Have you heard of the term "water issue"?
Posted by ThrowRAlistening@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 106 comments
I teach children and I was asking how everyone's Easter break was. One kid said they had a water issue and after asking twice more (incase I misheard) and seeing their general hand gestures, I figured meant an UTI. I thought it meant maybe their house had plumbing issues/not had running water etc. I've literally never heard of it being called that before and I asked my partner and they also immediately understood what water issue meant without any context. Have I been living under a rock all these years to not have understood it straight away? Not sure if it's relevant but I'm from London and currently in Liverpool so is it a regional thing maybe?
mtmp40k@reddit
I had a kidney infection as a kid. One of the nurses wanted to see my “big toe”.
Apparently that meant the gland of my penis.
Adults should really be using and teaching the correct names for body parts. It’s anatomy and not sexual.
Imperterritus0907@reddit
Even on NHS materials for the wider public the terminology is infantilising AF. I recently read something about IBS on their website, and it read “yadayada pain in the abdomen (that is the tummy)”, you see stuff like that all the time. Almost as if it was an illiterate country.
alinalovescrisps@reddit
Genuinely though, would you prefer they only use words like abdomen so that not everyone can understand important health information?
There are inequalities in health outcomes across social class/economic backgrounds in the UK, if the NHS can help by pitching their health info to all educational levels then I'm all for it.
elalmohada26@reddit
I understand why doctors are told to use terms that a child would use as a starting point.
But it does frustrate me when I go to see a doctor and describe symptoms as somebody who clearly speaks English as a native and is clearly capable of understanding vocabulary above a primary school level and they still talk to me about my tummy and my poo. I want to feel like an adult in a medical setting not a child or a simpleton.
They should be able to adjust the language they use to the patient instead of just using lowest common denominator terms.
AmosEgg@reddit
Why not have it is a setting option? They are not printing booklets now - content can be tailored to the user.
EmojiRepliesToRats@reddit
Because people will be adverse to selecting the "dumb" setting, and might confidently assume that their abdomen is in their throat so they don't need to have it dumbed down for them.
I really don't understand why you have such an issue with it clarifying that it means "tummy". Just ignore it, it isn't hurting you.
AmosEgg@reddit
I don’t have any issue with it. That is not me. I think it’s fine and the language doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I think the designers have done a really good job integrating simple language with technical terms. Really good.
My point is that there are people in this thread are complaining about it. Therefore something is going wrong with the UX. it doesn’t matter whether or not we think these people are dicks, they should be included too and I’m pointing out the risks and costs to the NHS of ignoring these people.
EmojiRepliesToRats@reddit
Oh yeah my bad, I didn't realise you weren't the same user. Though I don't agree that every complaint necessitates change, which you seem to be suggesting. People in the UK will always find something to moan about, it's in our blood!
AmosEgg@reddit
No worries. From the down votes, you’re not the only person to think that, unless Reddit is wholly against increasing accessibility.
The NHS website is not just excellent, it’s a really important later in the NHS, giving UK tailored advice to get people to the right place for help and reduce unneeded strain. The problem comes that a lot of popular medical websites in English are US-centric, pushing people there, maybe partly because they wrongly think the NHS site is annoying, has a real effect on front line services as people add to the pressure rather than taking common sense advice. Not liking the language can be an excuse for ignoring sensible advice and looking for something more complex to bother the service with. My flippant dual mode Ida was probably silly, but I do think there needs to be a solution to this. Whilst keeping people with lower medical english comprehension skill ( who maybe more vulnerable anyway or less able to access in-person services) informed is really really important still.
alinalovescrisps@reddit
Because (and I say this as someone who works in the NHS), NHS IT infrastructure is awful because we only have a limited budget for it. The money we do have rightly doesn't go towards making websites where you can choose to have content tailored towards different educationalbackgrounds.
Its completely unnecessary, why is there such an issue with putting the word "tummy" in brackets after abdomen? In fact I see it as a positive, perhaps someone will learn a word that they hadn't been aware of and feel better equipped for conversations with medical professionals.
AmosEgg@reddit
A fair point.
But prevention and public health information are massively more cost effective than cures. Getting the right information to people pitched at the right level ( not understood or not ignored as lack of nuance at baby level) could be worth the slight extra cost. They already consider the value of this by carefully writing in multi-level inclusive language. And they do an excellent job. But if people like the OP are getting put off in the other direction of over simplified language, it may lead people to prefer advice from other sources that may not be as accurate.
YchYFi@reddit
I would say that is a problem with their own ego and pretensions if they can't understand why simplified language would be used, than the NHS.
AmosEgg@reddit
I think you misunderstand my point (and the point of the NHS website).
This is not about whether or not people can’t be understand why inclusive and simplified language is used (hint - they do). This is about saving NHS money by making the best advice for the UK health system people’s first pint of call. If these sort of people are put off or annoyed by how the website is written ( and I’m not going g to judge them for this), there preferences is to different online resources that may conflict with NHS best practice. Whatever you think of the sort of people that get annoyed by baby talk (personally it doesn’t bother me) the idea is to save the NHS money by getting as many people following the best advice as possible to get right people to the right services at the right time. Sneering at the publics preferences isn’t helpful and a cheap UX change could save money. I don’t disagree with you, but you need to be practical with accessible website design.
YchYFi@reddit
I think you are misunderstanding. You need to understand that even the lowest common denominator needs to understand the website. Their diagnosis and treatment. If it is not simplified to them then they will not understand any advice or information given. And given at least 18% in England, 26.7% in Scotland and 12% in Wales lack basic literacy skills, they need to understand their treatment.
The best way to do that is to make the NHS website as accessible as possible. And yes it is a preference that should not be adhered to as you are saying those people will cut their nose to spite their face because of simplified language. That is petty and baby like.
AmosEgg@reddit
Your take on what you think I’m saying is weirdly the opposite to what I’m writing.
You are preaching to the converted. To restate what I said in my previous posts. It is important that the NHS website is accessible to all. They do a great job with simplified language that people of lower literacy (and I will add here 2nd language speakers) can understand clearly. I don’t understand why you are trying to convince me of the same point I am making.
Where we disagree is that simplified language isn’t for everyone. Although they do a great job including both, from this post some people are put off by it. I think more could be done to inform these people; you seem to let your feelings against them override the practical need for website design. The NHS website design team clearly have understood this and done their best to cover all levels, even if you don’t understand their design principle. I’m genuinely not arguing that the website should not have simplified language so I don’t know why you keep pretending that I am.
I don’t propose engaging further with you as it seems you’re not “listening”. I wish you well in all things.
crashtacktom@reddit
Because we are almost an illiterate country - especially when it comes to comparatively 'technical' terms. 18% of working age adults have very poor literacy skills.
Using simple language like that which a child would understand makes the information more accessible which means it helps more people.
I agree it's jarring to read because you'd expect the NHS to use the 'big words' and be more formal, but if more people can use the website and take care of themselves then it's better and easier for the rest of us.
Imperterritus0907@reddit
I think it risks being too ambiguous. Sometimes it’s better not understanding anything at all, than misunderstanding it, at least with health. Like some other page goes “pain in your bottom (anus)”. The tailbone could technically be your “bottom” for many people, so if that’s what they understand they’re being misled. A friend of mine once said to me “the areola is the nipple”, as if the doctor had told her that. Like no it’s effing not.
YchYFi@reddit
If you are British then you know this isn't true.
FlamingosFortune@reddit
Nah I actually get his point, bottom is the whole thing - cheeks, hole, crack. If using a polite euphemism for anus I like “back passage”
bill_end@reddit
It could very well mean the buttocks rather than the anus though.
"bottom" is just not a very accurate descriptor if you're talking about someone's arsehole
YchYFi@reddit
It's written to make it understandable to the lowest IQ. It's so people don't misunderstand their conditions and problems.
IAmLaureline@reddit
It's not about IQ, it's about education and knowledge. These are not the same thing.
YchYFi@reddit
Nonetheless it is written to be understandable to anyone and everyone.
YchYFi@reddit
Think you are being pedantic.
pullingteeths@reddit
This is not a good example, they used the correct word but also just explained what it means. Some people lack basic education so it's good to include educational information like this. It's literally the opposite of the problem, it is teaching people the correct word.
Jayatthemoment@reddit
Any general population has a big chunk of people of low and very low IQ and people with learning difficulties that affect their literacy. This affects their health and their life expectancy.
People with higher or average literacy can understand ’tummy’. People with lower literacy may not understand abdomen.
In a publicly funded system, it benefits none of us if communications are not inclusive.
Away-Ad4393@reddit
Dumbing down gas reached everywhere.
FlamingosFortune@reddit
Jeez that’s awful. A nurse using incorrect language as well 🤦🏻♀️
joe_smooth@reddit
It is of course correctly referred to as the bell end.
bill_end@reddit
Indeed
WotanMjolnir@reddit
Or Herman Gelmet.
Ecstatic_Food1982@reddit
Yeah this is ridiculous. Even if you're using a euphemism this is clearly absolute nonsense.
Vivid_Sun_5636@reddit
I’m hoping it meant glans of your penis - the gland of your penis are some whole other things, very much inside you.
um_-_no@reddit
I was so confused by the saying gland lol
elmundio87@reddit
My mum had an experience with the doctor when she was a kid - they asked when she had last “passed water”. So she said “3 days ago”, as that’s when she’d walked past a local river.
TSC-99@reddit
There are taught now. Teacher.
avalanchefan95@reddit
Wtf I wouldn't have any idea what this meant
Euphoric-Wall-2576@reddit
I'm very UTI-prone and I've never heard it described this way.
Odd-Currency5195@reddit
It is a term, e.g. 'water tablets' is an term for diuretics, 'waterworks' for reference to bladder issues, but quite old fashioned. It does make this child sound like they're 7 going on 70!
Dutch_Slim@reddit
Water infection rather than issue but yeah, water meaning urine is normal. Like water tablets…they stop your body retaining water by making you pee it out.
LucyMckonkey@reddit
I’ve heard problem with waterworks but never water issue, and not by children. My own kids would say UTI nowadays
TwoValuable@reddit
I work in a hospital so a UTI is called a UTI, but a water infection is a term I've (early 30s) known people to use all my life. Same with the expression "I can feel it in my waters" to mean a gut feeling/instinct.
I also know so many people to refer to the pharmacy/pharmacists as the chemist.
Conscious-Ball8373@reddit
Are you male and your partner female, by any chance? The gender differences in UTIs are stark.
Women are much more likely to have a UTI at some point in their lives - about 60% of women vs about 15% of men. They are also much more likely to have them at a younger age and much more likely to have them as a recurring problem.
For men, UTIs are generally a late-life experience, as they tend to be caused by an enlarged prostate. They get treated for the UTI, then put on medication for the enlarged prostate and that's that.
For women, the main risk factor is sexual activity, leading to much lower ages where they first have a UTI. About 25% of women with a UTI will have a recurrence within six months. About one in ten women have UTIs at least annually.
It's just something that women talk about a lot more because they experience it a lot more, so they're a lot more likely to have euphemisms for it.
RecentTwo544@reddit
Yep, "problem with the waterworks" is a common Scouse/northern England saying for a UTI issue. I thought it was UK wide in fairness.
charlottedoo@reddit
I thought that meant crying
BDbs1@reddit
“Water issue” commonly used in Scotland too.
Scottish_Santa@reddit
Interesting, 43-year-old Scot and I've never heard it! 🤷🏻♂️
spammmmmmmmy@reddit
I thought that meant crying!
chiarascuro1@reddit
Midlands also!
Mdl8922@reddit
Down south too, Dorset & Hampshire.
Fufferstothemoon@reddit
I have never heard that expression in Dorset before!
OutlawJessie@reddit
"Down South" also being used frequently to indicate a water issue.
RecentTwo544@reddit
I might now refer to my cock and bollocks as "Dorset and Hampshire".
Though thinking about it, "Devon and Cornwall" makes more sense given the shape.
Ripe for jokes about what the Scilly Isles represent too.
HomeworkInevitable99@reddit
Also, downstairs plumbing.
yellowsubmarine45@reddit
Not just northern, my mum says it and she is from London
tcpukl@reddit
Yeah this is not just a northern phrase.
ladyynara@reddit
I grew up in the SE and that wouldn't have been an unusual phrase.
Forever-Hopeful-2021@reddit
That one I've heard of but not 'a water issue'. I genuinely thought the family had plumbing problems.
PootMcGroot@reddit
It's probably also family specific, on top of being regional. Every family on a street likely has different euphemisms for genitals.
ClericalRogue@reddit
Water infection, yea but water issue without further context would confuse me.
Internet-Dick-Joke@reddit
My first thought was that the kid heart it called a water infection but forgot what it had been called, remembered 'water' but not 'infection' and guessed issue (same first letter and means 'something wrong')
LittleSadRufus@reddit
A problem with "my waterworks" or "my plumbing" I would also get instantly. A "water issue" I'd be absolutely clueless.
burnoutbabe1973@reddit
Waterworks I’d understand though it’s more male using it in my experience. (Ie needing to go more often) A female uti to me is so unlike water (it’s like burning feeling) that I don’t think I’d ever link the two things.
In polite company “a problem down there” is enough mostly.
HalfAgony-HalfHope@reddit
Im up north and have heard 'problem with the water works' which aid take to mean a UTI. But if someone said they had a water issue, I'd assume a burst pipe or something 🤣
yellowsubmarine45@reddit
Its really interesting that many people from all over the UK have heard it and others havent. I wonder about the sexes of the people involved. UTIs are far more common in women and girls. Is this a phrase more known to women perhaps?
Iforgotmypassword126@reddit
Yes it’s a common euphemism usually by working class and much older people.
Calling their reproductive and excretive organs as their “waterworks” or “plumbing” was really common for politeness and also because a lot of women didn’t actually know the actual names of their own body parts. So euphemism’s were used.
DoubleXFemale@reddit
Not “issue”, but I’ve known UTIs as water infections.
Lazy-Kaleidoscope179@reddit
I've never heard them called UTIs
DoubleXFemale@reddit
Yeah not in casual conversation, I’ve heard doctors/nurses call them urinary tract infections.
Middle--Earth@reddit
Yep, that's a common one, so is 'a problem with the waterworks' or 'problem with the plumbing' .
spammmmmmmmy@reddit
I have sometimes in doctors' offices seen urine described as water.
SpectreSingh89@reddit
We are heading more n more into political correctness 😤
Jayatthemoment@reddit
This is something older people say. I’m old. Children are much more likely to be literal/accurate in descriptions.
What difference does it make? Kid got treated.
UnacceptableUse@reddit
Yeah I heard you can't even call them "toilets" anymore you're supposed to say "powder room" - wait, that was 100 years ago
Watchkeys@reddit
It's not new! Trouble with the waterworks is a very old fashined phrase, just like the old-person's phrase 'Ooh, I knew it! I could feel it in me waters!'
OP I'm from Cheshire and it would be referred to in that way. I can also fully imagine it being said on Coronation Street in the 1980s, which is Manchester based.
SCWeak@reddit
This has literally been a thing my whole life. Doctors literally call it a water infection.
furexfurex@reddit
Paramedic here, hear it all the time and a lot of my colleagues also use it. Based in north Wales with lots of NW English people, so maybe regional?
Ok-Rain6295@reddit
I would have assumed a plumbing (literally) issue. Never heard of ‘water infection’ or ‘problem with the waterworks’ to refer to bladder infection/urinary tract infection.
the_sunflwrgrl@reddit
As a side note, maybe this has come up in safeguarding training, but I’d be inclined to look out for signs of behaviour changes.
UsedExamination4149@reddit
Pretty obvious really, even if you’ve not heard the term before.
Colleen987@reddit
Water issues or problems with the waterworks is shorthand for a UTI.
fugigidd@reddit
I think it is absolutely criminal that people are not given the words they need to get the help they need. That girl should have been able to tell you she has a UTI and you should have known what provisions she needed.
I hate that "politeness," and "prudishness" are denying people of basic medical care.
Bowel cancer fatalities would be greatly reduced if it was normal to talk about bowel movements for example
SeaIntelligent4504@reddit
I'd understand water infection. But issue with waterworks or water issue or issue with plumbing would need more context to figure out if it was a bodily or house issue.
RaspberryJammm@reddit
My MIL who is from the south called it water infection or something similar. I don't know why but I hate that term. Just call it a UTI !
Free-Limit-5328@reddit
I'm northern and if someone said to me a water issue I'd also assume they'd had a plumber round. Waterworks though and I'd think it was a personal issue. But I'd still find it very weird for a child to be saying it.
Proud-Biscotti-6194@reddit
I knew what it meant before I finished reading what you wrote. Problem with the Waterworks or issues with my waters is a common term where I am originally from in the northeast.
beeurd@reddit
I've not heard that before either, I'd have assumed there was a water leak. I'm in the Midlands.
Total_Concern3112@reddit
I process people’s blood samples for a living. Seeing ‘waterworks issues’ in the clinical details for a patient whose blood results were out of whack was definitely a learning moment lol
vikatoyah@reddit
My father is currently having tests and the consultant literally called it “problems with your waterworks” in her letter!
Chemical_Ad_1618@reddit
What that sounds unprofessional!
vikatoyah@reddit
I don’t see it that way. It’s an as yet undiagnosed complaint so it’s still very vague. He’s old and easily confused and the doctor is using accessible, familiar language instead of medical jargon. There was more anatomically correct information in the letter too.
Some of the letters we get for his other issues are incomprehensible. This is much more preferable to googling everything.
nouazecisinoua@reddit
The first time I heard the term was when an A&E doctor asked me "how are your waterworks?" and I genuinely didn't know what he meant at first.
Personally I'd rather see medical terms that I can at least find an exact definition for, rather than euphemisms.
Goosepond01@reddit
Sounds pretty normal?
ADM_ShadowStalker@reddit
I'm in the south and would have picked that up from the same context. 'waterworks' is a euphemism for bladder etc. I wouldn't necessarily have jumped straight to it as it's not something I'd expect children to get generally speaking
FinalEgg9@reddit
Buckinghamshire here, never heard that in my life.
I see comments referring to "waterworks", but I've always known that as crying... as in, "putting on the waterworks" is pretending to cry (crocodile tears) to get what you want.
flavouredicecubes@reddit
Yeah I would know what he meant, although it's a bit old fashioned as a phrase
PumpkinsVSfrogs@reddit
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Moppo_@reddit
"Bladder/water infection", yeah, but never "water issue".
here-but-not-present@reddit
Yep, folk do say things like "problem with my water", but I have never heard a child say it to be fair. Assume they've picked it up from someone.
Particular_Piece2965@reddit
It’s something I’ve heard. My Nan used this term and would be over 100 now. Maybe it’s regional, I’m from Yorkshire.
Timely_Egg_6827@reddit
It's an old term at least in West Coast Scotland when I grew up. Trouble with the waters.
Joyanonymous@reddit
Never heard of this. Just call it its proper name!!!
Key_Hearing5146@reddit
I’ve never heard water issue used for a UTI either sounds more like a polite, child-friendly way of describing it, and your confusion makes total sense.
ThrowRAkitty13@reddit
Common term to refer to a UTI as being a problem with your waterworks, or something along those lines.
Matchaparrot@reddit
Never heard of this.
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