Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU at the word bollocks being used in Clifford the Big Red Dog?

138 replies

ThisMustBeMyDream · 27/12/2021 00:06

As per the title. I watched this in the cinema with my 6 and 9 year olds. I knew it was a PG and checked to see if it was suitable on common sense media as well as googling reviews, after previously making a mistake thinking Ghostbusters was okay (I didn't realise it had loads of swearing!). Nothing was mentioned at all on there. No other googling brought up this either. I know bollocks is hardly hugely offensive, but as I have an SEN 9 year old, who has great difficulties with impulse control, I am careful over what he sees. Swearing and violence is something we actively avoid.
Anyway, AIBU to think that I should have been able to find that information beforehand?
Also, is it even necessary?! It is used in a scene where Jack Whitehall says (in an American accent) "You see, if I hadn’t moved here when I was two, I would’ve grown up with a British accent. Bollocks. Rubbish. Collywobbles". I don't even know why it was necessary, but there you go!

OP posts:
autieok · 27/12/2021 06:25

We saw the film and I didn't pick up on it. But I agree it didn't need to be there. Anything off level one i would say is possibly ok.

Swearing scale -
Level one
Crap shit bloody bugger damm sod
Level two
Bollocks bitch wanker asshole balls
Level three
Fuck twat dick bastard prick
Level four
Cunt
😂😂😂

LynetteScavo · 27/12/2021 06:28

Yes, it's inappropriate.

It's so inappropriate I'm finding it hilariously funny.

DS two was massively into Clifford when he was little- I don't t think I would have found it so funny back then.

DH says the film should have been innocent enough to be a U.

Newuser82 · 27/12/2021 06:29

My year 4 son came home with a school reading book a few weeks ago that had the word bastard in it! I was really surprised. I’d not expect a pg film to have the word bollocks in it.

Mollymalone123 · 27/12/2021 07:38

If it’s sn American production then ‘bollocks’ in the us seems to mean something far less vulgar-just like saying rubbish or nonsense
I suspect this is what happened-
I always remember watching g an episode of murder she writes d the the dr says ‘Bollocks Jessica’
I nearly fell off my chair 😂

friedeggandsauce · 27/12/2021 07:55

It's a film aimed at 5 year olds, if they said bollocks at school or crap I'd ask them not to. It shouldn't be in that film

Cheersto2022 · 27/12/2021 07:55

It's a word. Kids hear far worse on the school playground at 6 and 9

SilverRingahBells · 27/12/2021 08:04

It's stated very clearly on the BBFC website for you to check - it's there precisely so that parents who have specific concerns about their specific children can check.
I'd have expected CTBRD to be completely innocuous and this summary sounds like it is making unnecessary attempts to be rude to ingratiate itself with parents and older children.
www.bbfc.co.uk/release/clifford-the-big-red-dog-film-qxnzzxq6vlgtmta2ntq0ma

AIBU at the word bollocks being used in Clifford the Big Red Dog?
Tabbacus · 27/12/2021 08:07

That is weird and you're right does seem unnecessary in a film aimed at children. I'd actually find it weirder for a child to say bollocks than any of the usual suspects.

Yogagrandmum · 27/12/2021 08:19

I think bollocks is a nice rounded swear word.

insancerre · 27/12/2021 08:36

Never mind the bollocks, here’s Clifford the big red dog

A much better title for the film

soupmaker · 27/12/2021 09:29

Exactly @Cheersto2022. Clearly there are a lot of PPs on this thread who'd need smelling salts if they spent any time in a school playground. "Bollocks" would be the least of your worries!

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 27/12/2021 09:46

@arcof

You are BU to have gone and seen the film, it looks awful! Sorry, not helpful (and was it in fact, awful?!)
I agree - having seen the trailer, nothing would persuade me to see it, or take kids, it looks like a load of old bollocks especially compared with the series.
Shadowboy · 27/12/2021 09:53

My kids didn’t even notice it. It was said quite fast and in a ream of speech. My 7 and 5 year old loved the film. Totally engaged the whole way through. It’s a good film for kids, and I didn’t really worry about the use of bullocks it’s not like it features for more than a nanosecond

SoniaFouler · 27/12/2021 09:53

I'm pretty sure I heard Jack Whitehall talk about this on Jessie Wares Table Manners podcast. If my memory serves me correctly he was improvising and the Americans he was working with didn't understand what the word meant until later on. I'm pretty sure in the podcast he was under the impression that that part got removed

Haven't seen it, but I assume maybe it's an American film? If so, (as an American) it's not even remotely a swear word over here so I wouldn't be surprised it's in a children's film. Maybe a bit surprised a British film watch program missed if if it is considered one in the UK.

I wasn’t aware of the first part but it proves the earlier point I made that whenever JW sees a tone he just has to lower it. He knew it was a word that is not suitable for a children’s film and decided to use it anyway. This always seems to happen a lot whenever he’s involved with something.

AmyDudley · 27/12/2021 09:56

A discussion of how 'bad' bollocks is a bit irrelevant IMO.
It's more a question of is it necessary - why does a film that presumably will appeal to fairly young children, need to be a PG ? Leave out the swearing and make it a 'U' (or whatever the category is now). Parents shouldn't really have to research the level of swearing when taking their kids to see a film about a big red dog, it should be a given that all parts of it are suitable for children. Does use of the word bollocks enhance the film such that it would cause irreparable artistic damage if another word like ' gibberish' or 'balderdash' was used instead? I doubt it.

Damnloginpopup · 27/12/2021 09:57

Back in 1977 there was a court case raised over this very word in relation to the sex pistols debut album and the display of the word in a shop window... Professor James Kinsley, head of English at the University of Nottingham. His evidence showed that "bollocks" was in fact an Old English term for "priest" and in the context of the album meant "nonsense". All charges were thrown out

So never mind the bollocks, just enjoy the film.

ArblemarzipanTFruitcake · 27/12/2021 09:58

Surely this is just a cultural difference between the US and the UK?

The film is PG - not U. The 'parental guidance' was available as posted above on the BBFC website [as a total aside, the BBFC website is a fascinating read] so you could decide whether the level of swearing was acceptable.

I bet your children hear worse at school!

CornishGem1975 · 27/12/2021 10:00

I mean, I wouldn't get my knickers in a twist over it, my kids hear worse at home Blush but it does seem a bit gratuitous and totally unnecessary when there are a multitude of other words that could be used to express the same.

spongedog · 27/12/2021 10:10

@Pleaseletitbenaptime

I'm pretty sure I heard Jack Whitehall talk about this on Jessie Wares Table Manners podcast. If my memory serves me correctly he was improvising and the Americans he was working with didn't understand what the word meant until later on. I'm pretty sure in the podcast he was under the impression that that part got removed.
I was coming on to discuss similar. British and American interpretations are sometimes very different.

I once, on a phone call in the States to a utility company, who had utterly been messing me about, said that I was irritated by x, y, &z. The CS rep was very angry with me and told me off for swearing. We ended the call on good terms having had a good discussion regarding the same word in English and American English.

But like you OP - not suitable for a younger child's film at all.

Keepitonthedownlow · 27/12/2021 10:13

Bollocks is another word for testicles. Don't think it's that appropriate for a kids film.

AlwaysColdHands · 27/12/2021 10:15

I wasn’t happy about it. It’s not the sort of word I want my 7 year old using in the playground- I don’t think “it was in the film” would be a very good defence when she’s hauled up for bad language at school
Misjudged by someone somewhere in my opinion

Marynotsocontrary · 27/12/2021 10:21

I once, on a phone call in the States to a utility company, who had utterly been messing me about, said that I was irritated by x, y, &z. The CS rep was very angry with me and told me off for swearing.

I'm not sure I understand @spongedog. Was'irritated' the word the rep didn't like or was it something else?

Scrabblecrabapple · 27/12/2021 10:22

It has a rating system, you can choose to ignore it but Yabu for assuming something and being annoyed. It’s not hard to check

Google bbfc (film title) then scroll to ratings info. It has one for every film.

First lines on the bbfc report for clifford…..”Mild bad language includes of uses of 'bloody', 'bollocks', 'ass' and wordplay on the term 'shit' when a woman exclaims 'Holy sheep';”

ZZGirl · 27/12/2021 10:22

@SoniaFouler

Jack Whitehall has form for this. YANBU.
While I agree it's unnecessary in the movie, Jack Whitehall didn't write the script.
SlowBoiledFrog · 27/12/2021 10:28

@autieok

We saw the film and I didn't pick up on it. But I agree it didn't need to be there. Anything off level one i would say is possibly ok.

Swearing scale -
Level one
Crap shit bloody bugger damm sod
Level two
Bollocks bitch wanker asshole balls
Level three
Fuck twat dick bastard prick
Level four
Cunt
😂😂😂

Bugger, as in to put a dick in a arsehole is not level one, and certainly not lower than balls.

Op I agree, I'm sick of unneeded language (or nudity, sexual innuendo, obviously not in Clifford) in films aimed at children.