'grounded'

[MargaretMountford]

is this an Americanism ? as in to be grounded for doing something naughty - for some reason it grates horribly with me. I daresay I'm being unreasonable.

Not especially American, comes from aviation (eg 'flights are grounded due to bad weather').

Trad English equivalent is to be 'gated' ie confined to school grounds as a punishment.

perhaps it's because it's used so frequently is why it irritates me...

grounded doesn't bother me tbh

"closure" otoh....aaaaggggghhhhhhhhh

Is that aimed at me, MM? I've just used grounded on another thread. Tbh I don't really like the term either, and I know the English term is 'gated'. But teenagers all use 'grounded' and I figure dd1 knowing what I mean is more important than the elegance of my phrasing.

I have noticed playdate creeping in a lot too

You can't be gated at home though.

isn't it supposed to be a state of mind as well

"I feel so much more grounded after my therapy" for example

where in hell's name did that come from?

Well, I remember the girl who beat me up when we were both 13 telling me the next day that she'd been "grounded" until the start of the school holidays. And that was 30 years ago (30 years ago this week, spookily. Ugh.).

gosh no frogs, not aimed at anyone, just a general observation - it just gets on my nerves.Don't think I like gated either. Playdate is something I abhorr too.

"NO YOU MAY NOT GO OUT SHOPPING WITH YOUR FRIENDS THIS WEEKEND BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN A SULKY WASTE OF SPACE ALL WEEK AND HAVE JUST HAD A RED NOTE HOME BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED 3 PIECES OF HOMEWORK."

'Grounded' is just so much quicker.

yes Cappuccino, the 'grounded' as in 'having children has really grounded me' is also tiresome.

frogs - I love the long explanation though !

I like that

'having children has confined me to the house as a punishment'

er, yep

do you think it means that you have been literally hammered into the ground?

lol MrsB

dp and I had this exact conversation the other week.

I remember as a child being "grounded" and that was back in the seventies, so I think it is unlikely to be an Americanism (I know that America did exist in the 1970s, but if you knew my dad, you would understand why Americanisms were unlikely to have made their way across our threshold )

I always assumed it came from aeroplanes being "grounded" and not allowed to fly.

Either way, dd1 gets grounded when her bedroom is untidy (in fact, she is rarely allowed out )

Agree 'playdate' is grim. But I guess at least it formalises the unspoken rules of the situation whereby I agree to take your whiny child home post-school along with my own, turn a blind eye while they play some insane game that involves dragging all the bedclothes down the stairs and emptying all the clothes drawers, feed them something that cunningly combines child-friendliness with wholesomeness (organic sausages with potato wedges, say) on the unspoken understanding that you will turn up to pick up said whiny child by 6pm, and you will reciprocate within the next fortnight, and will not spring any curve balls like me picking my child up at 6pm and discovering that she has not in fact had supper, or conversely has been fed non-stop haribos and fruitshoots and is bouncing off the ceilings in a way that can only end in tears.

Hmm, 'playdate' looks like a masterpiece of succintness when viewed like that.

oh I don't mind playdate, it is very useful imo.
in every sense

lovely summing up there frogs

roffle frogs. do you work for the oed?

great stuff, frogs and squonk (ps squonk, I went to Brid with the DSs at the weekend and thought of you as we drove past the turning for "your" village!)