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AIBU?

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Original poster

The mirror crack'd from side to side ...

37 replies

PollyannaWhittier · 13/09/2023 21:44

Did other people use this as code for 'I've got my period' when you were at school (or indeed still !), or were my school friends and I as weird as my work friend thinks we were ?!

From The Lady of Shallott - 'the mirror crack'd from side to side / 'the curse is come upon me' cried / The Lady of Shallott'
and 'the curse' being a (slightly granny-ish !) euphemism for a period.

YABU: never heard it
YANBU: I said it too

OP posts:
DustyLee123 · 13/09/2023 21:45

No

Doggymummar · 13/09/2023 21:45

No

blackrabbitwhiterabbit · 13/09/2023 21:45

Nope

ilovesooty · 13/09/2023 21:47

Obviously exposed to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

RhannionKPSS · 13/09/2023 21:50

There is a connection with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie when Jenny recites The Lady Of Shallott, and when she gets to that line, the girls fall about laughing.

AnneLovesGilbert · 13/09/2023 21:50

It’s an Agatha Christie book to me

Septemberlady · 13/09/2023 21:50

I was expecting this to be an Agatha Christie appreciation post

CecilyStreet · 13/09/2023 21:51

Septemberlady · 13/09/2023 21:50

I was expecting this to be an Agatha Christie appreciation post

Me too.

MaryJanesonabreak · 13/09/2023 21:53

Of course! we were such drama queens.

Spirallingdownwards · 13/09/2023 21:54

Agatha Christie where the victim infected the murderer with rubella causing the death of her unborn child

disappearingfish · 13/09/2023 21:59

Spirallingdownwards · 13/09/2023 21:54

Agatha Christie where the victim infected the murderer with rubella causing the death of her unborn child

Spoiler alert ! (Although the book is 61 years' old so we'll let you off...)

HollieHobbie · 13/09/2023 22:01

Oh I was so hoping for an Agatha Christie discussion!

When I was a teen (1980s) we didn't call periods "the curse". We called them "my period" or at the other extreme went into Victorian style fainting fits and declared ourselves "feeling quite off colour my dear" (we were a very theatrical bunch! - you never had a cold, You suffered a nasty bout of influenza but you've convalesced nicely now thank you) 🤣

Spirallingdownwards · 13/09/2023 22:08

disappearingfish · 13/09/2023 21:59

Spoiler alert ! (Although the book is 61 years' old so we'll let you off...)

Show quote history

oops yes 🙈

bridgetreilly · 13/09/2023 22:09

We just called it the curse.

Findyourneutralspace · 13/09/2023 22:10

No but I wish we had. I might start using it now. I reckon I’ve got about a year of periods left to fit it in.

KnickerlessParsons · 13/09/2023 22:10

My DM used to say Aunt Flo will be here next week when talking about her period.

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 13/09/2023 22:11

No, but I love it!

KohlaParasaurus · 13/09/2023 22:12

Was The Lady of Shallott about periods and was that why we called them The Curse? I loved that poem for the language and the rhythm, but just took the story at face value.

Aparecium · 13/09/2023 22:14

At school in the 80s we used to say that we were 'on'.

I first came across 'the mirror cracked' in The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie and did not get the reference at all. Probably because I did not use the expression 'the curse', though I knew of it.

Mumsnet taught me about 'Aunt Flo'.

Testina · 13/09/2023 22:15

Oh teenage girls are so gloriously pretentious!!

Aparecium · 13/09/2023 22:17

KohlaParasaurus · 13/09/2023 22:12

Was The Lady of Shallott about periods and was that why we called them The Curse? I loved that poem for the language and the rhythm, but just took the story at face value.

The curse comes from Genesis. It is Eve's curse for leading Adam astray with the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge:^ I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children^

Aparecium · 13/09/2023 22:18

It's the first rule of misogyny: Women are responsible for what men do.

Evenstar · 13/09/2023 22:21

A friend of mine who went to an all girls school told me about this and I believe it was mentioned in a Jilly Cooper novel.

RustyBear · 13/09/2023 22:34

I used to change my Mumsnet username to TheLadyOfShalott when my MIL came to stay, as the curse had come upon me. Also so she didn’t find out my usual name, she had a habit of looking over my shoulder when I was on the PC.

MyDarlingWhatIfYouFly · 13/09/2023 22:36

My grandmother always calls it the curse, although I never have Smile

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