AIBU to be baffled a mum had no idea the school fayre was happening?

[xAwaywiththefairiesx]

Today my daughter's primary school had a spring fayre after school on the school field. Ice cream van, face-painting, various stalls with games, the usual. All arranged by the PTA to raise money for the school.
There was a mufti day today, and the children were asked to bring a donation to the school as an exchange for the mufti, something like cakes to sell or a teddy for the tombola or a bottle of wine as a prize or something.
One mum wanders onto the field after school, with both of her kids in mufti, looking around bewildered saying "What's this? Is this a new thing they're doing? Will it be every week?"

And this is so weird to me because the spring fayre has been organised for months. We have lots of emails asking for donations, several more asking for volunteers, we've had at least three leaflets home about it, and she obviously got the memo about mufti, the whole point in which was for the school fayre!

My phone own child has been banging on about it for three weeks.

How can she get so unaware? I'm not judging, honestly, I'm just baffled how it got past her.

Is it just me? Could you miss something like this after all that communication?

This!! If someone mentioned “mufti day” to me I’d probably assume the same, that they were talking about some sort of fanny convention 🤦‍♀️🤣

'Mufti, is a word very commonly used in the UK.

It is local slang.

It 100% is not a word I have ever used or even heard of until today on MN. Just not a think where I live in the NW of England.

I must be overly invested in this one, as I just put a message in my friends group chat and not one person has responded saying they had ever heard of it or used it. 1 of them has worked in schools all over the Middle East and another one who has worked in the Channel Islands (neither have heard it used in those places either).

I think this whole conversation on mufti is a contender to replace cancel the cheque 😂

Can’t be that common because there’s an awful lot of people on this thread who have never heard of it.

It's not local to any particular part of the UK. It was used across the British Army and spread from there across the country and to Australia, New Zealand and other places.

It may, for some reason, have dropped out of common usage more in some areas than others now but its origins are not localised to a particular part of England.

I asked my 79 and 80 year old mother and father today and they had never heard of it either.

And my 77 year old mum uses it regularly. Not sure what that tells us!

Ah you caught me. It's the latest PTA event.

I bet if we sent home leaflets advertising the PTA's fanny convention, all the parents would know about it 😜

Again, that it’s more of a regional thing rather than a nationwide one that has slowly died out. Like I said a few minutes ago, if anyone said “mufti day” to someone where I live, they would most likely assume it was some sort of weird fanny convention. We use the word “muff” around here as a slang term for a fanny and that is probably what would spring to most people’s minds where I live!

But what region? I know it partly from my parents using it as a regular word and a lot from books. My parents are from, at various times, Kent, Hertfordshire, North London, Gloucestershire, Yorkshire and the West Midlands. I don't think it's tied to any of those places or would have been unusual in any of them.

It might be dropping out of use faster in some places than others. But its origins and earlier usage are not regional within the country.

It’s never been commonly used in the North West of England or South Wales (any generation).

Maybe your parents picked up the word from one of those regions rather than all of them. I’m in the North west. My parents are originally from Yorkshire and they had never heard of it.

Not everyone processes everyone the same she maybe didn't associate non uninformed day with spring fayre as the same day
You, IMO are being quite judging here and you absolutely know you are you're just wanting someone to tell you it's OK

I suspect it is more from families with connections to the military and the British in India generally who were originally more familiar with it. Who could be from anywhere and settled back anywhere. It isn't local slang like the varied local words for bread rolls are.

Why it has persisted more in some areas than others is an interesting question. But as it is an import from India it can't possibly be claimed as local to Yorkshire or Kent etc.

I work at my children’s school and some parents baffle me. Claim they had no idea it was non uniform day for example when they were told at pick up the day before, a note was stuck to the year door yet still they weren’t told apparently. Or they try and pay at the door ON THE DAY for after school events when they were specifically told it has to be done online. Their child is then let down and we’re the bad guys for enforcing the rules. I see it more and more that we’re having to not only parent the child but also the parent!

But enough time to count them

The point is an awful lot of people on this thread have never heard of the word and a few have said they would associate the word ‘mufti’ with fanny. I can guarantee you with 100% certainty that is what many people where I live would assume it meant.

The fact that op said it’s what she’s always known it as and her friends/ family have always known it as mufti and that everyone else in the area knows it as ‘mufti’ would tell me it varies from region to region. It’s just not a term used in my area. It’s always been “non uniform day”.

Wtaf is a mufti

Some parents don't listen to the things you say to them.
You can verbally tell them, right there to their faces, and they stand there and nod along and they they turn round so the exact opposite and have no idea why it didn't work.
Mind you, that's not just parents, that's everyone these days. People skim-listen, skim-read skim-bloody-think. Always in such a hurry and ironically not getting anywhere quicker because they're too confused from all the not listening.

Some computers have a little indicator with a number that shows how many emails are unread, esp if they are in a separate folder

Here's some disagreement from a few years ago from two people within Yorkshire and someone from the NW saying they do use it. If it is localised it is very specific pockets.

What indeed? What a mystery! If only someone had been along to explain that 100 times already.

I would agree that it's very specific pockets. Single towns rather than regions.
My large town uses it. The next town over does not. One a few miles north does.