to not want DD1 to start telling me off thanks to school!

[JackBauer]

walking round shops earlier and a man stepped aside to let us through so I said 'ta'

DD1 snapped at me
'You mustn't say Ta, or See ya, that's very rude, you must say bye-bye, now say it properly!'

After I stopped sniggering I realised she was deadly serious!
She also corrects me when i say 'loo' and says ' no, mummy, it's the toilet say it properly'

Opinions? If someone at school is correcting them like this then that isn't on is it?

Are you Jilly Cooper Milly?

Despite multiple threads on this I still fail to see the problem with pardon.

Why have I lost you?

Actually, now I think about it, your DD is right. Why would a grown adult say Ta? You should say thank you.

Yes - explain the fuck/pardon combo please

Living room is OK - it's lounge that's completely beyond the pale!

My children have learned that they say toilet and pardon at school, loo and what at home. I think it's useful for them to learn a second language!

Well, I teach that smoking causes cancer and drinking too much alcohol can cause liver damage. I also teach about pollution and the greenhouse effect and acid rain, and link that to burning fossil fuels. Because I'm a science teacher. And it's science.

LOL at correctin 'toilet' back to 'loo'. How very U

How can 'fuck' be more acceptable than 'pardon'??
Or am I really missing something?

Yes lounge is worst of all apparently. Living room somewhat better but still non-U.

Here you are: the Wikipedia guide to U and non-U

Caught DH (half-foreign) trying to teach DS 'pardon'. Turns out for some time DH'd been saying 'don't say what say pardon' and I'd been saying 'don't say pardon say what'.

So DS will have something lovely to talk to his shrink about later on

I tell you now Milly - you teach your ds that 'fuck' is acceptable in school and 'pardon' isn't, he's going to be spending a hell of a lot of time in detention.

And it's Drawing Room by the way

According to dp drawing room has gone the way of the use of looking glass to describe a mirror. It's rather outdated now apparently.

According to snice's link:-

U - Chimneypiece

non-u - Fireplace

Blimey, that's a new one on me. I'd feel like a right wally telling the ds's to put their birthday cards on the chimneypiece!

Children also need to be taught that different manners are acceptable in different places, and that there is a time and a place for making environmentally UNfriendly choices...

My DD says we're not allowed to eat pizza with our fingers any more, "Miss P says its impolite and to use a knife and fork".
Today when I was putting her (6), Ds (4) and DD2 (2) into the car to go to the supermarket - "NO Mummy - Miss P says we should walk instead of using the car for short journeys." (Tried to explain walking 3 miles uphill home with 8 shopping bags, a buggy and me 7 months pregnant wasn't a realistic option but she still snorted derisively.)

I didn't say in school! It was in the context of explaining about when he grows up. I didn't bother to explain the whole conversation because it was one of those in passing conversations, not a major issue!

I woke him up specifically to ask him about these things.

Give him a kiss back to sleep from me, Duckie. He's been very helpful!

LOL I will.

Bemused at the negative connotations of 'toilet'.

I say loo and what. I've had to teach ds to say pardon although it goes against the grain. 'What' from the mouth of a 4 yr old just sounds wrong/ill-mannered.

Still keen to know the negative connotations of 'pardon' rather than 'fuck'. Or are you going simply along lounge/sitting room snobby lines?

My mother says chimmeypiece, looking glass, wireless and drawing room. But she is 89!

I'm also curious to know why pardon is considered vulgar, though I have a possible explanation in my mind. It's probably wrong though.

Don't worry Doodle - I expect there's a rule about not displaying private cards in a 'public' room anyway.

You need to keep your chimneypiece free for visiting cards.

I do, I do....with a corner of each visiting card turned down.

Trying now to remember what the down-turned corner meant! Ducks, wake him up again and ask or failing that, seeker, give yer mam a shake and see if she can remember!