Use of the term "hamburger" by sonographers to describe baby girl "bits"

[ahhhhhpushit]

I've heard this term reported by mothers so many terms that it must by the term sonographers aee taught at sonographer school.

Anybody else feel uncomfortable by it?

Imagine it being said about a baby's bits once she'd been born!

Is it just me?

I thought the proper term was "kebab"

I find it strange that genitals are referred to as food. Particularly a baby's for some reason. However, is it any worse than "meat and two vedge", "plums" etc for male sex organs?

Its because of the shape on the scan! Not a derogaratory(sp?) term. It looks like three lines (ll) like that a bit, you can basically see the labia forming around the vulva. Boys bits are refered to as a 'leg' though theyre not all that well endowed!

Blergh. Why don't they just say "vulva"?

it's because of the shape, fgs. on the scan it looks like a hamburger if it's a girl.

What it looks like is one thing. What it is is another.

Do sonographers say: "There's the hamburger - you're having a girl!" or do they say "See that shape there that looks like a hamburger? That tells us you're having a girl".

Personally, I would be uncomfortable if a sonographer used "hamburger" as a slang for a girl's genitalia instead of the correct anatomical terms, whatever it may look like on a scan. There seems to be at best discomfort about female genitalia and at worst revulsion. Unlike the glorifying that goes on about the male penis (and yes, I know there are many jokey terms for a penis too, but is it only me who detects a different feeling behind the way female genitals are referred to?)

at sonographer school we're not taught to use the term hamburger to describe girls genitals. but trying to explain to the many parents who want to know what we are looking for and how we know, that's the easiest visual aid to use. some people cannot see the three lines even though we are pointing them out.
I've not heard if boys bits being called a third leg though.
of course once a baby is born it looks nothing like a hamburger so it wouldn't be described in that way.

Thanks for clarifying, worley

when i had a scan at 28wks with dd, (to check the sex as we didnt believe the 20wk scan) the sonographer showed us her 'girly bits' and said its the three lines 'that look like a hamburger' and they did tbf. obviously she didnt say thats what they were but just to show us clearly on the scan. tbh the whole thing just felt a bit wierd, looking at her private parts before she was born and in 3d felt a bit wrong somehow, i dont know why. interestingly dd obviousl didnt feel like co-operating and kept her hands over her face for the entire scan, so they didnt make us pay! which was nice and i STILL didnt believe that she was a girl until she was born and i coudl check for myself

well maybe don't get anyone's knickers in a twist just yet, immaculada, because aaahhhhhpushit has only concluded that this is what people are saying based on what mothers (who are presumably not disgusted by their own genitalia) are saying.

Baby girl genitals look like a hamburger on a scan.

They don't look like a hamburger in real life.

Not seeing the issue.

Indeed Aitch - I was agreeing with the OP that it would make me uncomfortable, but that was why I wanted to know if sonographers were using the term in a purely descriptive way when pointing out shapes on the scan or were using the term as a name for female genitalia. Which is what I infer the OP wanted to know as well.

Terms used for female genitalia are often loaded with meaning and implication beyond the anatomical, which is why I think it could be an issue to some of us more sensitive souls.

However, worley said in her experience "hamburger" is used as a description for the shape as seen on a scan not the genital area itself, in which case no, I don't think it is an issue.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

And also from a sonographer too :)

What do we all think about the term "beef curtains" ?

A bit Viz.

yuck

and sad too, that I hear it from women

Sonographers use lemon shape and banana shape in relation to a serious neurological finding.

Better? Is it just hamburgers that offend?

I've never heard beef curtain. Yuk. Just yuk.

where women's bodies are photographed being shoved in meat grinders. never having seen hustler, my mind is a boggle

i imagine bananas would offend on here...

stewie you do realise that it looks like a hamburger? would veggie burger be better, it seems to be the pornographic use of mincers you have a problem with?

Why can't they just say the real words? 'Do you see those lines? That's the vulva of your baby girl.'

Why is ante-natal world so childishly metaphorical?

Tooth It's a Viz comic Profanasaurus term.

Line runner -I never ever described it as a hamburger (or lemon/banana) but have seen these terms used frequently in books. My colleagues never used them. TBH whilst I agree with you I also think there are more serious issues to be offended over.

I thinkit's quite funny.