To say this is rude?

[PiedPiper558]

Replying with 'what?' when you have not heard what someone has said.

Makes a change from all the SPAG pedantry, which makes me want to typo all over the place.

I believe that "pardon?" is a more polite response than "what?", if you haven't heard something. That's how I was brought up.

I confess, I don't know the ins and outs of the etiquette surrounding this - I just know how scary my mum's voice would be, if I said "what?" instead of "pardon?"!

It’s not rude unless said rudely. Pardon is worse - sounds insincere.

I say 'Sorry?'.

Pardon is dreadful . What is fine. Say again is halfway between the twee and straightforward, for those who want to make a perfectly ordinary request more refined.

Pardon is terribly Hyacinth Bucket!

If I say pardon to the children it is usually quite dramatic and clearly giving them a chance to modify what they just said. "Sorry, what?" Is what I would say if I misheard someone.

@redheadwitch

Well, the "proper" response would be "pardon?" so in that respect, then yes, "what?" is technically rude. Its not something I could get steamed up about, though.

I think it very much comes down to the scenario its being said and the tone. For instance, if I was having an important medical consultation and the Dr said "what?" in a snippy tone, it would come across as rude. If a doctor was chatting to a colleague at the nurses station and misheard a comment and said "what?" it would simply be colloquial speech.

No, it really wouldn’t

Number 2...

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3qF356d7d2D6h98CdCWxf8z/ten-words-that-prove-you-arent-posh

@nokia3210567

Pardon, excuse me or sorry with an inflection are politer

No, no , no sorry with an inflecton is awful and should never be used. It doesn't even make sense, in what way would you be sorry and inflections, yuk!

I don’t think it’s rude to say what but I realllllly hate the word pardon so I won’t use it

I can't imagine saying what? in a polite way. It just sounds rude to me.

@UCOinanOCG

'What' is the correct response and it not rude at all.

Just what I was about to say. Pardon is not the correct word.

I was brought up to believe “pardon” was common and nearly as bad as “toilet” It’s all nonsense. I still remember my Mother looking horrified and saying “we don’t have one of those in our house” when one of my children, fresh from nursery school, asked for the toilet.

Rude. And anybody who says otherwise is old fashioned or a wannabe posh person.

I had a friend who insisted her children use pardon instead of what.

She also insisted that her very dry skin meant that she would age better than those with oily skin.

She was a nice person, but wrong on both counts.

This is interesting as I wince whenever my, otherwise very polite, young granddaughters say this. However, my daughter tells me that it is the correct response. Maybe a generational thing but it just sounds so rude to me.

I don't know any parent who doesn't correct their child when they reply with "what"

and it definitively sound rude if said to a teacher.

If your boss says "what?" to you, I bet you wouldn't like it so much either.

It might be regional, but as far as I know, YANBU, it IS rude.

If someone says, 'What?' to me. I just reply with, 'Pardon?' and I don't repeat what I've said before until they realise that I am never answering to, 'What?'

@quizqueen

If someone says, 'What?' to me. I just reply with, 'Pardon?' and I don't repeat what I've said before until they realise that I am never answering to, 'What?'

I love your style 😂

@quizqueen

If someone says, 'What?' to me. I just reply with, 'Pardon?' and I don't repeat what I've said before until they realise that I am never answering to, 'What?'

Ooh, how edgy are you, or maybe just making yourself look a bit lower class

Oh Lordy threads like this make me cringe. The whole pardon and what and upper and lower class. Eurgh I couldn’t care less.

Yabu - ‘what?’ is acceptable. ‘Pardon?’ is what people say in the misguided belief it is more classy or polite but apparently marks them down as being neither.

@quizqueen

If someone says, 'What?' to me. I just reply with, 'Pardon?' and I don't repeat what I've said before until they realise that I am never answering to, 'What?'

To my knowledge you’re making yourself seem common.

I don’t care about this shit, you understand...just that it’s always been my understanding that pardon is a lower class thing.

@quizqueen

If someone says, 'What?' to me. I just reply with, 'Pardon?' and I don't repeat what I've said before until they realise that I am never answering to, 'What?'

I’d respond “what” every time you said pardon.

I say ‘sorry?’ - or ‘sorry, what was that?’.

I have no idea where this places me class-wise and much less care.