infanticide, patricide, matricide, etc, these I know (notionally, not in practice !)but what is the word for killing one’s child?
Is this a trick question?
No, I’m writing a book on children, who at the age of 20+, won’t leave home. So the word that eludes me is appearing as a viable option.
Deadbeaticide?
Yer pal,
Satan
Can’t find it in my dictionary but filicide would seem to fit the pattern.
“If you had manifested fatigue upon noticing that you had been an ass, that would have been logical, that would have been rational; whereas it seems to me that to manifest surprise was to be again an ass.”
Mark Twain
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
Ummm, how about first degree murder?
Some mornings it just doesn’t seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/zettecity/index.html
Nah. It would be justifiable homicide.
I’m pretty sure that pluto gave the correct answer.
Tom~
What have you got against children?
He was referring to the previous post. Not children per se, but “kids” over the age of 21 who still live with their parents, don’t pay rent, empty out the fridge, expect to have their laundry done, and act basically like they’re still 14 years old and Mom and Pop are responsible for their care. Oh, except that they’re allowed to have sex in the back bedroom.
“Deadbeaticide” sounds good to me. Also “justifiable homicide,” as tomandebb says.
Of course, if the child keeps emptying out the pantry, it could come under the heading of “shelf defense.”
Thanks for coming to my defense, Uke…
Temujin, learn to read!
Yer pal,
Satan
Any time, big guy.
Any chance of a promotion from Imp to Lesser Demon?
yawn The word you are looking for is “infanticide”. It means to kill one’s child, especially if one is a mother whom the child has driven insane. not making this up
Bouviers Law 1856 Edition
INFANTICIDE - the murder of a newborn infant. To commit infanticide the child must be wholly born.
The Vocabulary of Loss:
A Suicide, Grief, and Ethics Glossary
FILICIDE- homicide of one or more offspring.
http://www.onelook.com/
This is a very nice on-line dictionary.
“The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.” - Humphrey Bogart
Ukelele Ike wrote:
You mean, you weren’t allowed to have sex in the back bedroom when you were fourteen? Gah. Goddamned Victorian parenting practices.
The truth, as always, is more complicated than that.
Gee, having a bad day in hell today, Satan?
I thought you had a sense of humor. My mistake.
Well, since I’m not the only person who thought you were serious, methinks it’s your comedy at fault and not my perception of it.
But thank you for playing! We have some nice parting gifts, including a years supply of Turtle Wax and Samsonite luggage!
Whatever.
You can keep your parting gifts AND your parting insults, thank you. The problem is not with my ability to read, or with my comedy (or with whatever you decide to criticize in response to THIS post). The problem is that I thought you enjoyed getting ribbed a little bit. As I said, my mistake.
Maybe if we start all over from the top:
Yes, that would be a pithy book title. If one considers it as a response to the OP, however, the implication is amusing.
Hope that’s delicate enough for you.
Well I cast my vote for pedicide, this would include non-infants, non-offspring,
Larry
Unfortunately, pedicide would take the Greek prefix (from paedo-, child) and all the “-cide” words are Latin-based (from caedere, to cut down or kill. A general child-killing, regardless of family connections, would be puercide.
Generally, we don’t mix Latin and Greek stems to form words. (There are scholars who believe that we would never have had to suffer My Mother the Car or Small Wonder or Cop Rock if Philo had simply had the sense to call his invention “telebalor” or “proculvision” or some other word that used only Greek or only Latin roots instead of the mixed-root “television.” He jinxed his own creation.)
Tom~