# Talk to kids as if they were people?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-kids-as-if-they-were-people/426095>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 12, 2007, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-kids-as-if-they-were-people/426095 "2007-11-12T04:37:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Toast\_Museum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90ced4/32.png) [@Toast\_Museum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toast_Museum)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-kids-as-if-they-were-people/426095/41 "2007-11-14T19:04:58Z")

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The biggest problem talking to kids like adults is that to make the exchange even you have to talk like a kid. Not like a doting aunt going How’s my widdle man?, but like a kid using kid phrases and talking about things kids care about. A discussion of the mortgage meltdown has to hinge on how it affects the price of chewing gum.

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**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-kids-as-if-they-were-people/426095/42 "2007-11-14T19:10:15Z")

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I never talk to kids in that singsong, cutesy annoying way that some people do. I think kids hate it and I hate the way it sounds.

Instead of saying “Awwwww! What a cute widdle balloon you have!” I would say, “Nice balloon. Who gave it to you?” or something similar.

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**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-kids-as-if-they-were-people/426095/43 "2007-11-14T20:24:10Z")

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No quibble with your large point, **fetus** , but I wanted to mention the pidgin spoken today doesn’t sound like that. I don’t know if it’s a transcription thing or if the pidgin has evolved (it’s only been a generation or two), but that read to me more like a Cajun person trying to speak Hawaiian pidgin.

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**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-kids-as-if-they-were-people/426095/44 "2007-11-14T23:52:11Z")

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[QUOTE=AudreyK]  
No quibble with your large point, **fetus** , but I wanted to mention the pidgin spoken today doesn’t sound like that. I don’t know if it’s a transcription thing or if the pidgin has evolved (it’s only been a generation or two), but that read to me more like a Cajun person trying to speak Hawaiian pidgin.  
[/QUOTE]

Sorry I gave the impression that it was supposed to. Those are very (19th century) antiquated examples.

ETA: And what’s spoken now is technically a creole, not a pidgin, IIUC, and I may very well ont.

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