to be disappointed that the word "fart" seems acceptable for children now?

[Housemum]

DH bought a copy of the Beano for DD2 (age 6) - which had the delightful free gift of a "Fart Bucket" (squidgy putty to make farty noises) on the front and a wordsearch with different words for fart - air biscuit, bottom burp etc. Now I know that kids use this word, and I'm probably an old fogey, but I don't really see it as acceptable in print? I'd prefer good old fashioned trumps, botty burps, blow off, parp etc. I've explained to DD2 that it may be said in the playground, but I don't expect to hear her say it (in the same way that I'm sure teenage DD swears with her mates, but wouldn't in the house or in polite company). Interestingly it doesn't seem acceptable on Corrie, as last night a character said "I havn't got time to f-, er, break wind".

So, bring on the opinions and shoot me down for being an old fart (yeah, and a hypocrite, it's OK if I say it...)

Must just point out that I do think farts are funny and have been known to raise one thigh/cheek in order to let the full glory of mine out....

I'm just not sure about 2/3 year olds saying the WORD fart... really not sure why though. Don't know what we'll call them, my Dh reckons fart is fine but agrees that his mum (not mine - we're common ) would be if he said it to her... I was brought up with blow off and my god my dad could let them rip. You know those proper insanely loud dad ones which made everyone else realise that their own farts were but poor imitations.

I think maybe parp....

I think if fart is the worst word they learn in the playground then your doing very well!!

We NEVER EVER even mentioned farting in our house when I was little; have no idea what my parents may or may not call them...

Other, not expressly-forbidden, but frowned upon, words from those days:

knackered
snot
bogey
bum
crap
git
bugger
sugar!
pee

Still wouldn't say them in front of parents

You have just depleted my 4yo's vocabulary quite considerably with that list.

I even teach him to say 'sugar' when he really wants to say something to vent off steam (i.e. as a replacement for SHIT! or similar).

I have a really hard time remembering 'bloody' and 'bugger' are not just cute words from abroad (you'd think I could remember after living here for 8 years, but oh well).

i don't like the word 'fart'.It isn't used in this house Children are not really allowed to speak about them but could just about cope with 'trumped'.

Oh god yes! Knackered!! I remember my grandad saying it was really rude but I'm still not entirely sure why...I'm tempted to say it was something to do with the war but I may be making that up entirely... Anyone have good pub quiz knowledge of this term?

knackers are bollocks...
thus knackered = castrated...

not sure about the association with "the knackers'" though: horse glue factories - I always thought knackered meant "so tired I should be sent to the factory to be turned into glue".

Re OP - the funniest incident of my young childhood was listening to a (fey, arty, creative (pretentious old bag)) friend of my grandmother's telling the assembled company (of pretentious old farts) that her favourite word was "wind". I think my entire extended family disgraced ourselves by rolling about laughing...

OMG, I say 'knackered' all the time! I had no idea it had that connotation!

I'll second guff!

An ex boyfriend put 'knackered' into his works MOD computer back in the early 80's and it came up with 'sexually exhausted.

*By paisleyleaf on Tue 31-Mar-09 20:38:00
By MsSpentEaster on Tue 31-Mar-09 14:59:30
"We used to have to say 'blow off' when i was young, we weren't allowed to say 'fart' and 'crap' was definately seen as a swear word, i am surprised at the amount of people who think that it isn't"

same here*

and same here from me.

I don't like the word fart, so especially don't like it from young children. I'm not normally into twee (can't stand 'put on your vesty, sockies, shoesies... here's your din dins, where's the doggy/birdie' etc)

When I was little we 'pumped'. The LO's in our house call them 'Windy Pops'

OP - the Beano would have been 'lost' very quickly and DC's reminded it is NOT a word we use (nor is shit/pee/piss).

For those of you saying call it what it is... FART is no more the 'correct and true' word than any other slang word for it!

Chippin surely you see the irony of your post?

"Thunder pants" is a fave of mine with my charges!

Chippin, 'For those of you saying call it what it is... FART is no more the 'correct and true' word than any other slang word for it!'

Neither is (....wait, I can't stop laughing) 'Windy (hahahahah) Pops' !!!!!!! hAHAHAHA

Chippin - "fart" is the right word. It's a recognisably ancient and basic anglo saxon non-euphemism, like cow, sheep, dog, etc. (you can look it up if you don't believe me)

If you choose to talk (or joke) about farts* it is ok to use the proper word. In contexts where it is not, don't talk about them at all. You don't make them polite by renaming them with some pathetic polysyllabic nonsense.

I love words. Violence to the english language brings me out in a rash - not mistaking the odd bit of grammar, I am not the sort who writes to the Telegraph about split infinitives, I mean the mimsy enfeeblement of the language in favour of things like management-speak or "decency"-speak.

*if you think farts are unmentionable you might have to make exceptions in private with your children, whose bodily functions are necessarily your business, or choose to make an exception to exploit the unmentionableness with humour. Still, you can't have it both ways.

Vezzie - fart is a v traditional word (Middle English, used in Chaucer) but that doesn't mean it's not slang. Arse is also in Chaucer. And I think Shakespeare may have used the c-word.

windy puffs in our house... Was brought up that all of the words on ImpatientGriseldas list were frightfully not-the-done-thing!

BTW - am sure there was an advert on Boomerang or somewhere for Bratz films over Easter, which said 'crap' in it. Both dh and I heard it and were a bit May have misheard though....

housemum, for me "arse", etc, are the real words. Chaucer definitely enjoyed being rude, yes, but that doesn't make his vocabulary slang.

Slang is a euphemism in common useage - like saying "the fuzz" for police or something. A word can be considered rude, because what it refers to is considered rude and because it comes from the older language of the "common orders" (as opposed to the latinate circumlocutions of the clergy) -without being slang, in the true sense, in the slightest.

Arguably it is the latinate words that are true slang. All these words for body parts, like "vagina" for instance, are really latin words for something else - "sheath" (for a sword) in this case. It's a form of slang - posh, prudish slang - because it's a euphemism that has acquired its slang meaning through common usage.

yabu

I'm not keen on farts for little kids, but ok for older ones. In my house we have flumpies! lol we made that up. So 'who has flumped?' 'I did a flump/flumpy'
For some reason I find this highly amusing.
When I was at school I can remember everyone saying knackered was sexually exhausted too!

'Ok...who's bottom has gone off?'..is my usual question.. I'm not a fan of fart..my mother prefers 'poop'..which reminds of poo...crap to me is not acceptable for an 8 yr old...but thats just me..we are love a bogey in our house!..lol

Fartles!

I believe a medical-ish term may be 'eructations', this applies to gaseous escapes from either end.