To ask for a national campaign to stop adults referring to their "tummy"

[OptimismvsRealism]

Still absolutely fine to talk to children about tummies

But adults need to know that it is never ever ever ever ever ok to say "my tummy hurts"

Ever, ok?

Tummy is a great word.

Tummy covers the whole area. Tummy ache may not always be related to the actual stomach.

What's wrong with abdomen/abdominal pain?! The use of tummy by doctors make it look like we are all still in kindergarten.

Can we also stop referring to babies in stomachs please?

Hopefully no one ate their baby, and if it arrived there via oral then it's not going to develop beyond gamete stage.

Uterus! It's in your uterus!

I do so agree - I loathe ‘belly’. It’s acceptable only in ‘belly dancer’.

Wow I never realised belly was so awful??

Which is preferable?

"I have a tummy ache."

"I've got the shits."

The "tummy" is the stomach - it is "an informal or childish word for stomach". Most "tummy aches" are in the lower abdomen and are to do with the small and/or large intestine, not the stomach.

Don't get me started on the twee, euphemistic "tummy tuck"...

@OptimismvsRealism for goodness sake, get a life!!

Team Tummy

I associate belly as slang for fat.
Locally to us that's generally the use anyway, the abdomin is generally referred to as stomach for most adults, tummy for children or belly for things like "he's got a huge belly on him" etc.
Appreciate that may be regional though.

@OptimismvsRealism can someone think of a better name for "tummy tuck"?? extended apronectomy anyone?????

Things I say and do about bodies....
Tummy
Tum Tum
Bot Bot
Butt-tocks (over exaggerated accent for the tocks bit)
Squeeze the Butt-tocks and go "honk honk"
Derriere
Boobies
Boobletuns
Poke the bellybutton and say "Boop"
Jelly Belly
Wobble the jelly belly and say "wibble wobble".
By the way.....we are 59, 49 and 16 in this house.
We so mature.

I hate tummy for adults too. But surely it is just a baby-talk shortening of the word 'stomach', so it's equally accurate/inaccurate whether you talk about tummy-ache or stomach-ache?! Or anything else vaguely to do with tummy/stomach - we often use the wrong word when it is other parts of the abdomen. But I don't see the tummy/stomach distinction as changing that.

I've been watching loads of the hospital/GP/casualty type documentaries the past few weeks as I've been recovering from surgery (not tummy surgery!!) and they often talk about tummies on there, so we'd have to get doctors and nurses to stop doing that first.

Good morning doctor. Will you be doing the ward round today?

Tummy is vile. It feels very ‘bitty’ to me 🤢

I would just say I have an upset stomach. Possibly not anatomically correct but it feels the best of a bad bunch.

@FinalCeleryScheme only if I am a doctor in a Carry On film 😂

Tummy is an appropriate word used in the right context.

For example, dogs have tummy rubs but I wouldn't ask a doctor to have a look at my tummy.

I wonder if there is some regional differences. Where I am 'poorly' is just a synonym of ill, unwell, or sick - it's not reserved for children or seen as baby talk.

Similarly 'sniffle' isn't childish, it's the term I would use for if I was a bit congested but felt like saying I had a cold was overkill.

Not the case at my GP surgery, although I do realise I'm lucky.

But no doctor in their right mind would just take a patients word for it, without asking questions anyway.

Look how many people call their vulva their vagina.

"Thanks for phoning back doctor. I have a problem with my vagina", is obviously going to prompt questions. They're not just going to issue a prescription without doing their job.

We do “tum-tum-tum-tum-TUMMY” rubs here, and this boy is a big fan.

Oh no thank you 😧

Oh that's allowed obviously.

This!! Tummy is an infantilisation of the word stomach, not a reference to ‘the whole area’ as some people are insisting!

Either way it’s bloody awful to hear adults use it in conversation with other adults. A man I’d previously thought quite attractive was instantly not as soon as he said it - it’s the verbal equivalent of sucking your thumb.

Get a petition going, OP, I’ll sign it.