I was watching Judge Judy last night while I was puttering around in my kitchen and what a woman said about made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
A woman was charging that someone stole her cell phone while a friend was supposed to be watching her purse so she wanted her friend to pay for the stolen charges and get her a new phone. Judge Judy asked her where she was going that she couldn’t take her purse and she told Judge Judy that she needed to go pee! Yes, I’m serious. Someone not only said this in court but also on a television program.
Okay. I know a lot or people who say this. I never would but I think it’s a “where you live” thing and just the differences in cultures and regions but I know an area where men say they have to “take a piss” and women say “I have to pee.” I just didn’t grow up saying that and it just sounds so crude somehow. I also know this term is very old fashioned but it’s really not ladylike.
But to say it on TV? I know men say things like “they have to see a man about a horse” or they’re “watering the grass” or some various terms and I know women who say they need to use the rest room or go to the “little girls room” and my personal favorite which I say is “I have to tinkle.” I’ve said it my whole life and still do say it if the situation arises.
How do you excuse yourself if someone asks? How is it in your area or when you grew up? What do most of the people you know say in this situation if asked?
Us Girls..Our Views 
Ok, in ‘comfortable’ company, like family, I say “i have to pee”. It started when I got my first puppy, and suddenly, your whole life is about peeing and pooping, and where to go, and how to know the dog’s ready, and all that. It’s reinforced with children – same issues.
However….
In “mixed” company, or when I’m with friends or whatever, I’ll say something like, “I have to use the restroom” or some such thing. I agree… “I have to pee” just seems too familiar… TMI.
Of course, it’s better than my Dad, whose favorite phrase of that sort is… I kid you not… “I have to drain”
My brother never grew up, so he’ll say stuff like “I have to drain my main vein” or “I have to urinate so bad, I almost have to urin-nine.” Eew, I can’t believe I just typed that.
To be accurate, I must correct myself. My dad never said that referring to himself… it was always to the kids, like when we were getting ready to go on a long road trip… “you’d better go drain”
When I was dog training I sad potty. Potty and Outside were my key words to train them.
I’d love to meet your dad.
It depends on the people… most of the time I say gotta use the bathroom
then there’s times that you’re out with your friends and you just gotta pee…lol
I agree with Jenny!
I never used to say “I need to pee” even with my own family. But at some point I must have chilled out, because now I will say it in some very limited situations. I am more prudish than most people around me. However, I can’t think of anyone whom I’ve heard say that in “polite company” such as at work or with unfamiliar people.
Normally, even with family, I’ll say “I need to use the restroom.” Even with my girls, I usually say “does anyone need to use the restroom?” (Though, in the bathroom itself, I say whatever needs to be communicated.) No offense, but “tinkle” isn’t something I would feel comfortable saying. My dad says it, but only around family (as far as I know). But that reminds me of when my girls were 2 and had just graduated to a toddler bed. Now they could get up and pretend they needed to go potty after bedtime. So on the second trip, I would say “I had better hear ‘tinkle tinkle.'” To which I would be dutifully and tunefully answered, “tinkle, tinkle, little star, how I wonder . . . .”
We call it by the general term bathroom and say we went to the bathroom
Tinkle tinkle little star
And you say thats the way you are
Here in the states, I use the word bathroom or rest room. I Holland we say toilet or WC. Never bathroom or restroom. I have to pee, is indeed rude, it is the female version of I have to piss. I hate it when women say, I have to use the little girls room, as if they’ve never grown up or pretend they are still “little”.
The first time, my husband and I dated in the Netherlands, He said he had to go to the restroom. I really had no clue where he went. After he came back and I asked where he went, he looked puzzled. 🙂
“I’ve got to go recycle all this coffee I’ve been drinking.” 🙂
LOL!! You probably do.
I have to go to the restroom or with family I have to pee. For the most part I say restroom. Sometimes Navar says” he has to visit Aunt Suzies” which is somthing passed down from his aunt.
Aunt Suzies is cute.
Thanks Navar just added on it was when they had an outhouse as they were building there house.
Oh, sometimes I also say “I have to go do something that nobody can do for me.” But only with family / close friends. Also if I’m traveling with staff or something, I might say “bio break.”
It all depends on who I am with. I’m with kids so much, that I may say “go pee” more than your normal person. But if I’m with adults, or in a restaurant….or any place of business, I will say, “use the restroom.”
If I’m with close friends or family I will definitely say I have to pee, but if its people I do not know well I’ll just say I have to use the bathroom/rest room.
I don’t think saying “i have to go pee” is that bad… so maybe its a generational thing?
I don’t think it’s bad but I just can’t imagine saying it. I guess maybe it is a generational thing. But my parents never said it either so maybe it’s learned. We do parrot our parents. When I heard it in front of a judge and on TV, that’s what made me want to ask you all.
I guess I’m the unladylike kind ^_^”. I say that I have to pee usually… For me “tinkle” sounds like something someone would say if they were trying to be cute or funny, actually! Isn’t it so funny the way where you live affects the kind of language you use to express the same things?
I’ve always thought that “piss” was a really ugly word, although it IS onomatopoeic 😛