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I am looking for an expression used in the US or the UK for that situation, for example, where you are in a park where there are people of all ages, and a couple starts to be intense with the kissing and the touching.

In my country we say informally and graciously "let's throw them water!" with the hope they stop or go to a more private place :)

I've researched before through google, and I was not able to find the answer, I think the question is not too open. it is a specific situation and the answer was unique. It is very helpful for foreigners.

Leo
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    I might mutter as I walked past them "Get a hotel room!" - but probably not (if they're not breaking the law): parks are for lovers too. – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Oct 01 '18 at 23:42
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    Could always just look away and quit trying to police other people's behaviour - you can do all of that non-verbally! – Meelah Oct 02 '18 at 11:10
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    Just reading the title made me think 'if it was a couple of dogs, they'd get water thrown over them'. – Tim Oct 02 '18 at 12:20
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    @Meelah I imagine even the countries most liberal on the matter have their limits, too. Surely, you can imagine certain intense kissing and touching that would not be acceptable in certain public places in any country. – JoL Oct 02 '18 at 15:50
  • Possible duplicate: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/304679/is-there-a-negative-word-for-an-overt-display-of-emotion/304692 – Stewart Oct 04 '18 at 11:22
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    Anything that breaks their concentration and makes them aware they are being observed will do the trick. I once got a laugh with "can I have a go too?" – Michael Kay Oct 05 '18 at 08:33
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    @Chappo Hehe I think it is a good one. Or just "get a room". – mathreadler Oct 05 '18 at 16:23
  • A word request can easily attract a long list of answers when it’s too subjective – more of a poll or request for ideas. Unfortunately neither are a good fit for the Stack Exchange model. A Stack Exchange question is objective and specific enough that it has one clearly “right” answer. See: “Real questions have answers, not items or ideas or opinions”, “Single word requests, crosswords, and the fight against mediocrity”. – MetaEd Oct 05 '18 at 18:12
  • If possible, add more details of research you’ve done, especially solutions you’ve already rejected, and why. Include the desired connotation, register (formality), part of speech, and context in which it is to be used, and provide the exact enclosing sentence or passage. If this is not possible because you really do have a subjective question, a welcoming place to ask for advice is our English Language & Usage Chat. – MetaEd Oct 05 '18 at 18:12

8 Answers8

213

The expression typically used is "get a room!"

A sarcastic or humorous imperative used to tell a couple to cease displaying physical affection publicly (implying that they should rent a room in a hotel to continue in private).
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms via TFD

Laurel
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    Also used in the UK. I don't know if it's been picked up from the US or was always here, but it's definitely known and used here. – Graham Oct 02 '18 at 06:17
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    I think it must be recent. I was last in the UK about 20 years ago and the only time you would come across that kind of objection was at public swimming pools as signs saying "No Petting!" Otherwise it was a snogging free for all, and if you could get it you were the winner. Saying get a room would have come across as envy. – Sentinel Oct 02 '18 at 06:26
  • @Graham The OED lists the first example as being from 1991 article about something that happened in Wisconsin. It was almost certainly used before this in speech. – Laurel Oct 02 '18 at 06:30
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    @Sentinel Agreed - no-one really used to bother. Being shy about it is a relatively new idea. Which is ironic for us Brits, who are famously bad at doing emotions in public. :) – Graham Oct 02 '18 at 06:46
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    The comment thread is reserved for friendly clarifying questions, suggestions for improving the question, relevant but transient information, and explanations of your actions. Please avoid discussion or debate in comments. – MetaEd Oct 02 '18 at 19:40
  • A UK version of "get a room" is more likely to be "Don't you have a home to go to?" - though the commonest use of that is probably by bartenders suggesting to customers who are getting drunk that they ought to leave. – alephzero Oct 03 '18 at 09:18
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    @Graham I suppose it depends what social circles you move in, in the UK, but I've never heard it here. – alephzero Oct 03 '18 at 09:19
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    In the UK, I hear this phrase quite often - though not often directed at me :-( – Strawberry Oct 03 '18 at 12:55
  • I've also heard this phrase used about people having an argument in public ... – Stewart Oct 04 '18 at 11:21
  • In BE a sardonically raised eyebrow. Possibly a silent "tut" if you are a little old lady (the commentator being a little old lady not the occupied party) – mgb Oct 05 '18 at 15:09
  • @Sentinel I think that says more about UK culture than dialects - the phrase is used in Australia. – Golden Cuy Oct 08 '18 at 10:14
29

"Get a room!" meaning, go to a hotel that rents by the hour.

wetcircuit
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    Yeah, go find one these days. – Ricky Oct 02 '18 at 00:50
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    They have been appearing in airports recently, though not intended for that purpose. – WGroleau Oct 02 '18 at 21:12
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    @Mari-LouA The other answer includes a source, which it quotes, and has better formatting. Seems fair enough to me. – Fiksdal Oct 03 '18 at 06:48
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    It's ok @Mari-LouA. I only wanted to provide a useful answer, not win a contest. we posted at the same time but the other answer was more polished, and once an answer is higher in the queue it is seen first and gets more votes. The "voting" can feel emotional and competitive, sometimes we have to pause and remember we are here to help, not to "win". ;* – wetcircuit Oct 03 '18 at 13:52
  • @WGroleau though not intended for that purpose why so sure? – Andrew Lazarus Oct 03 '18 at 22:13
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    No doubt at least one person has flown to an airport just to "get it on" for an hour, but I'm convinced the intent was for a rest after a long trip. Especially the ones in Japan where you climb into a drawer and they slide it closed. – WGroleau Oct 04 '18 at 09:31
  • The other answer it more fleshed out, and the English resonates better than here. – Rui F Ribeiro Oct 07 '18 at 11:09
  • @Ricky - some certainly still exist in my region. When I was a child in poverty my family lived in one for about a year that also rented by the hour. – Andrew Alexander Oct 07 '18 at 21:18
  • @AndrewAlexander I had a similar experience in my early twenties. But things have been changing rapidly since then, and not all changes can be viewed as improvements. In my area, glorified shoe boxes pompously styled "condos" are springing unbidden like mushrooms after a thunderstorm and are actually sold for astoundingly large sums of money to some idiots; as a result, "the land" is getting more and more expensive. They took down the last standing motel some ten years ago to make room for yet another rectangular "condo" hive. – Ricky Oct 07 '18 at 21:52
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Public display of affection PDA wikipedia

Public displays of affection (PDA) are acts of physical intimacy in the view of others. What is an acceptable display of affection varies with respect to culture and context. Displays of affection in a public place, such as the street, are more likely to be objected to, than similar practices in a private place with only people from a similar cultural background present. Some organizations have rules limiting or prohibiting public displays of affection.

As in:

Kindly take your public displays of affection ( or just PDA) elsewhere.

lbf
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    I've certainly had a new girlfriend tell me "I don't do PDA", but I can't see myself using the phrase "Kindly take your public displays of affection elsewhere". – AndyT Oct 02 '18 at 08:55
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    I definitely wouldn't put it the way you did. But I would say "Can you not do PDA here please?" – jambrothers Oct 02 '18 at 12:03
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    @jambrothers Would you really? Expect rude replies. – Konrad Rudolph Oct 02 '18 at 13:54
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    I wouldn't say this to a stranger, but I might say it jokingly to close friends or family (with their respective significant others). But just the initialism, not the whole phrase—something like "Whoa! PDA!" Very similar to the usage of TMI, actually. – 1006a Oct 02 '18 at 15:34
  • I don't know what part of the world this applies to, but nobody in the UK would understand what "PDA" means - I suppose you might hear the phrase "public display of affection" as a technical term in a court of law, but it's never used by the general population. – alephzero Oct 03 '18 at 09:15
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    @alephzero I'm from the UK and I understand and would use 'PDA'. It was the very first thing that came to mind when I saw the question in HNQ. I'd also say that almost everyone in my year group at high school would have understood (10 years ago, but that's when I remember it being used most often - probably because kids are so un-self-aware of their relentless public frenching). Of course it's anecdotal, but you're still objectively wrong that "nobody" would understand, and that it's "never" used over here. – Michael Oct 03 '18 at 12:24
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    @Michael It may be a generational difference. I'm a 60-yo BrE speaker. The only thing that comes to mind when I hear PDA is "Personal Digital Assistant" – Martin Bonner supports Monica Oct 03 '18 at 15:11
  • I've heard it here in the middle of the USA a lot, starting in roughly the 1980's. Personally, I think anyone who says this comes across as super judgy and prudish, and is inviting an argument over what's acceptable. The accepted answer comes across as more of a suggestion or complaint (often good-natured) rather than an attempt to outright police. – T.E.D. Oct 05 '18 at 17:53
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I think the most common phrase for this is already covered, but if you want a near-translation for throw them water you could use turn the hose on them. In the context of an overly-amorous couple1 the expression references the practice of squirting mating dogs with a hose to try to break them apart. Some examples of use from around the web:

"You guys done making out? Should I turn the hose on you?"

—Bryan Radzin, Search for Truth: A rude awakening..., 2017

“Amazing,” Barney echoes. The look stretches out between them and they slowly lean closer together. Robin is the first to move the rest of the way in and start kissing him, and in the very next second they’re enthusiastically making out in the booth at MacLaren’s.

“Okay,” Tracy says, mildly startled. “I guess so….I feel like we shouldn’t be watching this,” she says to Ted.

“Oh you’ll have to get used to them. They’re like this all the time. You should have been around a few years back. We’d have to all but turn the hose on them.”

Robin pauses in their kissing, muttering against Barney’s mouth, “We can hear you, you know.”

Barney kisses her once more. “Turn the hose on us all you like. It still won’t stop R-Train and B-Nasty from gettin’ busy.”

—Manda 600, How I Met Your Mother Fanfic: "Catching the Clock, 2013", 2014

Jesse Cox: In my apt complex lobby there is a very cute couple.... at least they were until they started making out. We're talking wet sloppy kisses
. . .
Jesse Replying to @JesseCox: It's okay just turn the hose on them... I mean you'd hate for that cute couple ti get stuck.

—Twitter exchange, 2016

1 Note that in different contexts the phrase can evoke different motivations and types of hoses, e.g. the mean neighbor trying to keep kids off his lawn or abusive Alabama police forces spraying Civil Rights protesters with water cannons in the 1960s.

1006a
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A one not so common one that I have heard was:

Stop that saliva transfusion

Usually it gets the job done as they will at least stop to laugh.

Ontamu
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"There are children present." "Please keep it PG13"

Sailor VBN
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A pretty tongue-in-cheek (ba dum tss) thing to say might be

sorry, but you've got something on your face

They may or may not get the joke. If they don't then when they stop kissing to ask where or what it is, you can say

yeah, you got it

Michael
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There is a pretty close equivalent to throwing water on them: a “cold shower.” That’s either something you can tell them to take, or anything that kills their amorous mood.

Davislor
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