A baby is a human child and that alone!

Fed up with seeing ‘My boy is missing’ on neighbourhood posts. It is ‘mummy speak’ for ‘My cat has gone walkabout’. Often the errant ‘baby’ strolls in well within 24 hours.

Indigo8

^Did anyone ever have a Baby Belling?^

No Silverbrooks but I was the proud mother of a Baby Burco at one time.

I'd forgotten about those. Small cooker, small boiler. One for sale if you are interested!

Baby burco boiler belonging to my grandmother who used this for years to boil tea towels.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276549157320

No-one's driving my car
It's my baby 😁 🚘

I am with Sago on this, it rather depends on how and where you are using the term.

I might describe Dh's car as his 'baby', not in any serious sense but just because it is old and a bit crochetty and is always going wrong and demands a lot of his time and needs a lot of nurturing, just as a baby does. I am certainly not suggesting in anyway that he cares about the car as he would care about a baby,

The term 'baby' is often used to describe something smaller and cut down from a larger item.

I think, in fact the word has two meetings, one to describe something that is the dimunitive version of something bigger, or some object that is very time consuming , and th other meaning is a word used to decribe a young human being,

When people take the second meaning - that of a young human being and applie it to a dog or other object because they are equating the dog and the baby - then, yes, yuk. Other meanings I have no problems with.

Did anyone ever have a Baby Belling?

No Silverbrooks but I was the proud mother of a Baby Burco at one time.

Agreed, it is ridiculous.

I love our dogs and cats, but they are not our 'babies', and no longer puppies if over 1 year approx.

Deeda Your post made me laugh.

There used to be an advert on TV starring John Cleese.

The actress playing his mother kept calling him her baby and eventually John's character said to her, 'For goodness sake mother, I'm 49 and a high court judge!'.

Do not like how some couples call each other baby or babe, is obviously an americanism, and I think it just sounds silly with an Englilsh accent.

I do find Fur Babies annoying, although I constantly call my cat Mumy's Baby - but not in front of other people! I have attempted to suggest to my son that he is still my baby, but as he is 6' 4", 18 stone and 47 years old it really doesn't work.

With you all the way Sago I know of one woman who treats her child appallingly, her dachshund meanwhile is held most of the time and shoved into peoples faces for a kiss. I feel sorry for her daughter.

YABU.

When appliances break down, we say, the TV has died or the washing machine has died or the car engine has died.

Look at the dictionary. A baby is also "a comparatively small thing of its kind" - which is what a Thermomix cooker is.

Did anyone ever have a Baby Belling?

Sago - you are not being unreasonable. I don’t even like adult partners/husbands/ wives calling each other ‘baby’ -

I can’t stand to hear adults calling their cats and dogs Furbabies and I have four! I love them all dearly but it’s a no from me 🤣

I agree entirely with the title of the OP. I cringe when adults call their other half 'baby'.

I'm not affronted by it, but I'm often surprised when people talk about their adult children and say " Of course she/ he will always be my baby"
I look at my son and daughters, all in their thirties and forties, and do not see " my babies".

A neighbour calls his car his baby. Tbh I think he probs spends more time with the car than his actual children. It doesn’t bother me too much though, I know that some people call their pets their fur babies.
Just a way of saying something is precious I suppose.

It does sound ridiculous, but if the only thing you have to treasure is a machine, then its demise can be heartbreaking.
Maybe just ignore it if you find it offensive.

That's just ridiculous - it's a kitchen gadget, for heaven's sake! Don't get wrong, my dog is as much a part of the family as any other, but I never call him my baby. I have plenty of other pet names for him though.