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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

3 year old saying Bog

260 replies

Shurdle · 22/02/2022 07:23

Got pulled aside by nursery last week to say DS was calling the toilet “the bog”. I know in the UK some words are more acceptable than in other parts but where we are “bog” is considered crude slang. So obviously I told nursery I didn’t know where he’d got that from as we don’t say it but I’d ensure he knows the word is toilet.
On Friday he spent the day with my parents and came home calling the toilet the bog again. I messaged my mum to ask if she knew where he was getting it from and she said she had been saying it to him as it was easier than toilet which he was struggling to say. I told her nursery wasn’t happy and I didn’t like it either so could she stop. She laughed and said I was being precious but agreed she would continue teaching “toilet”.

He was with my parents yesterday afternoon and whilst in the bath he pointed to the toilet and said “that’s a shithouse”. Now I know my father says this but I don’t believe he would tell DS to say this so I reckon my mum has told him that I was complaining about the bog word and my father has said something like “call it the shithouse then” as a joke and DS has overheard??

Anyway my aibu - I rely on my parents heavily for childcare which they insist on doing for free. Do I just let it go rather than causing a scene bringing it up again??

YABU - confront them about saying bad words in front of DS
YANBU - let it go, it’s not worth the fallout.

OP posts:
Innocenta · 22/02/2022 19:50

Loo is U and toilet is non U, but fortunately we've largely moved past thinking this stuff matters...

...haven't we? Hmm

Marmelace · 22/02/2022 19:52

@DappledThings

Definitely not toilet which is as bad a word as pardon. I don't know if this is a genuine post but I know there are people who really think like this and it does crack me up.
Well pardon is much better than "Yer wot?" Smile
Flowersandhearts · 22/02/2022 19:52

@merrymelodies

Am I the only one to find this hilarious?
No. I'm polite and rarely swear but there's something quite cute about a 3 year old calling the loo 'the bog' and I definitely laughed about the 'shithouse'.
Iooselipssinkships · 22/02/2022 19:54

This made me really laugh. Well done Granny.

Marmelace · 22/02/2022 19:54

Didn't Thomas Crapper invent the flushable bog/toilet/loo/lav/wc

GaiaWise · 22/02/2022 19:59

My mum is quite posh, and a snob. London, Home Counties.

I was taught that bog ( and fart) were acceptable and toilet was not acceptable. The proper word I was encouraged to use was lavatory. Other unacceptable words included couch /settee (sofa), lounge (living room) and dessert (pudding).

My kids say toilet now, and my mother is horrified. 😂😂 I can’t bring myself to use it, and say loo or lav.

I still can’t bring myself to say toilet, although my children do, and I don’t correct them. They also use bog at

GaiaWise · 22/02/2022 20:00

Times. I say loo or lav.

Classica · 22/02/2022 20:01

I love when the anti-farters primly they say they call such things 'flufflepumps' or 'puffleflums'. 'Pump' makes me snigger as that means to fuck in Glasgow, so a tad coarser than fart.

GaiaWise · 22/02/2022 20:01

Oh pardon was definitely not OK. What was OK or I beg your pardon.

DragonMovie · 22/02/2022 20:05

This thread is hilarious - I am shocked at the number of people offended by fart/loo/toilet - all standard neutral terms for most people surely?!

Would love to know what other words that I consider normal others consider rude!? And what is the polite alternative?? I find twee euphemisms completely cringeworthy.

Marmelace · 22/02/2022 20:07

My maternal grandparents used the NU words and my paternal ones the U words, got rather confusing getting told what I couldn't or could say.

Marmelace · 22/02/2022 20:08

And my mother is definitely a chip of Hyacinth Buckets block Smile

Satingreenshutters · 22/02/2022 20:23

See, fart to me sounds like swearing!

I honestly cannot cope.....please, please cop on for your own sake.

Marmelace · 22/02/2022 20:31

@Satingreenshutters

See, fart to me sounds like swearing!

I honestly cannot cope.....please, please cop on for your own sake.

😄😄😄
Innocenta · 22/02/2022 20:36

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uandnon-U_English

Here's a table! @DragonMovie

Anonymous48 · 22/02/2022 20:53

I can't believe the NHS uses the word "fart" rather than actually saying what it is (passing gas)!

Marmelace · 22/02/2022 20:55

How's about flatulate?

Innocenta · 22/02/2022 21:08

@Anonymous48 The NHS uses language intended to be accessible to most people.

Bromse · 22/02/2022 21:10

@notheretoplay

See, fart to me sounds like swearing!

You need to get a grip

Yes - and you don't start a sentence with 'see'.

Nothing wrong with 'bog' or 'fart'. 'Toilet' is twee ('bathroom', when there is no bath, is awful unless you're American), 'lavatory' is correct.

My mum used to say, 'bog', but thought 'fart' was a terrible word. She would sometimes say, "I'm going to the houses of parliament'. I did know someone who used the term, 'where the Queen goes alone'.

The scenario the op has depicted is hilarious!

I am now off to the 'rest room'.

IrishMama2015 · 22/02/2022 21:16

OP what age is the child? He will learn to code switch and know where certain words are and are not acceptable. My DC both figures this out thanks to their DGDad at about 3.5. My DDad swore around us as kids but we were NEVER allowed even as adults to swear around him. Then he repeated this with grandchildren. It was part of his speech pattern and it couldn't be stopped at that stage. I tried to kick off about it at the start but it was a losing battle. All kids involved learned very quickly that some words were for grown ups only

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 22/02/2022 21:20

My gosh the pearl clutching on this thread. Bog is fine. Fart is also fine. And to the pp who said 'loo is bad enough' really?!?!

IrishMama2015 · 22/02/2022 21:24

Sorry just saw the title says 3

CustardySergeant · 22/02/2022 21:25

IrishMama2015 "OP what age is the child?"

Look at the title of the thread.

CustardySergeant · 22/02/2022 21:25

Cross-sodding-posted.

Grin
WitchSharkadder · 22/02/2022 21:27

I'm also in Easy Yorkshire, have lived here my whole life. Never have I considered bog to be sweary or rude nor do I know anyone who does Confused. It's just commonly used slang around these parts.