Is "Fart" a Bad Word?

Updated on October 13, 2011
M.P. asks from Asheville, NC
37 answers

Just curious if you consider "fart" to be a bad word with your kids. My 5 yo son recently was given the book "The Gas We Pass: The Story of Farts". My son and I thought it was hilarious. My husband thought it was a naughty word. What do you think?

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So What Happened?

Yes, probably not the most polite word in the world. Of course my husband had him calling it a "barking spider". Not sure which is worse... LOL

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R.J.

answers from Salt Lake City on

fart is not a naughty word in my house, my mother in law says "toot" but I can tell you with the boys in my house these are not "toots".

4 moms found this helpful

ღ..

answers from Detroit on

Nope, we are fond of the word fart. :) I like the word way better than when my husband actually does it!

2 moms found this helpful
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P.S.

answers from Houston on

We say it at home (not all the time) but don't use it around other people, esp those we know who don't like hearin it...like my mom! (unless we want to push her buttons :) )

Oh, and we own several whoopee cushions...

2 moms found this helpful

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M.M.

answers from Washington DC on

I have watched too much Monty Python
I faah-rt in your general direction.

HAHAHA I laugh just thinking about it.

8 moms found this helpful

G.W.

answers from Orlando on

I don't put it in the category as other curse words but I absolutely do not allow my kids to use it and my husband knows that after 20 years of marriage I will go crazy if he even dares utter it in my presense :-) I think it is disgusting and personally I find it kind of low class when people use it so carelessly. And in the same way, my kids are not allowed to belch loudly just to be rude and obnoxious. I am friends with families whose kids are allowed to sit at the dinner table and burp like nobody's business and all laugh about it (and purposely pass gas as well). I am in no way Miss Manners but I just find those words and behaviors to be very impolite. Yes, I know my kids have gas and need to belch but we all know those things can be done with diginity and politeness. I hope my future daughters-in-law appreciate that I am teaching my six year old twin boys these rules. On another note, my good friend's husband knows how very much I hate the "f" word so he had lots of fun with me one day and pulled up a youtube video where the comedian Tim Hawkins went on a 10 minute rampage about that very topic. Everyone had a very good laugh as they could see the hair stand up on my arms and my nostrils flare out LOL

4 moms found this helpful
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✩.!.

answers from Los Angeles on

I think it is a funny word -

Our girls "toot" and the boys "fart"... fart is more "ewww" and "toot" is more girly. Either way funny to us!

Oh ya - and sometimes it is "Who stepped on the duck" hahahahahaha (Your name me think of that one)

My MIL says "Who is shooting bunnies"

ETA - I am sorta suprised how insulted some get over the word (thinks it is just as bad as the "F" word). Makes me giggle. Not that anyone is right or wrong, just suprised by it.

3 moms found this helpful
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✿.K.

answers from Boston on

Just about any word can be used as a bad word if it's used to hurt or make fun of people. As long as he isn't going around calling people "smelly farts" "fart head" etc or discussing it at the table I don't think the book is that big of a deal and your hubby should lighten up a little.

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C.S.

answers from Miami on

It is crass and impolite. If it must be discussed, the term is "passing gas".

2 moms found this helpful
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L.C.

answers from Dover on

I wasn't allowed to say it. Or butt. Or vagina.

The alternatives I was given in 2 cases were absolutely mortifying. Who wants to tell people their beans are talking?? What does that even mean??

I had to call vaginas "too-toos". Imagine my horror the first time we went to the circus and there was a ballerina in the center ring in her "pretty pink tu-tu."

I don't think it's a bad word. I still don't like to say it, but sometimes you can't undo years of learning. However, that beans talking thing is definately a no go for me, too.

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S.K.

answers from Denver on

I dont think its a bad word, but def not a word that is allowed at the table or at restraunts. We will be snuggling on the couch and if I smell something horrible I will just say ugh who farted and one fesses up and then they both giggle about it.

2 moms found this helpful

G.T.

answers from Redding on

I think it sounds pretty nasty. However we use(d) it at home when my boys were little. It can sound pretty bad to some, best to figure out a more colorful, cute word for it. We called them "flew flews", when I was growing up. What a dumb term, lol!
My mom wouldnt let us say fart, it was practically like saying the other F word in her book. I had two boys and a perpetually farting hubby, so I sorta lost the battle in my home. My husband now calls it "did you hear that bullfrog?". Good grief. I have to say "Um, I smelled THE bullfrog".

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H.V.

answers from Cleveland on

Not a bad word in my house. I don't know what it is, but I think i burst into laughter at all farts. My whole family is like this.
No we don't just let them rip in public..not total pigs here lol
But I think, they are natural and funny.
Sometimes, when out in public, I will say "toot" instead of fart.

My boyfriend will say "Omg R (our son) Did you just hear mommy toot?!?" Right after he does...
My family used to call it "barking Spiders" or say that someone stepped on a goose lhahaha

2 moms found this helpful

⊱.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

It's one of those crass words, you know? Not for polite company. Our daughter used to use the word "duck" -- kinda sounds like a quack, no? "Ooops, excuse me, I stepped on a duck..." Now we use "toot." A little cuter than FART.

1 mom found this helpful
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T.V.

answers from San Francisco on

It's not a bad word, just a disgusting word. When someone says "I had a brain fart".....that is someone that I don't want to be around.....I don't like cursing or vulgar language.....I'm not a prude....just have a clear understanding that there are much better terms to describe how we feel that do not have the need to drop F bombs or use fowl language.

Blessings....

1 mom found this helpful
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☆.A.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Not a "bad" word--just a gross word.

1 mom found this helpful
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L.L.

answers from Orlando on

LOL funny question. No fart is not a bad word - I think it's a funny word to be honest. BUT when my daughter was growing up I told her not to say fart, say "toot" .. ha-ha .. I think "fart" sounds so gross coming out of a cute little girls mouth. She is 9 now and if she says fart I still say "come on...(laughing) and tell her that's a gross word and say toot"

1 mom found this helpful
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K..

answers from Phoenix on

Well, that's what it's called, isn't it? Kind of like a vagina is a vagina, a breast is a breast, a butt is a butt. It's just a word.

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A.W.

answers from Chicago on

Fart isn't a bad word in our house but I do limit its use. My kid is at that age where bodily functions are hilarious and loves to tell poop, pee, and fart jokes. My husband also finds these hilarious as he is a giant 5 year old apparently. So I have given them 2 jokes of that nature a day. Once they've reached their limit they are done for the day. It's worked out well. I love their laughter I just can't take a steady stream of poopy!
BTW I'm going to look for that book. My two would die laughing over it. I just got them this game for Christmas in which you feed this dog and it poops out what you fed it. Charming. But they will love it.

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V.B.

answers from Miami on

I wouldn't say it was a "bad" word on the same level as a curse word, but it is sort of crass. I don't think I want my kid running around saying it, but it isn't the worst thing that a 5 year old has ever said. I guess it just isn't the "polite" way to describe that bodily function. To each his own, though!

J.L.

answers from Lexington on

We use "toot" with our 4 year-old but of course she hears what other kids at preschool say, so right now "poop" and "farty pants" is just the most hilarious thing to her.

N.P.

answers from San Francisco on

I call them farts. But LOL at the barking spiders. A friend of ours calls them "monsters". He'll let loose a huge burp or fart and then whip his head around and say, "Did you guys hear those monsters? We really oughta call someone about those things."

So now whenever anyone flatulates our daughter will say, "I heard monsters!"

K.J.

answers from Chicago on

I come from a house where my mother spanked for saying "Fart," which she considered to be the F-word. I don't think it is a huge deal, but out of respect for my mother, I teach my kids not to say it. They say "fluff," and we all know what they mean.

ETA: We also use 2 Arabic words to describe farts. One means that it was an audible fart. The other means that it was a silent-but-deadly one.

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A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

I don't see it as a bad word, but perhaps not the most polite. We also say "butt" but not "a$$" (as in "go wipe your butt" - hey, we are potty training).

When I asked me DD if she had gas, she looked at me and said, "NO, Mommy! Gas is for cars!"

I think that there are a lot of things we need to discuss with our kids and sometimes we go scientific and sometimes not, but I don't consider "fart" one of the big guns that I discourage her from saying (though I have told her that we don't discuss farts in church, for example). Time and place.

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S.S.

answers from Cheyenne on

I don't think it is a bad word...when I was growing up, boys farted and girls floofed...(the "bad" word in my family was "pissed"...we could not be "pissed off", we had to be "ticked off"...also my Mom hated "whatever!" -with the eye roll of course- because she said it was the same as saying F-U!)

My MIL hates the word, but her son (my DH) thinks it is hilarious to give her a hard time about it (they are a joking family) so he will put a fart app on his phone and make it go off during dinner or will get our two sons to say the word just to get her goat (not rudely, everyone including MIL knows it is a gest and everyone laughs about it!). He is a pastor (I know! Gasp! Lol!) and even found a Christian comedian who had a whole segment about farting and why he wasn't allowed to say it growing up...it was hilarious (DH showed it at church...gasp again!...during an "It's Okay To Be A Christian With A Sense Of Humor" sermon he wrote...was such a good sermon...the comedian's name is Brad Stine -Wussification- 2007 "We Say Toot"...search for it on YouTube! He has lots of other segments , including a Men and Pregnancy one, if you just search "Brad Stine". Well worth checking out for a good chuckle!) Let's just say that DH's mom STILL brings up that video and how a pastor should not use that word...lol! But it's okay to say "Shut Up" in their family...don't get it...lol!

Anyway, I think it is up to you guys to decide together (as someone else said, as long at it isn't used to hurt someone else, it is fine in my family), but I think it is hilarious that this is a common issue to LOTS of families, including MINE! LOL!!! Can't wait to see what words bug me as a mom and what I let my kids "get away with"!

V.W.

answers from Jacksonville on

I think it is a little on the crude side, and discourage it's use in our house. I prefer the kids say something like "gas". Yes, the word Fart is technically accurate, but there are other "technically accurate" ways to say it that are less crude. That is just MY opinion...

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D.W.

answers from Dallas on

No, it's not. But unfortunately it offends a lot of people, so having your children blurt it out at inappropriate times can be a problem. It's a lot easier to tell a child "don't say that it's a bad word" than to explain what it means, why it can be offensive, and when the word can be said (perhaps at home) and when it can't (blurting it out in a public place).

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R.Y.

answers from New York on

It is not on the same level as some curse words but it is definitely not polite enough for the dinner table either. I also have a 5 year old and sometimes he thinks "potty talk" is the funniest thing ever. I do ask him to stop in some situations including when I have just heard enough of it already.

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H.P.

answers from Houston on

Yes. I HATE it and cringe when I hear and even just now reading it. It is crass and unseemly. (I realize that this is my personal opinion, but this is what the word does to me. Yuck!) I've already alerted my nanny that I do not want this word used around my son because I don't want him saying it. We do not use this word in my home at all. There are only two words that I cannot stand to hear, and this is the worse of the two.

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R.S.

answers from San Antonio on

We "tootie" or "pop" or "rootie tootie"...it don't think is it a BAD word just one that is kinda crass. Do my kids get in trouble for using it, no. But there are other ways to talk about it.

The book sounds like something my son would like...one of his favorite books is called Chicken Cheeks (it is about butts)...guinea pig buns, deer rear, platypus gutius maximus, giraffe back half, etc etc, you get the idea...lots of "other" terms for butt.

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R.C.

answers from Nashville on

It isn't my favorite word but after my daughter loudly said "Mom doesn't like the F word" in a restaurant I decided not to make an issue any longer.

Maman M., I had to look up fluffer and giggled. I never knew there was such an occupation. Good grief!

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

It's not a bad word but it's not a classy word either.
And yeah, 5 yr olds would think it's hilarious.
I think every kid goes through a potty humor stage.
Many grow out of it.
Some never really do.
Who do you think buys whoopy cushions and plastic dog poop and vomit?

S.A.

answers from Chicago on

We say "toot" or "tootie".

J.S.

answers from Hartford on

No, it's not a naughty word. It's a word I use in place of naughty words. :-) There are more polite words to use, of course, but it's not naughty.

S.R.

answers from Kansas City on

I don't allow my kids to say it unless they did it. Otherwise they get reminded that it's not a nice word.

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S.K.

answers from Dallas on

Not bad but really crude. We don't use it.

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E.T.

answers from Albuquerque on

No, it's a bodily function.

Of course... any word taken to an extreme can be incredibly annoying. As long as my kids are using fart in the proper context I don't have any issue with it. If they started calling someone a "fart head", well then, it becomes something different.

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M.M.

answers from Chicago on

haha. i think it's a gross word. not a bad word. we use toot in our house.

when i was little my mom insisted on "fluffer" but then some one told me the true definition of what a "fluffer" is and i can no longer use that word.......

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