I worked in an office for a bit where one of the managers would sit there doing loud smelly farts throughout the shift (and looking amused every time he did). In that case we mostly did just carry on without mentioning it, I suppose the same way you do if there’s a mad person on the tube, however it was disrespectful and gross and no one was cool with it.
In social settings, most people I know would pass comment if someone did a loud/smelly fart next to them.
But most people aren’t like M. Petomaine, your boss. In ‘high society’ (which doesn’t necessarily impress me personally), they would indeed think you very rude for mentioning it. If you were invited to dine at the palace and the Queen dropped one (and it does happen to us all, even more as we get older), are you really saying that you’d loudly draw everybody's attention to HM's paint-stripper extraordinaire?
Also, considering I have IBS and yet rarely if ever need to fart, I don't really understand people on this thread who say they're walking around farting constantly or that they just slip out all the time. Maybe check your diets?
You can’t speak for ALL IBS sufferers, though, as if nobody else ever has a different experience of it from yours – plenty of them (including some on this thread) have attested to the fact that it does affect them in that way.
Is it just me laughing to myself imagining people leaving a room to fart and then coming back as if nothing happened - I'm sorry but if my partner took themselves that seriously I couldn't deal with it.
No, it’s not just you at all! A lot of people would probably suspect an affair or similar, if their partner kept springing up and randomly darting from the room every half hour or so.
I also think it could end up backfiring (so to speak) for some of the more genteel people who go to the toilet every time they need to trump. Leaving a toilet with a distinctly whiffy top-note but nevertheless noticeably not having flushed (as observed by the person waiting outside to use it next) is going to come across as really quite grim.
If I farted that much I'd be off to the GP
What, you’d go to the GP because your body functioned normally?! That would be like making an appointment to urgently discuss the ‘worrying’ bump-like growth you've noticed in the middle of your face between your eyes and mouth!