Sound/word to note someone is being a bit naughty?

[happytoseeyou]

My DS picked up and started playing with something we had left on the table (a unit from our shower - it stopped working so we had taken it out to get a replacement).

Its already broken so it doesn't matter but to note he was doing something he shouldn't, I reverted to my childhood noise / warning of "Av-ees", said in a low drawn out voice, my DH then said "Ahh-mer" in the same style.

AIBU to ask what you said as a kid (to another kid) to note someone was being a bit naughty? Is it a regional thing or does it change through the years?

Does this sound even happen today? My DS looked completely blank, as DH & I were giggling and saying our word over and over.

That sounds really bizarre the way you've described it but I think I go a a a as a warning instinctively so maybe that's the same? Any idea where your noises come from? Has it evolved from a word?

‘Ahhhh-mahhh, I’m teeeeelling’ - I haven’t thought of that in years and years but suddenly remember primary two and my classmates all saying it simultaneously whenever someone did something wrong !! NE Scotland, about 1994 .

Going by how I deal with my dog, I think I said a quick and sharp “AhAh!” (Or a similar variation) To stop them in their tracks and give me time to get to them and remove whatever it was.

Have never heard of either of those.

I would say 'ah ah' to a toddler who was going to touch something they weren't meant to.

Av-ee? Ahh-mer? What? confused] Absolutely no idea.

Oh hang on. I’ve misunderstood.

When I was a child!!

Ah, totally different.

We said “ohwee ohwee ohwee, I’m telling mommy!”

Are you both from the U.K.? “Av-eees” sounds Spanish to me. I’m watching old Modern Family episodes this week and that reminds me of something Gloria 🇨🇴 would say.

We used to use “uh” as that warning sound when the DC were little.

Sounds bizarre, but only because I've never come across sounds like that. I say no no, in a light tone rather than a reprimanding one, so they know they're not in trouble but to please not do that.

@traumaticconversations - thank goodness you understand what I was trying to say .... exactly that.

Glad I’m not alone in misunderstanding the question!

I just said 'don't touch that' or 'no'

I'd have said

Ah! Ah! Ah!

We just used to say "Aaaaahhhhhh (biting top lip), I'm telliiiiiiiiiing"

This was Manchester, late 80s/early 90s

We used to say "um." Often lengthened to "uh-ummm." That was in the mid eighties in SE England.

At school we used to say "ummmmmm-I'm telling"

Wales - ommmmmmm (similar to the Buddhist chant) usually followed by "I'm telling miss"

[quote happytoseeyou]@traumaticconversations - thank goodness you understand what I was trying to say .... exactly that.[/quote]
It’s funny, I haven’t thought of that in a very long time - but suddenly remember it being said quite often in nursery/primary and I think brownies as well . Usually when teacher had left the classroom!

Do you mean as in what you’d say as children to other children OP?

I think as a child we’d just say ‘ahhhhh you’re gonna get DONE’ or ‘ahhhh I’m telling’.

At a school I worked at for years though the children used to say ‘ah ba ba baaaah bah’ when one of their peers had done something naughty. There’s was a member of staff caller, eg Mrs Farquhar (not real name) so sometimes it would be extended to ‘ah ba ba baaah bah I’m telling Mrs Farquhar.

I don’t work there anymore but still have friends who were colleagues there and we still say it to each other, as in ‘ah ba ba baah ba did you eat the last biscuit?’

Never heard of av-ees or ah-mer!

As a child it was “ummmmm! I'm going to tell”

As an adult, if my child touched something they shouldn't, I used “No!”

There is no point using words that your child doesn't understand.

We used to say Umm-Mah! Which was a drawn out version of Ummmm And was usually followed by ‘I’m telling on you!’
South East England.

I think I understand the ahh-mer sound, although we said it more like ummmm-er lol. The other one I have no idea what that is!

There is no point using words that your child doesn't understand.

Unclench! OP is not saying she plans to use this sound to her child. She’s saying she did probably because she just got a blast from the past and it just came to her tongue instinctively. And then her husband caught the reference and did the same. They shared a moment of nostalgic humour.

I know what you mean, OP.

It's sound you made as a child at primary school, if the child sitting next to you deliberately broke a crayon or wrote a mildly rude word on their work.

I grew up in the SE of England and it was "Ummmmmmmmm!"
DH grew up in the West Country and it was "Ummmmmaaaaah"
But both with exactly the same intonation.

Ummm-aaahh (I guess similar to ahh-mer?)

West Midlands