to find the term playdate really irritating

[freespiritfreedom]

i don't know why just do

yeah, and whats really irritating is not being able to come up with any better alternative. Any ideas?

Me to, why can't it just be so and so coming round to play?

A friend to play. Playdate is soo American

It sounds so contrived. Encapsulates all the hassle that goes into arranging one. I'd much prefer DS to just ahve friends round to play.

i hate it tooo, never heard of it until mumsnet.

round for tea is what we say.

I invite them to play or to tea. I never use the term playdate.

YANBU YANBU YANBU YANBU!!

I hate this phrase!

as much as I hate the term 'mummy friend'

Shudder.

oh thank god I am not the only one.
I haven't even got to that stage yet and I hate the bloody word already and plan on never having to use it.
The first time I heard it I thought it was introducing small children to children of the opposite gender so they could play at doctors and nurses or something - only later did I "get" that it meant going round to play.

But is it any worse than words like "diarise"? (which I also bloody hate!)

do people actually use diarise? Outside the american Office?

yanbu

rubbish

Very middle class

I dislike it, too.

...not because it is an Americanism. I dislike it because it implies a level of parental control that I find distasteful in all but the very young.

The implication is that the parent has selected a suitable 'play-mate' for a 'play-date', in the manner of an arranged marriage. This is ok in toddlers, but my children are now of an age to choose their own friends.

Certainly I don't approve of all choices, and refuse entreaties (usually from feral 9 year old) to invite be-mulleted members of the local Young Arsonists club to play in our house. Well, I at least get them to check their matches at the door...

I am very middle class.
I hate the term too.
If yabu so am I

(we say 'round for tea'. I fear that this phrase may imperil my long wished for middle class status)

pmsl at RG1 - please write a book about your experiences raising 4 GLUs, your language is delightful!

Everyone I know round here says 'round for tea' or 'round to play'. And we are all middle class

exactly rg1,
the dc's do question this - since they dont actually drink or eat tea.