Kids are Baby Goats

I can live with "kids", but hate "kiddies" too. Only once have I remembered to say, when asked if I was kidding, "Right gender, wrong mammal". Usually don't think of it until too late.

Penstemmon, I agree with you about the gratingness of "ladies", possibly partly because so often it is paired with"men" - i.e. real people - rather than with "gentlemen". It seems to be considered rude to call us what we are, women!

I don't like the word 'kiddies' either Auntieflo; don't know why - I just don't.Our Grandchildren are 'Ma wee darlins' though I never really used lovey dovey terms with my own children, I wasn't really brought up that way.

I think the title of this thread is the wrong way round. It should be Baby Goats are kids. Which they are. But the words kids also means children. Anyone who doesn't want to use it with that meaning doesn't have to but they do have to tolerate other people's usage.

Either that or just be grumpy. Their choice.

In her teens one of my friends had a mysterious anonymous card every year. It turned out that her mother was sending them in case she didn't get any ... I was relieved mine hadn't done that.

'Kids' is (inoffensive ) slang, which should be kept for informal occasions if it has to be used at all. Should never be used for anything official, written or verbal, in my opinion.
Off at a tangent - does jinglwhatsit( where's the 'e'?) really send Valentines to her grandchildren? Is that normal?

I don't mind either way, I just find 'kids' is easier and quicker when typing on here (etheltbags by the way, gnet gave me a new name)

Yes, well said Anya our language is very expressive and it evolves all the time. It also depends where you live in the country, for example the word "yobs" is just back slang for "boys" and started off in the East End.

Going back to the words "kids" and "children," ....... 40 or 50 years ago I'm sure most of us were happy being referred to as such even up to the age of 16 or 17 years old. These days, 13 year olds onwards become incensed if they are called children because they like to see themselves as young adults! Perhaps that's where things have gone wrong?

Hear, hear from me too, Anya. Enough difficulties have been caused by PC limiting our language to avoid causing offence. Cutting out words simply because they're disliked by some is ridiculous.

Perhaps we should advocate the use of Newspeak.

Oh Auntieflo I do agree with you. Kiddies and hubby just make me cringe.

Hear, hear, anya!

It's quite simple: the meaning of 'kid' is not limited to 'baby goat'.

It really is that simple. Anyone who doesn't want to use the word with its other meanings doesn't have to.

Imagine the field day yous all would've had in Shakespeare's time with him using all sorts of words and with meanings you'd never heard of before, some of them even subtle. Proper shocking his word usage was.

Our language is wide and expressive. I get very shirty (lovely word) when people want to limit it in any way because there are words they 'don't like'.

Don't like kids either. In my work with children and adolescents we always say young people or young person. I would say children for much younger children, I work with 11-24 year olds.

My own children were referred to as "the girls" and their godmother, my best friend always says that still when she's asking after them. My grandchildren are called "the little girls" they are only 6 at the moment, we'll have to see how that might change as they get older, I also have individual nicknames for them and they get called those.

I am Granny I don't like Nannie because of the paid childcare title

In 2010 Sue Cowley, described as 'an experienced teacher', brought out 'Getting the Buggers to Behave'. Since then she has had published another 17 books in the series.
Oh dear!

My mother really disliked the word 'kids'. She thought it indicated a lack of respect. Usually I argued with her about use of language but on this I didn't.

I agree with Redshinycar and Jings that it jars when used instead of 'children' or 'pupils' in an official context.

There's a series of hand books for teachers all of which, in the title, refer to pupils as 'the Buggers'. They were even advertised in the NUT journal. And teachers wonder why there is a lack of respect for the profession!

Don't waste your time - I shall resist all attempts!

But what if I don't want people to be 're educated' Theoddbird? What if I have no objection to the term 'kid'?
Oh, just realised - it's me you want to re educate

I detest hearing children referred to as 'kids'. We need to re educate people. Make a comment if you see the word 'kids' mentioned on social media sites such as facebook. A small start but if people say nothing things will not change!

c. 1200, "the young of a goat," from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse kið "young goat," from Proto-Germanic *kidjom (cognates: Old High German kizzi, German kitze, Danish and Swedish kid). Extended meaning of "child" first recorded as slang 1590s, established in informal usage by 1840s. Applied to skillful young thieves and pugilists since at least 1812. Kid stuff "something easy" is from 1913 (The phrase was in use about that time in reference to vaudeville acts or advertisements featuring children, and to children-oriented features in newspapers).

Yes Ana what actually happens in language is that the consonants drop out of words with usage (especially spoken). So "Kind" dropped the n to become kid.

The i sound is like the i in ink, not as in find.

To quote Lillie's post from yesterday:

Actually the word "'kid" is acceptable in language terminology. It comes from the German word "Kind" meaning child and was used in old English and became shortened to "kid." Nothing to do with goats!!

Pamish also mentioned that possibility.

Baby goats are rather cute, but then so are lambs, kittens, puppies and lion/tiger cubs. So I wonder how children became 'kids' rather than any of these other animal infants. Come to think of it, one of my grannies used to use 'lambkin', but only with reference to an individual child, not to all of us as a group.

Child or children NEVER kids. I'm a retired Infant teacher and have never taught baby goats!

Language evolves! Otherwise we would all be communicating by grunting. I'm 62, and children were being called kids when
I was small. Not ideal, but I can think of worse things to be called.

My mother objected to children being kids (baby goats) and also to grannies being nannies (female goats).

DD's are 'the girls' DGD's are the girlies - no sons or grandsons !!