-rings and mugs etc.
My brain really must have seized up.
Please can anyone remember any more?

itshappening · 01/02/2018 19:29

Nike slogan is different I think. It fits with their whole theme of motivation and seize the day, exercise etc. I never saw it as anything else but am familiar with endless t shirts, mugs, etc like the one OP references that definitely were designed to mean sex, many had contexts that made sense no other way. That was the whole point of making the items, some people found it funny, and without that interpretation they were meaningless.

Showing my age maybe but it was a 'thing' and anyone familiar with it will automatically interpret the t shirt that way. It has nothing to do with having their own mind 'in the gutter', and nothing to do with them at all personally, it is just a known thing they have been widely exposed to. Without that exposure it might not occur to them.

juddyrockingcloggs · 01/02/2018 19:31

*Are you pronouncing the "do it" part like Rik Mayall off Bottom?

"Do oo oo oo oo iiiiiiit" whilst gurning and pelvic thrusting?*

My favourite response to any post ever!

Mormont · 01/02/2018 19:33

Of course the OP doesn't have her head in the gutter. I can't believe so many people don't understand what a double entendre is and I also can't believe that they've never heard 'do it' as a euphemism for sex.

ButterflyOnTheWindow · 01/02/2018 19:35

Is everyone else just playing dumb?

Maybe just too young to remember the 80s? When it was definitely a double entendre.

MrsKoala · 01/02/2018 19:36

Does anyone remember Pat Mustard the randy milkman in Father Ted with a sticker saying ‘milkmen do it on your doorstep’?

SheGotBetteDavisEyes · 01/02/2018 19:37

It's pretty obviously a throw back to all the 80's/early 90's double entendre stuff on tee shirts etc. 'Italian's Do It Better,' 'Surfer's Do it Standing Up,' etc. as mentioned up thread.

I can only assume that some posters have genuinely have never heard of it.

The meaning will be widely recognised as sexual so I wouldn't put it on a six year old

Yep. This ^

CandyYumYum · 01/02/2018 19:37

Well my mind must also be in the gutter because I read it the way you did, OP. My first thought was the 'Italians do it better' t-shirt Madonna wore in the (I think) Papa Don't Preach video.

itshappening · 01/02/2018 19:37

Just googled Butterfly and found t shirts with 'Gamers do it all night' and 'Ghost hunters do it in the dark'.

Now they are just talking about gaming and ghost hunting, because obviously those statements of the obvious make valid t shirt slogans without any possible double meaning Hmm. Also the Tory boys do it better thing I mentioned, what they do better is... um....it.

CandyYumYum · 01/02/2018 19:38

cross post with BetteDavisEyes there!

MexicanBob · 01/02/2018 19:38

But dancers DO "do it with attitude (well the good ones at any rate).

tabbywabby · 01/02/2018 19:41

All the people saying 'Oh, I wouldn't have seen that' must all be too young to rememver. It's an old joke, that has gone out of fashion in recent years, and it absolutely does mean what OP thinks. I wouldn't put it on a child either.

LilQueenie · 01/02/2018 19:44

If you see a double entendre and worry the kids might then you are going to have to stop seeing every kids movie out there including Disney.

It says more about your own mind than others.

Original poster
welliments · 01/02/2018 19:47

The thing is lilqueenie that I think what it says about my mind is that I object to the over sexualisation of children, particularly in public.

Neither they nor their parents may know that it is a double entendre, but others do.

Tbh, it's kinda the opposite of mind in the gutter...

OP posts:
LemonScentedStickyBat · 01/02/2018 19:50

I am reminded of saying to my parents “do what better?” in response to this

To think 6 year olds should not be wearing this
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