To think some mnetters are deliberately obtuse

[Soubriquet]

I’m not talking about those who English is a second language but words or phrases which are said by an OP, which may not be 100% clear, but by taking in the entire post, it’s clear what the OP means.

Some posters have to reply saying “xxx. What does xxx mean? I don’t understand”

When it’s cleared up, they have to return to say “oh. I only know it by it’s proper name yyy. I can’t bear people saying xxx”

Well, this is one that I have a bit of a problem with. I think it has been a very uphill struggle for women to get to the point where they have proper names for their body parts and can say them without obfuscation. I think it's really important for young girls to hear the proper words.

I still don't that justifies telling women what words they can and can't use about their own bodies. As for small children... there are plenty of very widely-known, long-used words which would be understandable to anyone. And it's not just a girl thing. Most boys use other words rather than 'penis' too.

Girl is not a synonym for woman

Most dictionaries would seem to disagree.

@BarbaraofSeville

If this is about me and the tangies, I genuinely didn't equate them with tangerines and thought the OP was talking about something similar to fruit winders.

You're not alone, I thought they were tangfastics or something.

I call them mandarin oranges anyway.

MirrieDancer 🤣

@AuntieStella you're proving the OPs point.

I often read replies and wonder if these people have actual, real life interactions with other adults. Say you're sitting in the pub and your best friend is balling her eyes out because her husband has run off with 'another girl' are you stopping her to say 'hang on can I just clarify if he is actually a pedophile'

I do cringe hard at hubs, hubster, hubby, etc. but don't mention it.
The one that really bugs me is "D" before every name. I've seen ddog, dcat, dhamster... It makes sense with DP, DH, etc. but it's not needed on everything. 🙈
Also when someone says something like "I want to leave DH, I can't stand him..." then isn't he just... H?!

There I've said it, now I'll go back to silently shaking my head when I see it written on other threads. 😁

I've started, when I see someone claim they can't understand a poster because of what might be considered poor grammar and punctuation (or even sometimes simply that there are no paragraph breaks), asking with faux concern about their own level of education because they appear to lack basic comprehension skills.

It doesn't help, but it makes me feel better

The words "girl", "boy" and "baby" are used in pop songs all the time, for decades now, and with the odd rare and deliberately offensive exception, it's always been pretty clear they're not referring to children.

I’m getting flashbacks to the “needles” thread a year or two ago.

YANBU @Soubriquet. Recently there was a whole thread of vulva pendants explaining that they really wouldn't know or investigate if a child used a euphemism for their penis/vulva/vagina etc. I do hope they were just being obtuse dicks rather than adults responsible for children's safety and wellbeing.

Girl is not a synonym for woman.

Yes it is.😂😂😂

@Featuredcreature

I agree, although I wonder if some people are just generally sheltered and not used to wider Internet lingo. Like when people assume that certain terms were invented by mumsnet.

Like when some peoples entire Internet experience is Facebook, they don't ever explore out of Facebook.

Yes, I think it’s less obtuseness than some posters just having a very limited life experience and a small and unvaried circle of acquaintance, and being genuinely taken aback by something outside their own norms, whether it’s women having male friends or being happily childfree or very interested in current affairs, high earners, or using regional expressions.

Just a tad!!!!

Like this? TBF, it started off quite sensibly but then collapsed into a debate about terminology.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3826074-is-husband-being-unreasonable-about-baby-s-needles

I'm away to eat an orange. (I love a good orgy)

I see what you did there . Very good.

Girl is not a synonym for woman

Except that it quite clearly is in modern parlance. If you need to ask for clarification that “a night out with the girls” is not an evening with a bunch of 7 year old females you probably have issues.

@DillonPanthersTexas

Girl is not a synonym for woman

Except that it quite clearly is in modern parlance. If you need to ask for clarification that “a night out with the girls” is not an evening with a bunch of 7 year old females you probably have issues.

I think quite a lot of people have an issue with the infantilisation of women, TBF.

@DillonPanthersTexas

Girl is not a synonym for woman

Except that it quite clearly is in modern parlance. If you need to ask for clarification that “a night out with the girls” is not an evening with a bunch of 7 year old females you probably have issues.

Exactly this.

I think quite a lot of people have an issue with the infantilisation of women, TBF.

I think a minority of people have an issue with such termology. It is not just the infantilisation of women though, the word 'boys' is used to describe men all the time. To be honest when someone starts taking offence at stuff like this I just think they are a bit sad to be honest.

I think quite a lot of people have an issue with the infantilisation of women, TBF.

And their solution to that is correcting other women as though they were school children?

I think quite a lot of people have an issue with the infantilisation of women, TBF. Fair enough. But the place to bring that up isn't on a post in relationships where the OP is asking for help. And the best way to do it most certainly isn't with those faux naive 'so you mean your husband is seeing a child?' type questions, which makes you sound like a total twat and gets everyone's back up.

I never knew the Spice Girls were in fact children! Although one of them was Baby Spice 🤔

I think quite a lot of people have an issue with the infantilisation of women, TBF.

My partner would say "night out with the boys", so "night out with the girls" isn't infantilising really. And in any case, there is a time and place for correcting someone's use of "girls", and a post from a clearly distressed and vulnerable woman is not it.

@thecatneuterer

I think quite a lot of people have an issue with the infantilisation of women, TBF. Fair enough. But the place to bring that up isn't on a post in relationships where the OP is asking for help. And the best way to do it most certainly isn't with those faux naive 'so you mean your husband is seeing a child?' type questions, which makes you sound like a total twat and gets everyone's back up.

Depends on the thread.

Bloke posting about the “girl I’m living with”, maybe point out he’s a dick.

“Night out with the girls” wince inwardly and move on.

Annoys me way more when posters whine that it makes no difference what things are called, ie the recurring vagina for vulva. I was thinking the other day actually, that if you believe your vulva is your vagina and that the vagina is self-cleaning them you've got problems. So yes, clarity is important.

@Sparklingbrook

I never knew the Spice Girls were in fact children! Although one of them was Baby Spice 🤔

Well if you want an example of everyday sexism. In fact of the creepy Lolita trope writ large then, yes, it’s a good’un.