For the love of God can adults please stop saying uni

[CressidaEgg]

Let's reclaim the five syllable word. University. It grates to read MNers talking about their DC going off to "uni" or even about their own time at "uni". Just call it what it is: university.

Unless you also refuse to say fridge or bike, YABU

Rhiannon13

Getting worked up about incredibly minor things is a sign of stress OP. I hope you are ok?

Don’t be stupid. That sort of ludicrous implication is commonly used here by a certain type of person. Are you trying to join a Mumsnet clique or something?

Aintnothingbutaheartache

Let’s be honest here there’s a world of difference between getting a 3rd in film studies at Bath Spa (for eg) and getting a 1st in chemical engineering at Edinburgh (for eg)

Indeed. Or even a 3rd in anything from Edinburgh. 😂

Partly it’s just a minor irritant (as are many things) and possibly partly because of what i said earlier about there being many degrees (pun intended) of degree. Many people would not refer to their place of study as uni if it had been established in 1096, 1209, 1451 or 1583 as opposed to 2002, 2003 etc

Exactly rose!

Yep, went to university in the 70s and that was what it was called. Definitely not uni. One's proud parents would say 'DD's at university now....'
Right-on students would say 'college' because, ya know, it seem quite so elitist (Although it definitely was -- only about 10 pct of school leavers went on to 'proper university' at that time and quite a lot of them were from independent schools, most of the rest from grammars. Mind you there were decent jobs to be had in banking, law, accountancy and the civil service etc for 18 yr olds with an A level or two.)
'Uni' started to creep in during the 90s, it felt definitely antipodean to me so it may have been the 'Neighbours' effect, along with uptalk. 'School' is definitely from the US and often leads to misunderstandings

Yes! YANBU! In my day (1990s) "uni" was only heard in Australian soaps. It should have stayed there!

I had older cousins going to uni in the 70’s, my parents gen went. Even in the 70’s it was referred to as uni by everyone in my family and by everyone I knew. My grandparents even called it uni, that’s just what it was.

Uni
Uni
Uni
Uni
Uni

Yes! YANBU! In my day (1990s) "uni" was only heard in Australian soaps. It should have stayed there!

Arrhh, maybe that’s the ‘problem’. Aussie here. Though, to be honest Aussie soaps have never ever represented Aussie life. At all. So usage in a soap would not usually be representative.

Tarty I WAS right-on with my "at college."
But now I'm very sorry all round for my part in the rise of political correctness.

Uptalk. Christ I hate that.

I was about to say Pavlova is a giveaway!

Agree! It was never Uni when I went 25 years ago. It sounds comically Australian to me... wonder if usage came in with Neighbours / Home and Away?

I too called it Uni in the 80s. And given that Neighbours wasn't screened in the UK until after I'd gone to Uni, I doubt it was the sole source of the abbreviation.

Anyone and everyone I know who I went to Uni with calls it uni and everyone I know ever since.
I’m 32.
Get over it

Will do!

I called it uni in the 70s; maybe a Scottish thing, as we all called it that.

And yet you are happy to use the made up word “brexit”

brexit isn't even accurate, it should be Ukexit

Can everyone stop saying things like "this was not a thing in the 90's" when people have already told you it was a thing in the 90s, 80s, 70's? Its really fucking rude to state you know better than them when they were actually there.

Yep, went to university in the 70s and that was what it was called. Definitely not uni. One's proud parents would say 'DD's at university now....'
Right-on students would say 'college' because, ya know, it seem quite so elitist (Although it definitely was -- only about 10 pct of school leavers went on to 'proper university' at that time and quite a lot of them were from independent schools, most of the rest from grammars.

I was at university in the early eighties (and definitely didn't go to an independent or grammar school: just under half of the sixth-form at my former-secondary-modern comprehensive went on to university or polytechnic). Nomenclature was easier for me because I was at a college of the University of London, so I could accurately refer to it as "college". I never heard the expression "uni" until the late eighties.

"Leaving the EU" is fine too. But Brexit is irritating. "Leaving Europe" makes me shake my head in despair.

Not read the thread

Did the OP say whether she had attended uni?

Reason I ask is that when I was at uni, everyone called it uni. Not just mums.

Before he retired my dad was a university lecturer. He called it Uni all through the 80s and 90s and still does. He's 74.

Not even sure the Aust connection really holds. My family were from the UK on both sides. Parents came as teens. I recall grandparents always picking everyone up on words like ‘arvo’ but even they used uni. Maybe they had been corrupted?

I remember a celebratory bbq in the backyard of my uncles student share house when he finished uni. Some of his drunken friends caught some snakes during the bbq. They killed them and strung them up on the clothesline to the great amusement of us kids who then proceeded to try and spin the line around as fast as we could to make the snakes fly. As the afternoon wore on they cooked them and tried to sneak the meat onto people’s plates. Dr’s at their finest . My grandparents spent the whole time inside on the lounge drinking tea (and probably unknowingly eating snake). Australia in the 70’s .