# Midget Sports **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 16, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581 "2021-10-16T02:16:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/1 "2021-10-16T02:16:46Z")
A comedian was talking on the radio about how sports teams used to be divided by age groups into divisions such as atom, peewee, bantam…. He is incredulous there existed a “midget division” and regrets that the people on his small town were all about average height. I was unaware this had stopped being a descriptor? This term was used everywhere decades ago. If it offended people, it should clearly be changed - because who cares what a division is called. But if so, when did this take place? Did you hear this term growing up? When was the last time you heard it? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/2 "2021-10-16T02:29:21Z")
Wikipedia says: > [@](#): > > Towards the end of the twentieth century, the word became considered by some as a [pejorative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pejorative) term when referencing people with dwarfism.[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midget#cite_note-Shapiro2000-7)[[13]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midget#cite_note-dwarfism-pbshome-13)[[21]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midget#cite_note-FOOTNOTEAdelson20056-21)[[22]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midget#cite_note-RossLester2011-22) However some, such as accomplished actor [Hervé Villechaize](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herv%C3%A9_Villechaize) (died, 1993), have continued to self-identify as “midgets”.[[23]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midget#cite_note-23) > > There have been movements to remove use of the word “midget” from age classification categories in youth sports, with [Hockey Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey_Canada) announcing that it would refer to the division as “U18” in 2020, as part of a wider renaming scheme. > **[Midget](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midget)** > > Midget (from midge, a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like dwarf (for a person with dwarfism, a medical condition with a number of causes, most often achondroplasia), midget long described anyone, or indeed any animal, exhibiting proportionate dwarfism. The word has a history of association with the performance arts, as little people were often e The term may also ref... ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/3 "2021-10-16T02:40:30Z")
Canadian hockey has a mixed reputation for being inclusive. I am glad they no longer will use the term but am surprised it was announced in 2020. Until the comedy routine I can’t say I’d given it any thought. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/4 "2021-10-16T02:43:23Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Until the comedy routine I can’t say I’d given it any thought. I’d known that the term had fallen out of favor for dwarfism over the past couple of decades, in favor of terms like “little person,” but I’m not in touch enough with youth sports to have realized that the term was even in wide use there, much less that it was being phased out. I’m at least a bit more aware of “[midget car racing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midget_car_racing),” but even that, I don’t really follow. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/5 "2021-10-16T03:00:14Z")
Tootsie Rolls come in “Midgee” size. I don’t know whether they use to be “Midget” size or not. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/6 "2021-10-16T11:42:51Z")
Suburban Montreal - in the late 50’s/early 60’s we had kids’ hockey broken down into Termite, Mosquito, Peewee, Bantam, and Midget - roughly two-year divisions. If you were good enough in Midget, you graduated to Junior “B” - or even Junior “A” - but on a team outside the suburb. I’m not sure if any/all those names exists - what do they call that tournament now in Quebec City that used to be “Peewee”? ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/7 "2021-10-16T11:56:11Z")
Midget racing cars: > **[Midget car racing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midget_car_racing)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most continents. There is a worldwide tour and national midget tours in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. > Typically, these four cylinder engine cars have 300 horsepower (220 kW) to 400 horsepower (... (Off topic, but Morris Garages sold a roadable sports car as the “MG Midget”.) ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/8 "2021-10-16T12:37:57Z")
Warren Zevon mentions these divisions in his song _Hit Somebody!_ The line he uses is “through pee-wees and juniors, midgets and mites.” The song is about a Canadian hockey player, so I assume these descriptors were once used in Canadian youth hockey leagues. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufEtQcisrgg) ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/9 "2021-10-16T12:39:19Z")
[Mac’s Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament](https://hockey.travelsports.com/tournaments/macs-midget-aaa-world-invitational-tournament) is still going on and is some of the best competition for the age group. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/10 "2021-10-16T12:40:03Z")
In my experience, the age brackets are always referred to by number, U8 or U12 or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/11 "2021-10-18T15:55:33Z")
Minnesota - In the 70s (and earlier), youth hockey teams used the word Midget for the kids that didn’t want to play high school hockey or didn’t make the team. I’m not sure when they did away with it. My son started playing as a 5 yo in 1990 and it wasn’t used then. Those kids were on the Junior Gold teams. The age groups then were Squirts C, B & A, Peewees, and Bantams, then Jr Varsity and Varsity (high school). Now Mini Mites and Mites have taken the place of Squirt Cs. I think both youth boys’ and girls’ teams are now transitioning to the U8, U10, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/12 "2021-10-18T16:47:13Z")
This has always been the case with Canadian soccer, but not hockey and most other sports. At least until twenty years ago. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midget-sports/952581/13 "2021-10-18T17:58:29Z")
When I was a kid in the 80s our local baseball organization did A, AA and AAA for girls’ softball, and the boys’ divisions were named for famous players, who I can’t recall now other than “Pee Wee Reese” (I suspect they started with “Pee Wee” and decided to get creative with names). Now they are named like @Chronos notes, with ages. Same goes for soccer. Somehow we’ve managed to avoid using “midget” in our division names, at least for the past 40 years.