# 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:** 2
**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, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/21 "2016-04-24T22:56:05Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > 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. No, this is the thing: it’s perfectly normal in the UK too. It may well have been American originally, but calling children “kids” has been common in Britain for about a century, now; certainly longer than a number of other words and phrases that have crossed the Atlantic since, and which no-one thinks twice about. It’s a casual, informal usage, sure, but I’m of the mind that anyone who objects to any informality at all probably does, indeed, have a stick up their arse. ---
**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, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/22 "2016-04-24T22:59:55Z")
Wait a second–there’s NO Crisco in the UK? 🙂 ---
**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, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/23 "2016-04-24T23:05:36Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > 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 don’t know about the UK, but I’m in Ireland and ‘kids’ is totally normal usage here among my generation (the generation that actually has little kids). I have no idea what Crisco is, though. ---
**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, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/24 "2016-04-24T23:08:42Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > No, this is the thing: it’s perfectly normal in the UK too. It may well have been American originally, but calling children “kids” has been common in Britain for about a century, now; certainly longer than a number of other words and phrases that have crossed the Atlantic since, and which no-one thinks twice about. It’s a casual, informal usage, sure, but I’m of the mind that anyone who objects to any informality at all probably does, indeed, have a stick up their arse. Fair enough. The fact that the author mentioned her parents picked up the usage in Canada and specifically mentioned that the word was perceived as an Americanism in the UK lead me to believe otherwise, but I will take your word for it. ---
**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, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/25 "2016-04-24T23:17:44Z")
If this is a whoosh on me, it’s a damn good one and I’m prepared to take my lumps. Crisco is a brand of shortening and the earlier phrase “…you do not like shortening names or words,” could mean she doesn’t like the brand name **Crisco**. It was meant to be a joke (a play on words), but I’m not going to further hi-jack this thread by asking what they use for shortening in the UK. (What DO they use for shortening in the UK?) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/26 "2016-04-24T23:19:48Z")
I think it’s a silly, arbitrary thing to fuss about. It’s been a normal informal usage for probably a century or more, and if you have a prescriptivist leaning, it probably has as much etymological claim on being the “right” word as “child”, being from O.E. “cild”, which in turn was from “kiltham” (more or less). The parallel with German “kind” might also be a consideration. Plus, it follows standard pluralization, instead of the etymological boondoggle that is “children”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/27 "2016-04-24T23:26:29Z")
\*You \*may have “kids”, but I have blessed offspring. 😃 Just kidding. She’s 30 now, but she’s always my kid. ---
**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, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/28 "2016-04-24T23:27:45Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > (What DO they use for shortening in the UK?) Lard, vegetable shortening… the usual stuff. Crisco is apparently available in some places (Tesco has it, it seems, but I don’t shop there, so I’ve never seen it), but it’s nothing like as well-known here as it is in the US. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/29 "2016-04-24T23:35:12Z")
I call anyone who could be under 50 years old a kid. Now get the Hell out of my yard! 😉 ---
**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, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/30 "2016-04-24T23:43:02Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Lard, vegetable shortening… the usual stuff. Crisco is apparently available in some places (Tesco has it, it seems, but I don’t shop there, so I’ve never seen it), but it’s nothing like as well-known here as it is in the US. Thanks, **WotNot** , good cultural exchange. But someone was supposed to say, **Go away, KID, ya bother me.** I kid; that’s what I do. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/31 "2016-04-25T00:10:36Z")
“I don’t like shortening names or words.” It’s a shame that Stell and Hel can’t get on the kidlet bandwagon. That way, they wouldn’t have to clutch their pearls so tightly. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/32 "2016-04-25T00:25:26Z")
Children? What horrible kind of modern mother would refer to them as children? Bryly Khrystyne and Spartacus Nottinghamshirehave actual names you know. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/33 "2016-04-25T00:29:13Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > \*You \*may have “kids”, but I have blessed offspring. My kids are angelic bundles of joy, but yours are rotten, spoiled brats. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/34 "2016-04-25T00:57:50Z")
> [@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. Stella and Helen are grups. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/35 "2016-04-25T01:02:09Z")
Let me put it this way: I speak English, and I call “kids” “kids”. Which is now, at this source, listed as Definition #1: > **[Definition of kid | Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/kid?s=t)** > > Kid definition, a child or young person. See more. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/36 "2016-04-25T01:06:15Z")
So (aside from the parallel with German “kind”) why do we call kids kids? Why not lambs, or foals, or pups, or calves? I think “larvae” works well. ETA: And Crisco is just a shortening of “one Brand Name for vegetable oil artificially hydrogenated to become artery-clogging transfat”. ---
**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 25, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/37 "2016-04-25T01:27:36Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > 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. Actually, some people might think you sounded gay, and I mean that in the literal sense of being homosexual. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Not a thing. You’d just be miscommunicating. I hate “bro” too. ---
**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 25, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/38 "2016-04-25T01:31:14Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > So (aside from the parallel with German “kind”) why do we call kids kids? Why not lambs, or foals, or pups, or calves? I think “larvae” works well. I think it does come from “kind.” Or from Yiddish “Kindleh.” (Kindelach, plural.) And I know lots of people who call children lambs and pups. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/39 "2016-04-25T01:32:12Z")
I used to be okay with it, but living in Thailand I’ve come to dislike the word “kid” except for baby goats. The Thais find it extremely difficult to say “child” or “children,” so they say “kid” instead (never with an S on the end), except it comes out “kit.” “Kid” is enough on the slang side that you should not use it in formal writing, but they think it’s not slang at all and so use it even then. Gets a little tiring. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/40 "2016-04-25T01:58:47Z")
And anyway baby goats are cool as hell. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991.md?page=3)