# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**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, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/41 "2016-04-25T02:32:31Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > 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. I thought those were matzo balls. 😉 ---
**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 25, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/42 "2016-04-25T03:37:46Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Stella and Helen are grups. Bomp-bomp-bomp on the head! ---
**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, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/43 "2016-04-25T04:01:38Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I thought those were matzo balls. 😉 Those are knaidlach. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/44 "2016-04-25T04:34:02Z")
I’m relatively new to fatherhood (my kids are both under two), but I have never heard of “kids” being objectionable before this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/45 "2016-04-25T05:01:47Z")
I not only call my own kid kid, I call all the kids I interact with in the Children’s Department kids, too. I wouldn’t use it in formal writing, but it’s certainly the most common casual term for child there is, and it’s not disrespectful of person or language to refer to kids as kids. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/46 "2016-04-25T05:13:39Z")
I know someone who consistently addresses groups of adults as ‘kids.’ I don’t think it is very professional. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/47 "2016-04-25T06:08:23Z")
But it’s still OK to call women ‘kids’, right ? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/48 "2016-04-25T06:29:53Z")
My mother hated the word “kids” in reference to children. I well remember the time one of her favourite cousins was over for coffee. I cannot remember what they were talking about, but at one point, Cousin said something like: “Well, my kids, and probably yours too…” At which point, Mom stopped Cousin, and said, “I don’t have kids. I have _children_.” The look on Mom’s face was one I knew all too well, and Cousin apparently did too. She referred to her and Mom’s offspring as “children” from there on. Me, I don’t (and didn’t) care. I was a kid (ha!) then, and in some ways, still am today. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/49 "2016-04-25T09:05:59Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > 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!!’ Given that my family is proud of being “crazy as goats”, we’d have no problem with that. ---
**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, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/50 "2016-04-25T09:49:58Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > But it’s still OK to call women ‘kids’, right ? What, “dame” has gone out of fashion? Man, I _have_ been gone awhile. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/51 "2016-04-25T11:48:46Z")
My dad had a issue with the word kid (due to the young goat definition), I tend to use child/children as a hold back to his issues that became mine, but more open and OK with the term kid then he is. > [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > When they’re grown, it makes sense to refer to them as “kids.” One of my kids is 40. He is not a child. Child meaning your offspring he will forever be. I do find kids awkward in your usage as it seems to make them appear to be ‘child age’, but I assume it’s a combo of the above issue of mine and perhaps local cultural differences. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/52 "2016-04-25T12:48:33Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > But it’s still OK to call women ‘kids’, right ? Only when looking at them. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/53 "2016-04-25T15:25:10Z")
I refer to my daughter as my kid on a regular basis. As for other humans under 18, I don’t care what you call them. I do object to the terms “crotchfruit” and “crotch droppings,” however. ---
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/54 "2016-04-25T16:59:42Z")
As long as whatever they are stay off my lawn, I’ll be happy. ---
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/55 "2016-04-25T17:05:13Z")
I call my kids “my kids”. Or “the kids”. The term that rubs me the wrong way is when someone refers to their young children as “littles”. I just hate it. Not sure why but I do. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/56 "2016-04-25T17:34:16Z")
Everyone who knows me is very pleased when I refer to youngish persons as kids because there are so many less genteel phrases I could use. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991/57 "2016-04-25T17:39:48Z")
I find myself using “kinder” as the plural of “kid” lately, when referring to elementary-school-aged children. I have no idea why. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-problem-with-the-word-kids/752991.md?page=2)