Names for body parts and bodily functions (merged)

miriam

Thu, Nov 11 2004, 2:42 am

What's wrong with calling it "my private part"? My daughter calls her front her private part and her back her tush. I think this is a very tznius way of referring to it.

amother

Thu, Nov 11 2004, 3:24 am

Until you think things are assur that are not because as a sexualy active married woman, who has gone through birth already you don't know the basic parts of your anatomy. That is one reason a PERSON needs to know what their body parts are actually called. In any language that they speak.

(see "very personal" thread )

Tefila

Thu, Nov 11 2004, 11:03 am

Quote:

Until you think things are assur that are not because as a sexualy active married woman, who has gone through birth already you don't know the basic parts of your anatomy.

this would only apply in an uncommon scenerio!! .e.g.The marriage act itself and other things has to be taught clearly b/4 ones married so I dont understand this scenerio you mentioned.
I mean... how can it happen? Confused

Ozmom

Fri, Nov 12 2004, 3:44 am

Quote:

If a girl is being molested it would be a good thing for her to know what to call the area she is speaking of. (Same of a boy.)
It is not necessary for a child to know the 'real' word. Only a word that will be understood by, at least, her/his parents.

and carers
If I was taking care of your kid, pishi I would understand
but tutu??? I would be totally lost!

proudmom

Sun, Nov 21 2004, 9:58 pm

I just want to let everyone know that I spoke to my mashpia and she told me that I should not correct my daughter I should let her call it whatever she wants.

amother

Mon, Nov 22 2004, 8:29 am

freilich wrote:

Quote:

Until you think things are assur that are not because as a sexualy active married woman, who has gone through birth already you don't know the basic parts of your anatomy.

I was refering to a thread here, on this website.

Yosefa

Wed, Jun 22 2005, 6:45 pm

I don't like using pishy because it sounds like a bad word of a similar meaning.

Story:
In my [public] school, we started learning we started learning about our changing bodies, how babies are made etc., by 5th grade. My mom always used the proper names for everything except tushie, ie. BM, V__... So this pediatrician came in and she was calling everything these funny baby names, but telling us about grown-up things. It was weird, confusing and innacurate. Plus I already knew I had 3 holes and that at "that time" nothing was coming out of or going in my "weewee" or "peepee hole"!

amother

Tue, Sep 20 2005, 9:32 am

Motek wrote:

Quote:

its a body part.

the Torah refers to arms, legs, eyes, etc. but not to these parts by name

It certainly refers to breasts by name.

As for the others, according to the Rambam the reason why Hebrew is the lashon hakodesh is because it uses euphemisms for s-xual things.

In the days of Tanakh it was clear from context that "takhas yerechi", for example, meant aiver, and what else could they have called it? There wasn't any other word for it!

However that doesn't mean that in educating our children we should feed them misleading information in English!

Motek

Tue, Sep 20 2005, 5:32 pm

why did you post anonymously?

Quote:

It certainly refers to breasts by name.

true
apparently breasts are not in the same category as the genitals

Quote:

In the days of Tanakh it was clear from context that "takhas yerechi", for example, meant aiver, and what else could they have called it? There wasn't any other word for it!

but WHY isn't there a word for it? it's not because nobody thought of a word! It's because lashon ha'kodesh, the language of the angels, doesn't have it FOR A REASON (as you mentioned and as was mentioned earlier in the thread)

Quote:

However that doesn't mean that in educating our children we should feed them misleading information in English!

Euphemisms are not misleading information. They are aidel, refined ways of talking and as frum women, we take our cues from Torah.

queen

Thu, Sep 22 2005, 12:37 am

Motek wrote:

Euphemisms are not misleading information. They are aidel, refined ways of talking and as frum women, we take our cues from Torah.

very well said Motek.

One should learn from the torah, who will use extra words, JUST to avoid using not clean language.

Isramom8

Sat, Nov 19 2005, 4:20 pm

In my kallah-teacher training course, the word "nartik" ("va gina") was used for a woman and "aiver" for a man. "clit0ris" was also used when the mitzvah of relations was discussed. Because what applies to the woman was explained with more detail than what applies to her husband.

In our family we say "genitals" for both boys and girls. We say that girls' and boys' genitals are different. And we say "tushy". I guess that's inconsistent, but we just got used to it. Whan my daughter complained that (her clit0ris) hurt, I told her that it is "a part of her genitals". And one son said that he hurt in that area because of his bris! But it was several years afterwards.

amother

Tue, Jul 04 2006, 9:20 am

What do you call your children's private parts? I need names to tell my 2 year old.

anonymous because my friend asked me to post this and I don't want her
to know who I am!

this thread was merged with the previous thread on this topic, please read earlier responses - mod

amother

Tue, Jul 04 2006, 9:48 am

so far we call everything a "tush" and refer to it as 'front part' and 'back part'

I have no boys, but if/when I do, I've seen it mentioned (on here I think!) about calling the boy's privates "aver" (meaning LIMB) as in "aver koton yeish b'odom". I think that's a fairly modest word.

bandcm

Tue, Jul 04 2006, 9:58 am

that is a good idea for a boy! I was wondering the same thing.
But I don't like the girl one. The front is NOT the back! How can both be tush?
Imagine when your daughter gets her period. "oh my dear, yes your tush is going to bleed...!"

amother

Tue, Jul 04 2006, 12:35 pm

band, that's why I said "for now" - I dont have any other ideas. The "made up name" that my mother used, is, believe it or not, a name of a lady who lives in the neighborhood!! shock

I dont like the standard, I think it's "untznius", but I dont know....

bandcm

Tue, Jul 04 2006, 1:22 pm

[quote="Tefila"I tell my children that noone is allowed to touch them etc unless it is somone you know [/quote]

I wouldn't say that! According to statistics, most child molestation is carried out by people they know -relatives, doctor, caregiver, parents' friends, etc.
I would tell them that no one is allowed to touch them there at all except for Mommy when she's giving you a bath!

yoyosma

Tue, Jul 04 2006, 10:17 pm

I told DD that no one but Mommy is allowed to touch her wherever her bathing suit covers. I figure those are the guidelines.

She calls her torso area her chest, she knows that nipples are nipples, and she calls her privates either her "privates" or her "gina".
I do want her to know the real names, Im not into weewee and hoohoo and pishi etc. I figured for now "gina" is the way to go, but she calls it "pishi" on her own from time to time.

As for things being "dirty" there is nothing worse than teaching a child to be disgusted by their private parts, because Ch'V, they may need to verbalize anything that is going on, and should NEVER be ashamed. Some kids may take weird euphamisms and use them, and get mocked, or will wonder why they dont know the real name and wonder if that is something they should be ashamed of. Kids are really smart. I know the Inyan of Tznius is important but never to the point to when a child is ashamed of his/her privates.

brooklyn

Wed, Jul 05 2006, 8:45 am

It is all a matter of how you teach your children to respect themselves and others. I would much rather my son call it his p-nis than his d-ck. Children will learn the names anyway better they learn the proper more modest names than the vulgar coarse street names. As young children I see nothing wrong with using children appropriate names like peepee. Avoiding the issue or calling nothing is just that, avoiding the issue. Kids will figure it out eventually. Motek take a chill pill.

bandcm

Wed, Jul 05 2006, 9:31 am

I fully agree brooklyn.
Calling their private parts by no name whatsoever is very destructive. Kids are not stupid, they realize that every other part of their body has a name!
This will not make them more tznius, rather it will make them obsess about those mysterious areas that Mommy is embarassed to name. "Now what could it be? Why is there no name for it? Is there something embarassing about this part of me?"
Matter of fact is the way to go, and of course making it clear that absolutely NO ONE can touch there.
I read somewhere that kids that are uncomfortable or mystified by their private parts are more likely to be molested.