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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think people who are horrified to hear that the German word for digger is "Bagger" should just get over themselves.

25 replies

emkana · 15/12/2008 20:06

ds is majorly into diggers. The German word for it is Bagger, pronounced like "bugger".

I explain to people why he says it but frankly it annoys me when they come over all horrified, it has even been suggested to me that I shouldn't have taught him the German word for it and stuck to the English for this particular word!

OP posts:
wrinklytum · 15/12/2008 20:07

:O

Bless him!

prettybutterfly · 15/12/2008 20:07

Are you or dh German, Emkana?

Original poster
emkana · 15/12/2008 20:08

I am German.

OP posts:
2pt4WiseMen · 15/12/2008 20:09

As long as its not the only German word you've taught him then the horrified peole should grow up!

edam · 15/12/2008 20:10

ah. I think you know why people might be a tad taken aback when they hear a little boy apparently saying 'bugger'!

Bit cheeky to say you shouldn't teach him German though. Perhaps you should prime him with 'dumbkopf' for next time? (Forgive the spelling, I did one term of German 26 years ago!)

prettybutterfly · 15/12/2008 20:11

I think people should always know the right words for things, and if you're helping your dc to be bilingual then there's all the more reason.

Stick to it and ignore the eyebrow raisers.

MmeHereWeGoAWassailLindt · 15/12/2008 20:11

LOL Emkana, I can remember the horrified looks we got when ds was in his bagger phase.

It is stupid to say that you should make him say the English word. There are always going to be words that sound naughty in the other language.

Ignore them. Or say, well he is bilingual. How many languages do you speak?

asicsgirl · 15/12/2008 20:14

are your german friends equally horrified that he knows the word 'mist' in english?

('Mist' = 'shit' in german)

people are strange...

dizzyjingles · 15/12/2008 20:14

my friends wee one LOVES diggers and is bi-lingual too, I have to admit I loved his digger stage

asicsgirl · 15/12/2008 20:15

ps obv i am not providing the translation for you op... just in case that read weirdly

NotBigJustBolshy · 15/12/2008 20:15

Have heard this complaint from German friends before - you're not alone, Emkana!

Original poster
emkana · 15/12/2008 20:24

To be fair some people laugh and say that's a German word they'll never forget, but others look so horrified and don't even smile - but when I say Bagger I truly think of nothing other than the building machine, so there's no need to be all sensitive!

OP posts:
mumof2222222222222222boys · 15/12/2008 20:39

DS1 was looking at an advert for Playmobile stuff which had German Politzei cars/helicoptors etc and was fascinated. I tried to explain that the Germans spoke a different language, just like the French speak French etc...and demonstrated with my ancient O level German.

Getting onto ambulances, we both found the word Krankenwagon ridiculously funny. And then Krankenschwester...ah well, if it gets him into languages it's good.

As for mispprehensions, when I was explaining to French au pair about the benefits of the lack of preservatives in home made bread she nearly had kittens...and for those non-linguists...I didn't mean that we are lucky not to have condoms in our bread!

YANBU

Lizzylou · 15/12/2008 20:46

The one phrase I always remember in german is
Du bist ein gros Sheizer kopf (sorry for awful spelling, I did French at school, not German!)

Taught to me by my Nanny Fay (God rest her, she loved to shock)I think I was about 9....

YANBU!

goldFAQinsenceandmyrrh · 15/12/2008 20:53

YANBU - at least your DS has an excuse for it.

Whem my BF's DD was in nursery she started saying "bugger" - well at least that's what her mum thought she was saying - actually she was saying

BOTHER

ManIFeelLikeAWoman · 15/12/2008 23:09

A bit off the subject, but when I was living in Nice I lived near a dry-cleaner's called Fanny Pressing, a hairdresser's called Vag' Coiffure, AND a laundrette called Lav' Club.

As it is, based on this thread, I hope my bilingual French-English daughter doesn't develop a fascination for seals when she's older ...

sallyhollyberry · 15/12/2008 23:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bienchen · 15/12/2008 23:24

Happens all the time here too, Emkana

harpsiheraldangelssing · 15/12/2008 23:30

a wee boy in a shop said to me the other day:
"It's a BUMMER!"
I tried to look unshocked, and his mother was squirming.
me (Joyce Grenfell voice) "oh how nice, dear!"
boy - "yes a BOMBER! Vroom vroom "
relief all round

MmeHereWeGoAWassailLindt · 15/12/2008 23:33

MIFLAW
What is seal in French then?

Emkana
If it makes you feel any better we have sometimes had funny looks since we moved to Switzerland as DS's name is Connor, which is rather close to conard. Means something nasty in French apparently. Hohum, we had mo idea when he was born that we would one day live in a French speaking area.

Twinklemegan · 15/12/2008 23:34

O M G !! That is seriously spooky. DS (2.4) used to call tractors, and diggers, bagger/bugger (most embarrassing). The thing is we never did work out where on earth he got it from. But DH is half German (he doesn't speak the language though)...

Gorionine · 15/12/2008 23:37

ManiFeelLikeAWoman
I have been there, people get over it!
The word is "phoque" MmeLindt (pronounced like the thread we love so much)

MmeHereWeGoAWassailLindt · 15/12/2008 23:40

Twinklemegan
That is weird. Your DH didn't teach him bagger? What about other relatives?

Twinklemegan · 15/12/2008 23:45

No, definitely definitely not. The only German relative in this country is DH's mum, and DS hadn't seen her for months when he started saying it at the age of about 1.4 . She also never speaks German.

ManIFeelLikeAWoman · 15/12/2008 23:52

LOVING the idea of a child called Connor living in Francophone Switzerland

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