# Do you have a problem with the word 'kids'? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991 "2016-04-24T12:55:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/1 "2016-04-24T12:55:04Z")
Pretty much as the title, when referring to children do you think ‘kid’ is a good word to use? Want to find out how widespread [this](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/14/the-word-kids_n_7329494.html) kind of objection is; > [@](#): > > Stella, mum to three boys, thinks it’s ugly. “It feels a crude or brash way to refer to your children. Why say ‘my kid’ when you could say ‘my son/daughter’?” > > “I don’t use the term ‘kids’. I really dislike it,” Helen says. “My children are children and therefore called children! I don’t like shortening names or words.” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/2 "2016-04-24T13:07:15Z")
Stella and Helen need hobbies. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/3 "2016-04-24T13:08:15Z")
I call my kids my kids. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/4 "2016-04-24T16:10:27Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Stella and Helen need hobbies. This. I also imagine Stella and Helen telling people that there are no such birds as seagulls while ignoring the fact that there are no birds called songbirds either but that doesn’t bother them when people call birds that. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/5 "2016-04-24T16:24:01Z")
I have a social acquaintance who always uses the word children instead of kids. Sets my teeth on edge every time she says children. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/6 "2016-04-24T16:30:18Z")
One of my sisters has this objection. It always seems silly to me. My sons and daughter are my kids. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/7 "2016-04-24T16:32:04Z")
When my grandmother was in her 90s, she would say about her children “I still worry about the kids.” “Kid”, like most English words, has multiple meanings. It can mean anybody’s young child or it could mean your child, regardless of age. (Or a young goat or …) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/8 "2016-04-24T16:34:31Z")
I call my kids ‘kids’. I also call them ‘children’ though that sounds a bit more formal. I don’t care how you refer to them within reason. The goat thing sounds asinine reasoning. A word can have more than one meaning and I have no idea which meaning evolved from which but “kids” is probably used today a million times for human children for each time it’s referring to a goat. If anything, the young goat should feel insulted. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/9 "2016-04-24T16:44:33Z")
In the southern mountains of Appalachia, they don’t call them kids. They call them younguns. Is that okay, Stella and Helen? I find it hilarious and absurd that this is even a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/10 "2016-04-24T16:47:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Stella, mum to three boys, thinks it’s ugly. “It feels a crude or brash way to refer to your children. Why say ‘my kid’ when you could say ‘my son/daughter’?” What a crude, brash way to refer to your mother! Why say “mum” when you can say “mother”? > [@](#): > > I don’t like shortening names or words. You mean, you **do not** like shortening names or words. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/11 "2016-04-24T17:02:48Z")
“Kid” isn’t even shortening a word, it’s just using a different word. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/12 "2016-04-24T17:07:58Z")
I feel very sorry for those kids. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/13 "2016-04-24T17:20:39Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > What a crude, brash way to refer to your mother! Why say “mum” when you can say “mother”? > You mean, you **do not** like shortening names or words. Then what does she call Crisco, huh? ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/14 "2016-04-24T18:39:38Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Stella and Helen need hobbies. Yep. My mother-in-law was the only person I’ve ever known who had a problem with ‘kids’ - ‘Don’t call her that, a kid is a baby goat!!’ ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/15 "2016-04-24T20:14:47Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Then what does she call Crisco, huh? She seems to be in the UK, so she’s most likely never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/16 "2016-04-24T20:21:08Z")
I prefer yout or youts, My Cousin Vinny style. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/17 "2016-04-24T21:51:42Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > She seems to be in the UK, so she’s most likely never heard of it. Right. It’s a UK article and specifically points out that using the words kid or kids to refer to children is at least potentially looked down upon in the UK because it’s perceived as an Americanism. Which I get, entirely. It’s not normal usage there. I think mate is ten times better than man, bud or bro (it’s at least a hundred times better than bro) but I would sound like an affected douchebag if I went around calling guys mate here. Kid is completely normal usage in the US and anyone who has a problem with it in this country probably has a very large stick up their ass. And if they have a stick up their arse they’re probably also an affected douchebag. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/18 "2016-04-24T22:05:13Z")
When they’re grown, it makes sense to refer to them as “kids.” One of my kids is 40. He is not a child. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/19 "2016-04-24T22:20:43Z")
He’s not a kid either, but he will always be your kid. You could refer to him as “my son”. You could refer to your adult offspring as “my kids” or “my children”. That doesn’t make them kids or children. I don’t see the difference. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/20 "2016-04-24T22:51:57Z")
I am a lifetime-long childrens-right advocate and supporter. Doesn’t bother me now, didn’t bother me when I was a kid. it’s the attitudes that go with it, and the ones attached to “child” or any other formulation I can think of aren’t very different. The worst thing you can say about “kids” is that it is cutesey, diminuitive; it’s like referring to childen as “kittens”. But I did not massively object to being considered “cute” when I was a grade-school aged person. What I objected to was being _dismissed as just cute_, as not possibly possessing a mind, a right to an opinion, a valid interest in being included in discussions of things that affected me. If someone is chronically or congenitally unable to take anything cute seriously, then I would not want that someone to consider me cute. From those capable of viewing someone as both cute and capable (thoughtful, in possession of intentions and opinions, owning the right to self-determination), though, cute is not the problem. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991.md?page=2)