FF's teacher has a very reasonable rule that the kids have to talk politely in gan. FF has very reasonably carried that rule into the home.
Now theoretically, I'm all for polite and classy speech.
(I still remember Mooshub pretentiously explaining one Shabbos that he absolutely was not sweaty, because he only sweats on weekdays: on Shabbos, he prespires. I also remember my AP History teacher explaining, not at all pretentiously, that we should never excuse a friend's temporary absence by saying she is in the bathroom. A lady is never in the bathroom; she is indisposed.)
However, I am also in favor of unambiguous communication.
I don't just want FF to sit nicely, I want his tushy to be touching his chair. I don't want to know if FF has washed his entire body, I want to know if he's washed his tushy. Et cetera, et cetera.
Thus, his constant, reasonable rejoinders of a delightedly horrified, "That's not polite!" are driving me nuts. I have no idea what took me so long, but I finally figured it out. I taught FF that "bottom" is the polite way to say "tushy" in English, and so far, he's let me use the word "bottom" without criticism.
On the other hand, after a week or two of that, FF realized that he can now talk about tushies, which, even when you call them bottoms, still don't make for polite dinner conversation. See? Rules are there for a reason.
