Help with a word that makes me uncomfortable, need suggestions

[Halftime Hope]

It seems like no one but me, and people in generations older than me (I hit the mid-century mark this year), are bothered by the word f_ _ t for passing gas.

 

I was raised to believe that it was a rather gauche word for a natural bodily function. Please excuse me if you don't see it my way; I'm not judging you. I fully understand that it is a personal preference.

 

I'm not shy at all about discussing body parts and bodily functions--I grew up in a family that was very much into health and healthcare--as long as it doesn't degenerate into potty humor or crudeness.

 

The problem is that there doesn't seem to be a better, contemporary substitute. "Passing gas" or "breaking wind" feel hopelessly outdated to me.

 

Poll below, as a reality check for me, and if you have a "let your speech be seasoned with grace" suggestion, I'd appreciate hearing how you handle this.

 

I am grateful for thoughtful input; please no bashing.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Valerie(TX)

[specialmama]

LOL Valerie, it's not just you! Check this thread out...

[Night Elf]

I'm 44 and I don't like the word. It makes me cringe. There is no pleasant word for such a gross bodily function. And then what if it happens? Do you say 'excuse me' and draw attention to yourself, or do you stay quiet and hope no one calls you out on it? What a conversation. :)

 

DH is 55 and has no preference.

[Halftime Hope]

Maybe you are just an old f..t? :D Definitely, although I'd prefer fuddy-duddy. ; )

 

I'm kidding. FWIW, the term "breaking wind" kinda weirds me out. I agree. There are plenty of words I don't care for. I guess I just kinda ignore them.

 

 

I'm thinking that maybe I just need to make a blanket recommendation (ahem, rule), that we don't gratuitously discuss bodily functions in my classroom.

[Alenee]

I distinctly remember riding in a friend's car one day and saying the word. The mother was aghast! She told me, "We don't say that word!!! We say, 'cut the cheese.'" Yeah, that's wayyyyyy better. :lol: We seem to alternate between f**t and toot. I really don't care as long as someone isn't doing it AT another person, it's all good. ;) And I guess I would classify myself as 'in the middle'. Not young, but not 'older'.

[Lacie]

Dh doesn't mind it and the kids use it. But I don't like it. The only word for it that I dislike more is toot. All those cutsie potty words just drive me crazy.

[JudoMom]

I dislike that word; I can't bring myself to say it (I'm almost 37). My boys "gas pass" (when the olders were toddlers they got the order reversed and it stuck). I think they might occasionally toot. But they never, ever, ever, f@rt :lol:.

 

I was raised that f@rt and butt were not words to say, and it stuck. My boys don't say butt, either, though that one doesn't bother me as much. In a twist of irony, I'm not bothered by the word cr@p, though I prefer children don't say it.

[nrg]

I am older and don't like it. When my boys were little, they would call their younger brother "Jupiter," because he was a huge gas planet. Since then, "Jupiter!" has been our family term for this.

[happypamama]

Ack, I hit the wrong selection. I'm younger (35), and I do mind the word; we were never allowed to say it growing up, and I still find it crude. I'm not big into cutesy names for things and prefer the actual names for various body parts (p*nis is not exactly a bad word around here with three little boys, LOL), but we settled on "toot," and that seems to work.

[fairfarmhand]

I'm 33 and I think it is crude. Polite company doesn't mention that at all, but I do realize that with kids, you must address it sometimes. With our kids we use the ridiculous word "toot." With our older ones we say "passing gas"

[justLisa]

Why don't you just switch to our word. We say "bonk." It's Polish for the f word. The smelly f word :lol:

 

I hate the word too. I don't know why. I am in my 30's

 

ETA: bonk is how you say it. it is spelled bak, the a has a thing on it to sound like "ong"

Edited October 25, 2012 by 425lisamarie

[Annie Laurie]

I'm 35 and was raised by crude people. :tongue_smilie: The word doesn't bother me at all. But I'm pretty immune to swear words too- not saying at all that that's a good thing.

[Mallory]

F..t doesn't bother me, but I really like Jupiter!

 

My children are also huge Roald Dahl fans and whizzpopper gets used a lot around here.

[Belacqua]

There's always "cropdust." That's a bit specific, though; some waitresses use it to describe engaging in such an activity near the tables of patrons who finished ages ago and just won't leave.

[Karen in CO]

At 44, I finally have a word to replace that word which I was always taught was just improper to discuss. Flatus. There I typed it. We watched one of the "best of episodes" of mythbusters yesterday. Apparently, they were initially banned from airing the segment where they light their flatus on fire. :D

[Laura Corin]

Why don't you just switch to our word. We say "bonk." It's Polish for the f word. The smelly f word :lol:

 

I hate the word too. I don't know why. I am in my 30's

 

That means something totally different in Britain. The other 'f' word.

 

Laura

[Karen in CO]

That means something totally different in Britain. The other 'f' word.

 

Laura

Yah - that's what bonk means here too.

[freeindeed]

I'm 37. I do NOT like the word. I find it gross.

[Barb_]

That word used to drive my dad up the wall, so he invented "fluff" as a euphemism. Yeah, that sounds a little too much like what it is.

[edelweiss]

I don't like it either. It sounds completely crass and tacky to me. We never use it here. I don't like any of the other options much either, but we have settled on "toot".

[justLisa]

That means something totally different in Britain. The other 'f' word.

 

Laura

 

OMG really?! I did not know that

 

Oops I wrote the sounding out...it's actually bak with this thing under the a that makes it sound like ong

Edited October 25, 2012 by 425lisamarie

[pfamilygal]

Why don't you just switch to our word. We say "bonk." It's Polish for the f word. The smelly f word :lol:

 

I hate the word too. I don't know why. I am in my 30's

 

Around here, "bonk" means TeA. ;)

[fraidycat]

I would say I'm in the middle, not older, not young (36).

 

The word doesn't bother me. Most words don't - I can't think of any off hand. They're only words. I can let them bother me, or I can let them bounce off me. Bouncing makes my life simpler, and bouncing is fun! :D I took the "Sticks and Stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt me" to heart, I guess. Yes, words can hurt, but for me, only from certain people (loved ones).

 

Please don't take this as an insult or a "how you should live your life" edict. I'm just trying to explain my philosophy and I'm not nearly as eloquent as I'd like to be - I went to public school. :tongue_smilie::lol:

[redsquirrel]

I am 45 and was raised to say "gas" as in "If you gas, please say excuse me."

 

Now I heard the word fart used, but it was considered juvinile. A kid might say it for effect, but that would be sort of naughty.

 

My kids also say gas. I know they know the word fart, but it is something they would only use with their friends and with a giggle. But, we aren't really into potty humor in our house.

 

I once babysat a teensy little princess of a girl who would announce "I just had a butt burp!" I almost died trying not to laugh at that one.

[Ellie]

I can't vote because you don't have "other." :)

 

I abhor that word. I never, ever use it. I cringe every time I hear someone else use it.

 

And FTR, it almost never happens in conversations in our house. I guess we just don't feel the need to discuss it, including not feeling the need to apologize for doing the deed. :glare:

[Chelle in MO]

I am older and don't like it. When my boys were little, they would call their younger brother "Jupiter," because he was a huge gas planet. Since then, "Jupiter!" has been our family term for this.

 

Oh, my gosh! I am stealing that term! :D We have at least one Jupiter here!! ;)

 

And I'm with you in the "older and don't like it" camp.

[nmoira]

Wizzpop? :D

 

Though I am unperturbed by the "f" word.

[Jen500]

Parp?

[justLisa]

This is reminding me of my grandmother. She'd be sitting there and you'd watch her just tip a little and let one go :lol:

 

Wouldn't matter where she was.

[awisha.]

Why don't you just switch to our word. We say "bonk." It's Polish for the f word. The smelly f word :lol:

 

I hate the word too. I don't know why. I am in my 30's

 

ETA: bonk is how you say it. it is spelled bak, the a has a thing on it to sound like "ong"

Bonk means teA in Australia too. Pleeeeeeeease tell me you don't go around in public saying bonk :lol:

 

I just googled and the average person fluffs 15 - 25 times a day. Now replace fluffs with bonk and you get a WHOLE other statement!!!! :lol: :lol:

[Loudwater School]

My middle class relatives always said "pass gas" or "break wind". My well-off relatives always said "fart" or something funny but brief. So I grew up with the impression, and this is just mine, that polite terms are ways of seeming hoity toity. I have no interest in seeming hoity toity, but I also don't like the word fart. So I use the word plumper. I like it because it is fun to say. That combines the disinterest in the ugliness of "fart" of the one side of my family with the delight in just being honest of the other side of my family.

[catz]

This is reminding me of my grandmother. She'd be sitting there and you'd watch her just tip a little and let one go :lol:

 

Wouldn't matter where she was.

 

ROFL - she sounds precious! :D

 

Words don't bother me. I like to be in denial about gross bodily functions though. :lol: My mom didn't like it so we never said it growing up. My kids don't really say it either.

[crazyforlatin]

I have a kid who loves words, and I can't wait to tell her all these words for f...t. Some of them I've never uttered.

[TN Mama]

I don't like it either. It sounds completely crass and tacky to me. We never use it here. I don't like any of the other options much either, but we have settled on "toot".

 

:iagree: And I'm younger (38).

[justamouse]

Why don't you just switch to our word. We say "bonk." It's Polish for the f word. The smelly f word :lol:

 

I hate the word too. I don't know why. I am in my 30's

 

ETA: bonk is how you say it. it is spelled bak, the a has a thing on it to sound like "ong"

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

I don't let the kids say it outside the house. I don't prefer it.

 

I have a friend who calls them tush burps. :001_huh: Which...yeah I'll take fart, thank you.

 

But now, I'm going to adopt bonk. Because that is just awesome. Anytime a word is a twofer, it's especially useful.

[justLisa]

Bonk means teA in Australia too. Pleeeeeeeease tell me you don't go around in public saying bonk :lol:

 

I just googled and the average person fluffs 15 - 25 times a day. Now replace fluffs with bonk and you get a WHOLE other statement!!!! :lol: :lol:

 

:lol: It doesn't sound exactly like bonk. That letter a in Polish is a sound you don't have. Now when my kids say it it sounds more like bonk, but they have no accent

[nukeswife]

I'm 38 so I guess I'm still in the younger crowd and don't have a problem with it.

 

Generally here we use lots of terms f--t being one of them. Toot, or poot being others. It could be because I have two dogs that seems to have some sort of foul gas emanating from them quite often throughout the day.

[justamouse]

I can't vote because you don't have "other." :)

 

I abhor that word. I never, ever use it. I cringe every time I hear someone else use it.

 

And FTR, it almost never happens in conversations in our house. I guess we just don't feel the need to discuss it, including not feeling the need to apologize for doing the deed. :glare:

 

My oldest daughter, who is mortified by the mere thought, has convinced her younger siblings that she has never, ever...

 

 

:D

[bobbeym]

I picked younger, although I'm 39. I abhore that word. My boys (including DH) still get :glare: if they use it anywhere within my hearing. In our house, the word we used was 'poot'.

[kewb]

I detest that word. My children and dh say it with glee. I don't have a contemporary replacement. I use "pass gas" Sometimes I will use tooted or pooted. My dd called them grumpies when she was little.

[Violet Crown]

Is there a vulgar word in English with more impeccable literary credentials?

 

Ewe bleateth after lamb,

Loweth after calve cow,

Bullock starteth, bucke farteth,

Merry sing cuckoo!

 

I propose "cuckoo" (or "cuccu") as a euphemism.

[Susan in TN]

My 3yo calls it "burping poopies". Not sure where she got that from...

[Chelle in MO]

This is reminding me of my grandmother. She'd be sitting there and you'd watch her just tip a little and let one go :lol:

 

Wouldn't matter where she was.

 

Granny did the right cheek sneak??? (Or maybe it was the left cheek...)

 

:D

[justLisa]

:lol::lol::lol:

 

I don't let the kids say it outside the house. I don't prefer it.

 

I have a friend who calls them tush burps. :001_huh: Which...yeah I'll take fart, thank you.

 

But now, I'm going to adopt bonk. Because that is just awesome. Anytime a word is a twofer, it's especially useful.

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

tush burps is just NO. I'd rather the f word. Either one :lol:

[justLisa]

Granny did the right cheek sneak??? (Or maybe it was the left cheek...)

 

:D

 

Oh yeah and she did NOT try to hide it. She would just tilt and that was your cue to take a minute shelter

[freesia]

I'm a bit younger than you and I fall in the middle. I don't like using "f..t" but saying "passing gas" in public nowadays feels fuddi-duddi-ish.

[DianeW88]

That is the "F" word in my house. I cannot STAND it! As my grandmother always said, "Nice people don't say that word." My grandmother was never wrong. :D

[Amy in NH]

I'm a bit younger than you and I fall in the middle. I don't like using "f..t" but saying "passing gas" in public nowadays feels fuddi-duddi-ish.

 

:iagree: We "pass gas". But I guess we don't talk about it in public?

[kiana]

A newspaper we used to read (st paul pioneer press) had a 'bulletin board' which referred to it as 'expelling a posterior breeze'.

 

We've never stopped calling them posterior breezes.

[Firefly]

Ugh, I hit the wrong button! I meant to vote: I am older (44) and don't mind the word.