"falling" pregnant

G

Gordanus

Registered User
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there was a thread/threads? a while ago about changes in the way we use language, changes in phrasiing etc. Well, here's a phrase that I hate, which seems to have been imported from Britain where it seems to be a phrase used amongst the less-educated. In Ireland (and middle-class England) people used to become pregnant .........now the journalists write "fall" pregnant and it seems to have come into popular use.
Signed
Curmodgeonly in Carlow
 
"with child" is so much more quaint. "expecting" would be my preferred choice of work.

& of course there are probably 20 slang expressions, none of which would impress you.

What about "we are pregnant" - a bit too p.c./American style a phrase for me.
 
It's an expression I heard in Australia 20 years ago; never heard it in UK at that time.
 
makes it sound like an accident maybe it is appropriate in some cases. Must say I never noticed it...

Cheerful in Carlow
 
Something I heard a lot when I lived in Dublin was the phrase:

"She had a baby for him..."

which I thought sounded awful - like the woman was some sort of subservient child incubating machine.
 
Maybe it comes from the old expression of "fallen women"?

Or maybe it's just to describe a medical condition..as in falling ill?
(not suggesting for one second that pregnancy is an illness!!!)


Chilled in Connemara
 
I hate when couples say "We are pregnant" too. I've only heard "fallen pregnant" in the case of an accidental conception.
 
In the US you slip someone a mickey to knock them out.
Here you slip them a mickey and knock them up!
 
Its just the way the verb to fall is occasionally used in English.

Falling pregnant sounds odd now but the expression 'to fall ill' is still used ,there's probably more
 
capall said:
Its just the way the verb to fall is occasionally used in English.

Falling pregnant sounds odd now but the expression 'to fall ill' is still used ,there's probably more
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Off the top of my head though, generally there seems to be a lot of negative connotations e.g. "fall in with bad company" "fall prey to" "fall out of favour"

Notable exception of course being "fall in love"
 
Caveat said:
Off the top of my head though, generally there seems to be a lot of negative connotations e.g. "fall in with bad company" "fall prey to" "fall out of favour"

Notable exception of course being "fall in love"
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Some people would think this is the worse kind of falling to do.
 
Why do you hate the phrase?
 
I hate the term 'fall pregnant'. It is in those true life stories in UK mags e.g. Pick me Up, Chat.

If I heard anyone use this term, I would love to ask them: Did you hurt yourself when you 'fell' while pregnant? The term 'fall pregnant' sounds like it was a complete accident and the mother to be was AMAZED that she got pregnant. It all seems a bit stupid when a lot of these mothers to be (in the true life stories in mags) have had relationships with men and have had live in partners since they were in their late teens.

I also hate the expression, when people put baby to sleep, they say they 'put him/her down'. This reminds me of putting a sick animal down by lethal injection.
 
buzybee said:
I also hate the expression, when people put baby to sleep, they say they 'put him/her down'. This reminds me of putting a sick animal down by lethal injection.
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But "putting him/her to sleep" would surely have the same negative connotation?
 
My own favourite, courtesy of my sisters-in-law, is 'it's freezing, shut the window on the child!'

They also say to 'fall' (or 'be left') pregnant in other languages — well, the Romance languages, anyway. And the word 'pregnant' in Spanish is [broken link removed], in the sense of laden/charged/weighed down; it can sometimes also mean 'hampered', or 'hindered'. Cheerful stuff! I wonder if this has to do with the Catholic culture in which these languages evolved?
 
DrMoriarty said:
And the word 'pregnant' in Spanish is [broken link removed], in the sense of laden/charged/weighed down; it can sometimes also mean 'hampered', or 'hindered'. Cheerful stuff!
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This describes exactly my feelings during the last trimester.........the bump was HUGE; cdn't reach top cupboards in kitchen; was always food-stained cos my mouth was so far from the table; couldn't walk as the tendons had loosened - I was the slowest waddler in town. Sleep was a problem. Constant pressure on bladdar. Heartburn cos of pressure on stomach. Maybe nothing to do with religion!
 
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