Falling over Vs having a fall

[BuzzyWeeThing]

I fell over while at work. It was a bad fall, I was carrying things so I did not put my hands out fully to protect myself. I landed on my face. My DP was phoned and was told I had ‘had a fall’. I’m 45 and fell over, I’m not elderly and had a fall. Word got round work and I’ve had messages saying they’ve heard I’ve had a fall. Grrr I’m feeling old now.

I’m also in my 40s and would be mortified if people told my family I’d “had a fall” 😂

A guy of a similar age at work had an episode related to his diabetes and a colleague mentioned that he’d “had a turn” and he got very upset at the phrasing.

Ialways thought 'falling over' is when you trip but get back up easily - maybe a grazed knee or palm, twisted ankle or torn clothes, whereas 'having a fall' sustains an injury which lasts - torn ligament or sprain or cracked bones. The kind where you can't get straight back up due to shock or injury.

On the loo does sound worse! It conjures up someone going for a poo. In the loo, sounds so much better!

I think it’s just about the seriousness of it. I’m a teacher and I might say “ooh that was a nasty fall” if a child had fallen over in the playground and ended up bleeding, rather than just a bump/graze.

It’s an Event, rather than just a thing that someone did. The verb elevated to the status of noun, if you will.

I don’t think there’s any difference between the two phrases actually.
But for some reason ‘had a fall’ does feel synonymous with old age.
There’s also ‘I fell’ which seems like something a child would say!
Weird.