Calling children 'kids'

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Fri, 09 Sep 2011 6:33 am

I have a visceral reaction to people calling children 'kids'.

Am I old fashioned?

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Fri, 09 Sep 2011 7:08 am

I don't know. I'm older than you are and I still tend to do it, but correct myself if I can remember too.

But, but, but I used to staken 'em out on the lawn with they were little getting them used to eating green growing things. Now they eat their veggies without any problems. Pavlov's Response? Works every time and it was cheaper than hiring a gardener.

Thought to be from German (hence my usage of it)....

Kid: child (colloq.)
Select targeted languages

Arabic: طفل (ar) (Tifl) m
Armenian: բալիկ (hy) (balik), Armenian: երեխա (hy) (erexa)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 孩子 (cmn) (háizi), 小孩 (cmn) (xiǎohái)
Danish: barn (da)
Finnish: kersa (fi), skidi (fi), pirpana (fi), ipana (fi), nassikka (fi), penska (fi)
French: gamin (fr), gosse (fr), bambin (fr) m, gamin (fr) m
German: Kind (de) n
Hebrew: ילד (he)
Hungarian: kölyök (hu), gyerek (hu)
Icelandic: barn (is) n, krakki (is) m
Japanese: 子供 (ja) (kodomo), 子 (ja) (ko)
Macedonian: клинец (mk) (klÃnec) m, клинка (mk) (klÃnka) f
Maltese: tfajjel m
Navajo: chąąmąʼii
Norwegian: barn (no) n, unge (no) m
Polish: dzieciak (pl) n
Russian: ребёнок (rebjónok) m; малыш (malýš) m
Spanish: niño m, buqui m (Northwestern Mexico), chamaco m (Mexican standard usage), chamo m (Venezuela), chango m (Bolivia, Northwestern Argentina), chino m (Colombia), cipote m (El Salvador, Honduras), crÃo f (Spain), güila f (Costa Rica), huerco m (Northeastern Mexico), nene m (Argentina, Puerto Rico), patojo m (Guatemala)
Turkish: Çoçuk (tr)
Volapük: cil (vo), (hypocoristic) cilül (vo)

Etymology (Kind)

From Middle High German kint from Old High German kind from Proto-Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to give birth”

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Fri, 09 Sep 2011 7:43 am

Err yeah what ever (that meant lol)
Still makes me shudder.

QRM · Post by **QRM** » Fri, 09 Sep 2011 8:27 am

Kids sounds more informal, "Bring your child to the waterpark" just sounds to formal and a bit institutional?
I think it sounds bit grinding to the British because it has an American twang to it, I try and use the word Sprog.

Post by **x9200** » Fri, 09 Sep 2011 8:56 am

Ouch, I was not even aware it is some kind of faux pas. I have exactly the same perception as QRM mentioned and use accordingly.

Post by **nakatago** » Fri, 09 Sep 2011 9:10 am

Kid meaning child or goat is off-putting
but murder as in "a murder of crows" sounds kinda cool?

kid (n.)
c.1200, "the young of a goat," from O.N. kið "young goat," from P.Gmc. *kiðjom (cf. Ger. kitz). Extended meaning of "child" first recorded as slang 1590s, established in informal usage by 1840s. Applied to skillful young thieves and pugilists since at least 1812. Kid stuff "something easy" is from 1923. Kid glove "a glove made of kidskin leather" is from 1680s; sense of "characterized by wearing kid gloves," therefore "dainty, delicate" is from 1856.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=kid

So, the goat meaning came in first? But as slang, it's been around since the 17th century?

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Fri, 09 Sep 2011 2:42 pm

QRM wrote:Kids sounds more informal, "Bring your child to the waterpark" just sounds to formal and a bit institutional?
I think it sounds bit grinding to the British because it has an American twang to it, I try and use the word Sprog.

I don't think my issue is with it being (is it?) or sounding American. I think it is more that it lacks respect. Maybe

X9. There is no faux pas. When 99% of people do something it is surely the 'right way'.

SMS. Interesting. Could it be another return-import via the German East-coast diaspora...

poodlek · Post by **poodlek** » Sat, 10 Sep 2011 8:03 am

This is the first I've ever heard about the term being anything other than slightly informal. Maybe I'm used to it as it's used more frequently in N. America?

Aside: a friend on my fb labeled a photo album of her daughter "Crotchfruit". I found that rather grating.

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Sat, 10 Sep 2011 8:13 am

poodlek wrote: Aside: a friend on my fb labeled a photo album of her daughter "Crotchfruit". I found that rather grating.

And there was me thinking 'kids' was vulgar!

ksl · Post by **ksl** » Sat, 10 Sep 2011 7:11 pm

poodlek wrote:This is the first I've ever heard about the term being anything other than slightly informal. Maybe I'm used to it as it's used more frequently in N. America?

Aside: a friend on my fb labeled a photo album of her daughter "Crotchfruit". I found that rather grating.

OMG! CROTCHFRUIT! Sounds more like a deviant paedophile term, quite shocking!

I've decided to block quite a few on facebook for their irrisponsible and shocking use of vulgarities, most of them young below the age of 30 and relatives which makes it even worse as i wouldn't tolerate it at home.

Though i maybe just old fashioned but i have never found the F word appropriate either in my life other than when i have blown my top, or cracked a few jokes in male company. I mean pussy, talent, skirt, is often used, Crotchfruit photo album I would have thought to be a male singles club or a code word for the worst depraved animal club

Tigerslayer · Post by **Tigerslayer** » Sat, 10 Sep 2011 7:17 pm

I think it is more that it lacks respect.

I have been calling my girlfriend's children 'kids' for the last two years and even gone as far as 'kiddos' and to be honest they don't seem to have taken offense :p

Crotchfruit on the other hand would likely (and understandably) get me slung out of the house sharpish

Mary Hatch Bailey · Post by **Mary Hatch Bailey** » Sat, 10 Sep 2011 7:23 pm

Like everything else it depends on the context. If I were to say: "I took my kids to the amusement park" I don't think anyone would think anything of it. It is a slightly slangy, informal, as poodlek suggested, way to refer to children. In the US, at least when used in that way it is perfectly acceptable.

If I were to approach another parent at a playground and say 'your kid pushed my daughter' well that's another story. I believe the difference might be in the level of the familiarity you have with a particular child. Like all slang, its tends to dumb down the message.

buyan · Post by **buyan** » Wed, 18 Jan 2012 9:42 pm

Hmmm, I'm with the "no kid" group...I'm trying my best to stop my children from "North Americanising" their language (no offence to our US or Canadian readers, but North Americanisms are pervading the English language). But then "kid" doesn't grate on me anywhere near as much as "diaper" or "ketchup" and a range of other words and spellings. I say "North Americanisms" because I know a couple of Brazilians who argue that they are as American as anyone from the US - after all, they are from "South America" and US nationals are from "North America". Hmmm, guess this may cause a stir.....

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Wed, 18 Jan 2012 9:50 pm

buyan wrote: "ketchup"

Ketchup derives from the Indonesian sauce kecap manis.

buyan · Post by **buyan** » Wed, 18 Jan 2012 9:58 pm

Interesting! I enjoy learning derivatives of words. I speak Indonesian but it had never occurred to me that that is the origin of ketchup. I wonder how then it became common usage in the US rather than, say Australia, which is right next door, or even Holland, given Indonesia's Dutch legacy?

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Calling children 'kids'

Calling children 'kids'

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