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?

LineRunner - presumably they are saying "can you see that bit that looks like a hamburger?" rather than "and that's the baby's hamburger". I think there's a difference.

The term "hamburger" replaced the previously used "Golden Arches" (which came into use as a term found to be readily understandable to the lay population, representing the three lines of the folds of a girl).

I had always assumed that this was dropped, as it favoured one particular fast-food company. But a bit like "Bennies" became "Stills" the term lived on in amended form.

How about, 'Can you see that bit with the three lines? There, that's right, exactly where I am pointing, what looks like three little lines or creases? It's called a vulva, and you are having a baby girl. Congratulations.'

Mind you, my brother thought he had a 'peanuts' for many years.

Rita - no ive had friends complain that's exactly what was said "and if you look you can see her hamburger"

ofgs the whole thing is a bunch of lines and creases, people often don't really even see their babies under the tense conditions of a later scan... saying 'see that thing that looks like a hamburger in a bun' is simply the most expedient way of passing on the news clearly and with a hope in hell of getting the parents to see what they are on about in an expeditious manner. it has absolutely nothing to do with sexism.

and don't tell me i can't see the sexism because i'm too oppressed to see it. it's absent. that's why i can't see it.

I thought it was because boys' bits are 'hotdogs' and this was just continuing the fast-food theme.

have done a bit of googling, it's referred to all over the internet as 'the hamburger sign'.

"hamburger" is a well known slang expression for a woman's parts mostly used by teenage boys. Am surprised that a sonographer would use it.

To look at it another way, what does a hamburger look like?

If you had to describe a hamburger?

Three lines?

by the way i have never in my life heard anyone refer to adult female genitalia as a hamburger, i do rather wonder what publications you are all reading.

but it's not three lines at all. it looks like a bun with a hamburger in it. and sonographers were using it long before these supposed teenage boys, bibbity.

because i think you are being absolutely ridiculous, stewie, that's why, and tbh it's making me want to hide the whole board if this is the level of discussion.

I'm not convinced that it isn't utterly crass.

No doubt not intentional, especially if it done in a 'see that bit that looks like a hamburger' sort of way. But crass nonetheless.

And I'm not blaming the sonographers but surely everyone knows that it is crass to describe women and girls in terms that invoke meat.

Anyway, I think it looks more like a flying saucer.

Does it look like a fancy macaroon? Would that be more MN-like?

Massive heh at hiding the board over ponderings over why a vulva is not called a vulva. Just hide the thread, Aitch. There's loads of others on here. Or start your own. Then you can talk about what you think is important.

ofgs. that's a wild over-reaction on your part, and also very purposefully undermining. i am fine disagreeing with you, you're the one who came out with the passive aggressive 'i'm not sure why you're angry with me'...

it's called a hamburger sign because it looks like a hamburger. if it looked like a birkenstock sandal it would be called a birkenstock sign, that's all. the whole premise of this thread is bogus and the OP should accept that she wasn't in possession of the facts and retire from it.

Aitch don't you dare hide the feminist section.

You are my goddamn MN hero because you regularly have the courage to say that you think we should be a women only space.

Apologies if I misrepresent you.

Cripes! Well that's me told then. When did sonographers start using it and when did teenage boys start using it? Would love to know. I remember being a bit iffy about the use of that term by a participant in the dating show that Davina McCall used to host - the one where she would arrange dates for people live on the street. Think it was called Streetmate or Streetdate?

Aitch errrrrr I beg your pardon. What are you on about???

I know it looks like a flippin hamburger. I know that is why sonographers use the term. I find the usage of the term uncomfortable. If that's me being bogus well errr ok then. Go have a cup of tea, I think you need one!

it does look like a macaroon, yes. a french one, though, not a scottish one, or a home-made potato one. so you'd really want parents whose only crime is wanting to know the gender of their kid to do a patisserie and confectionery course first of all if you want them to understand you... probably best to stick with the more universally known hamburger. (no to flying saucer, it might look a bit like the one that the alien drove in the flintstones but not everyone has seen that cartoon).

I think it is a little sad we can't just be expected to call it a vulva.

And I admit, being aware of the really nasty connotations of the term, I can't un-think them. I wouldn't assume the sonographer was at fault at all, it's just a sad and nasty point about misogyny poisoning things.

thanks, beachcomber, you do not misrepresent me at all. anyway i'm off, you all enjoy your tilting at windmills.

Streetmate (1998).