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

[PollyannaWhittier]

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

That Agatha Christie book is based on a real event. So, so sad.

Me too!

We called it ‘the curse’ - 1990s girls’ boarding school.

In the NW, often called 'the time of the month'.

In 90s Dorset it was 'I'm on' or 'I've got time of the month'

No, but it’s really great to see someone from the 19th century embracing the internet.

I read the book "Aristocrats" by Stella Tillyard, about the Lennox sisters. It says that they referred to menstruation as "the French lady", or "being the French lady". Does anyone still say that?

(I am not from the UK/English is not my first language).

Love the Lady of Shallot, did it, seemingly forever, at school. Don't recall any sniggering about the course but we spent a lot of time performing it as dramatically as possible.

About the curse. The bloody curse. Not course autocorrect. BAH.

I always liked Cher’s euphemism in Clueless - “I’m surfing the crimson wave”

Not that kind of school, but it comes up fairly regularly in novels, so I assume relatively common in schools rather more literate than mine.

And her teacher's response, "I assume you're referring to women's troubles."