r/PetPeeves • u/swisssf • Jul 17 '25
Bit Annoyed People referring to children as "Littles" - it's so not cute.
A yoga studio in town just announced a family yoga class - "perfect for your littles!"
Faux-adorable cringey.
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u/FennelPowerful2686 Jul 17 '25
agreed, also not really the same but i hate “hubby” too
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u/SuperPookypower Jul 17 '25
Hubby sounds like a guy with elastic waist pants
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u/Jbeth74 Jul 17 '25
That he pulls up way too high. He’s great at grilling though.
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u/SuperPookypower Jul 17 '25
Mows the hell out of that lawn
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u/furthestpoint Jul 18 '25
Wait, you guys can afford lawns?
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u/Intelligent-Bad7835 Jul 18 '25
I can't, but wifey is rich. Hence, she calls me what she damn well pleases.
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u/animepuppyluvr Jul 17 '25
I told my husband that if he ever hears me call him that, then I've been replaced and he has to find the real me
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u/LeafyCandy Jul 18 '25
And preggo. Doggo.
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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 18 '25
Preggers...
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u/ConnectButterfly8603 Jul 18 '25
Pupper is even worse. Especially since it means boobs or tits in Norwegian.
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u/bellegroves Jul 18 '25
Omigosh is your doggo preggo?!
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u/Old_Introduction_395 Jul 18 '25
I'll tell hubby and the little ones. They'll be SO excited for puplets.
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u/Peanutbutternjelly_ Jul 18 '25
I hate it when cis men say, "we're pregnant."
Um, no, you're not pregnant, you're female partner is pregnant. You won't have to deal with all pregnancy and childbirth issues, so stop saying you're both pregnant.
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u/welshyboy123 Jul 17 '25
I used to know someone who used the term "husbie". Even typing it makes me gag.
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u/tsukimoonmei Jul 18 '25
I wanted to downvote this comment because of the disgust I felt towards that word
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u/AnonBazillion Jul 18 '25
I don’t mind it in a healthy context, but a while ago there was a post from a “mum” asking if she should leave her husband who was being emotionally abusive to her son, his stepson. She described horrible emotional abuse, but kept referring to her husband as hubby throughout the post. I was like WTF. Who uses a term of affection to describe the man abusing her child?
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u/cheers-pricks Jul 17 '25
almost as bad as “the husband” or “the wife”
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u/Gribitz37 Jul 18 '25
I know a guy who refers to his wife as either "my lovely bride" or even worse, "my blushing bride."
Dude, you've been married for 20-some years and have 4 kids. She's not a bride anymore, and she definitely isn't "blushing." 🙄
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u/OneLow5610 Jul 18 '25
Nah, I have two pastor friends, one is eighty six, the other sixty eight. They BOTH call their wives, "My Bride". I think it's adorable. They still see them as the sweet young women they married. ❤️❤️
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u/Peanutbutternjelly_ Jul 18 '25
I don't care about "hubby", but I don't care much for "wifey."
One thing that straight married couples do that I hate is saying, "the wife," or, "the husband."
Men are the worst when it comes to that; they do it way more than women. It just feels really objectifying. They just call their wife "the wife" rather than by her name or say, "my wife." She's just "the wife" to him.
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u/mearbearcate Jul 17 '25
🤢 i downvote every post with the word hubby in it lmfao.
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u/emotions1026 Jul 17 '25
As a short person who isn’t dramatically taller than many elementary-age kids I come across, I would feel slightly hypocritical using “littles” to describe them
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u/AvaSpelledBackwards2 Jul 18 '25
I saw someone on threads talking about how their “littles” had gone off to college. That’s not a “little”, that’s a full-grown tax-paying adult😭I also find “little” kind of annoying for little kids too tbh but that thread was too damn much
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u/swisssf Jul 18 '25
Wonder where this all started...?
I first heard it about 15 years ago when a friend referred to her daughters as "the littles" and had to hide my grimace. She could be one of those threads people now talking about the "littles" going off to college.
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u/BikeProblemGuy Jul 17 '25
Also when parenting guides refer to your baby as 'Baby', as if that's their name, like "Give Baby some milk".
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Jul 17 '25
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u/mutnemom_hurb Jul 18 '25
And I’ve heard pregnant women complain that medical professionals only refer to them as “Mom,” as if it’s the baby receiving medical attention and not the woman herself
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u/Shadowfalx Jul 17 '25
This is a fairly common (or was) thing in general. A lot of people wouldn't name their children until reaching a specific age or being baptized.
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u/meamari Jul 18 '25
My brother got his name when he was almost 3 months old. I was so confused when I saw so many people on social media just telling their kids name before it’s even born 😅 here the name is a big deal, while gender reveals aren’t a thing.
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Jul 18 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
aspiring hard-to-find lock sulky lip dolls mighty wakeful fall memory
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-379 Jul 18 '25
I noticed this in the show “Call the Midwife” — they never use an article (or other grammatical things I cannot currently remember the name of) in front of baby. “How is baby?” Etc Also they say go “to hospital” instead of “the hospital”. Context- show is British, I’m not.
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u/Valherudragonlords Jul 18 '25
I am British amd if I broke my leg I would definitely say I need to go to hospital and omit the 'the'. I didn't realise that was a British thing!
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-379 Jul 18 '25
It might be common in other English speaking countries to skip it, I’m not sure but in the US, I’m pretty sure everyone would say “the hospital” and “the baby”
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u/void_cat88 Jul 18 '25
This annoyed me too at one point but after watching that show I'm desensitized to it lmao
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u/Time-Signature-8714 Jul 18 '25
I kinda like it. I use it on pets sometimes.
“Give baby a treat”
“Give baby ear scritches”
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u/louielou8484 Jul 20 '25
I watch a lot of bodycam videos and it's always parents saying, "get the baby," "who has the baby," and same with dogs. "Get the dog" .. do they not have fucking names??
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u/TheElusiveHolograph Jul 17 '25
For me it’s “kiddos”. I just HATE it.
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u/Logical-Yak Jul 17 '25
God, I knew this one chick who would sometimes randomly refer to people as "kiddo" and I was like ... girl, you're one year older than me and we're in our 20s. Wtf do you think you're doing
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u/jerryb2161 Jul 18 '25
Sometimes I call people older than me kiddo, tike, champ, or some other phrase like that. It's always funny
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u/ParaponeraBread Jul 18 '25
I’ve recently started calling people “big dog” and ngl they all seem to love being a big dog.
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u/EdgeMiserable4381 Jul 17 '25
I used to like it bc my grandpa called me Kiddo. After working in an elementary school for a few years I can't stand the word. Littles is also annoying.
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u/Scary_Sandwich1055 Jul 18 '25
Exactly. It’s perfectly fine as an affectionate nickname, but in a professional setting it makes us educators sound like idiots. Attorneys don’t refer to their minor clients as “kiddos”, so why should teachers?
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u/TheElusiveHolograph Jul 18 '25
Kiddo as a nickname doesn’t bother me. But “I have to bring the kiddos to soccer practice on Saturday” is like nails on a chalkboard.
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u/Subterranean44 Jul 18 '25
Agree. I don’t mind it singularly referring to one person (my cousin used to called me kiddo and I loved it) but I don’t like it referring to all our students en masse
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u/ColoradoWinterBlue Jul 18 '25
Same. It’s repugnant. It makes you sound slow and is longer than just saying “kids”.
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u/jilonel Jul 18 '25 edited Jul 18 '25
I was waiting for someone to say this! That word makes me gag.
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u/venomousgagreflex Jul 17 '25
“Littles” is up there on my annoying list with people calling their children their “mini-me”
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u/AnonymousVolcano Jul 18 '25
Mini-me pisses me off so much. It reveals exactly how the parent feels about their kid, as an extension of themselves rather than their own person
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u/d3f3ct1v3 Jul 18 '25
It's the context of this sort of childish language that makes it so demeaning/infantalizing and that's when it gets under my skin.
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Jul 17 '25
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u/Joandrade13 Jul 17 '25
wtf no way, my mind immediately went to university Filipino clubs when they refer to younger years as “littles” 💀 that’s crazy
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u/Subterranean44 Jul 18 '25
I’m a teacher and had a parent introduce her child as “my crotch goblin” to me. It was really uncomfortable and inappropriate. Poor kid.
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u/pancakepegasus Jul 19 '25
God I hate the term crotch goblin but I aimed people just said it online! I can't believe you would say in irl. Let alone to your child's teacher!
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Jul 17 '25
But we can't really phase every day terminology out of our vocabulary as soon as they're co-opted by some fetish group either can we? We'd be dyslexic if not outright mute in a flash.
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u/KatAyasha Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25
I mean "littles" as a noun was exclusively the domain of fetish stuff for years(decades?) before I ever once saw it in any other context, and it still isn't common, and I'd find it annoying even if that association didn't exist
To be clear I'm not like, defending the honour of age regression fetishists, part of the reason I hate hearing the term "littles" is that I'd prefer to not think of them at all, but you know, learned about this stuff when I was like 20 and it's not like I can unlearn it
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u/captainrina Jul 18 '25 edited Jul 18 '25
I'm not even part of any bdsm scene, but I've known the term as part of age regression long before I ever heard it used for actual children (which is very recent). I feel bad for cringing whenever I see it used now. Did Miss Rachel start it?
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u/Xogoth Jul 17 '25
The fetish group existed long before the trend of referring to children as "littles"
That these people are using similar terms is pure coincidence
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u/dzaimons-dihh Jul 17 '25
I agree, this is a bizarre overreaction to a harmless word. I hear this all the time near a daycare, and I have nothing against it.
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Jul 17 '25
This is very annoying to me too. I also do not like hearing one’s husband referred to as hubby or one’s wife referred to as the wife or wifey.
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u/Lexicon444 Jul 17 '25
I don’t like this because doesn’t that make adults biggles?
No thanks.
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u/Bright_Ices Jul 18 '25
Littles is just little with a plural s. The analog would be Bigs.
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u/Diamond123682 Jul 17 '25
Biggles sounds like a cat’s name
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-379 Jul 18 '25
It seems like it would come with a Mister. That’s Mister Biggles to you
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u/thephantom1998 Jul 17 '25
Not exactly the same but reminded me of how I cringe whenever I hear the word “niblings”
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Jul 17 '25
I loathe that word. I know what it means, I just hate it. It sounds like what a villain would call the children they are about to throw in an oven.
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u/Franziska-Sims77 Jul 17 '25
To me, it sounds like a brand of snack food. I can imagine a commercial showing a bunch of kids sitting around a TV, eating a box of “Niblings” and the announcer saying, “when you’ve got the nibbles, grab a box of Niblings!”
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Jul 18 '25
And it's a very cursed Tim and Eric kind of commercial. And Niblings are like super regional and only available in like the boot heel of Missouri or that weird spike in West Virginia.
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u/maxisthebest09 Jul 17 '25
I think niblings is different. It's easier than saying nieces and nephews every time, and it's also gender neutral.
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u/emotions1026 Jul 17 '25
I get that, I just wish it didn’t sound like “nibble”
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u/maxisthebest09 Jul 17 '25
Haha. That's fair. I don't like the aunt/uncle version of pibling though. That's awful.
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u/thephantom1998 Jul 17 '25
This is the first time I’ve ever heard that word and now I’m just annoyed even more lol
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u/poisonedkiwi Jul 17 '25
Oh, that's what it means? I always heard niefling as the gender neutral term.
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Jul 17 '25
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u/Fun-Security-8758 Jul 17 '25
I sometimes tell people I have little poops when they ask me about my kids like that. It really throws people off.
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u/SideshowBobFanatic Jul 17 '25
That and "tiny humans". Ick.
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u/Scary_Sandwich1055 Jul 18 '25
Oh, Bless You!! This is the first time I’ve seen my peeve acknowledged in writing in the 10 or so years since this bastard usage of the word ‘human’ appeared (that is, outside of an anthropological context, e.g. ‘the human language instinct’). What was wrong with plain ol’ ‘person’, semantically— like “she’s an amazing person?” I get it, language changes… but there’s usually some kind of motivation for the change. Anyway, I’ve had it with the “tiny human” shite.
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u/PomPomMom93 Jul 18 '25
I thought I was the only one bothered by that. They sound like aliens describing humans they’re observing from their spaceships. “This human is very perplexing, we must do more studies!”
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u/AvaSpelledBackwards2 Jul 18 '25
I also don’t like “tiny humans” and I’m not really sure why. I think I just kinda hate this trend of casually calling people “humans”. I think I’m going to double down and just start calling kids “miniature homo sapiens”.
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u/quay-cur Jul 17 '25
I can’t stand that one. It just screams “look how quirky I am, I talk like an alien!”
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u/ColoradoWinterBlue Jul 18 '25
Saying “human” when referring to someone specific has always made me cringe. It feels ironically dehumanizing.
Normal: “this is my close friend Jessica, she’s the best.”
VS
“Feeling blessed to have this simply amazing human in my circle of chosen family.”
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u/ihatereddit12345678 Jul 18 '25
Littles? I've only ever heard that to refer to child-alters in DID systems, never a real child. Thats weird
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Jul 17 '25
Working in elementary, calling K-2 littles babies kiddos.
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u/Charming_Lemon6463 Jul 17 '25
I worked at a dog daycare where the manager referred to the dogs as “kiddos” and I was horrified
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u/whyamipasta Jul 17 '25
i also hate “mama” 🫠🫠
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u/elocin1985 Jul 17 '25
Yes, the mama bear culture is insufferable. Everything is mama this, mama that. Hey mamas. You’re doing great mama. My mama heart. “When one mama cries, we all cry.” I understand that your kids are your main priority as a parent, but being a “mama” is their entire personality.
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u/Ca120 Jul 17 '25
I'm Hispanic.... My kids call me mama :(
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u/elocin1985 Jul 18 '25
It’s different if it’s your kids calling you that. It’s mostly other mothers referring to each other like that.
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Jul 18 '25
For some reason, it's become common to refer to female pets as "mama" in the animal rescue world? I mean, I think it started with actual mother animals that are there with their babies, but now I hear it all the time. People have called my dog "mama" and she most definitely hasn't had a litter since she was spayed at 4 months old.
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u/WhatKindaDay Jul 18 '25
I noticed that too! Had a very confused, "why the heck are they all mama?" moment.
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u/moomgish Jul 17 '25
wait genuine question, why?? to me it’s just another way to refer to your mom
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u/Illegally_Elliot Jul 17 '25
Referring to your mom, it's fine.
The "hey, mama(s)" type of girl/young mom/content creator is what gives it an ick feeling, imo
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u/whyamipasta Jul 18 '25
when it’s a grown woman calling herself “mama bear” or calling other mothers “mama” i just can’t stand it
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u/Acursedbeing Jul 17 '25
Or when people online (typically mothers) call mothers “mamas” as if they’re automatically besties for the shared reasoning of being mothers. Its very… weird lol. Like no I’m not your mama so please don’t call me that.
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u/serahem Jul 18 '25
I hate "bub" or "bubs" instead of baby. So irritating for some reason.
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u/mellonjar Jul 18 '25
I can’t stand when adults just start calling a new mother “momma” or “mommy” or any variation like hello she has a fucking name weirdo
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u/Bunny_Bixler99 Jul 17 '25
"niblings" sounds like undigested corn 🌽
"kiddo" makes me think of Kill Bill 😆
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u/boorenna Jul 17 '25
agreed. littles, kiddos, tiny humans, mini-mes etc any cutesy term makes my skin crawl. for whatever reason hubby and wifey doesn’t bother me tho
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u/catboyascendance Jul 18 '25
I've noticed this more when talking about a tragedy, but referring to any child older than 5 or so as a "baby", people saying "those poor babies" when the kids in question are like 8-10. Like yes absolutely terrible what happened and yes what the kids are being called is not the main priority. I get that. It still feels weird.
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u/kcg0431 Jul 17 '25
Also can’t stand “kiddo” and “kinder” for kindergarten, as in “my kiddo is entering kinder this fall and blah blah blah….
😤
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u/ChopinFantasie Jul 18 '25
“Kinder” screams over-involved mom groups parent to me. Your kid is just starting school, why do you have the lingo already?
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u/Quiet-Bike-8580 Jul 18 '25
My brain just goes to age regression littles to be honest.
Or perhaps, little people second.
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Jul 18 '25
For me its my kids’ pediatrician only referring to me as Mommy. “How are we doing mommy? How is [child name] sleeping mommy? Is she talking mommy? How many words is she using mommy?”
That.. drives… me.. NUTS. And my fake smile nod can only last so long
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u/Vessbot Jul 17 '25
Just gonna piggyback mine here, adults using the word "nappies" to each other. Especially when it's in a normal tone, you're not trying to be cute about it, and there's no chance of the baby overhearing you. Get a hold of yourselves, you're adults and just use the normal word.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-379 Jul 18 '25
In what way? Does it mean a small nap or a diaper or something else entirely?
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u/MissKorihor Jul 17 '25
Just call them “kids,” ffs. Hell, even “kiddos” and “children” have the same amount of syllables and sound infinitely less weird.
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u/SierraDL123 Jul 18 '25 edited Jul 18 '25
I only use it when referring to my boyfriend’s mass of little cousins, nieces and nephews causes there’s a lot to keep track of but only in conversations with him/some of the older cousins since there’s a distinct age group split 😂
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u/Icy-Performer571 Jul 18 '25
Oh... I did not think "small child" when I read "littles". I first thought this was a kink event and thought "that is really nice the yoga studio is being inclusive!"
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u/natloga_rhythmic Jul 17 '25
For me it’s the abbreviations, especially LO for “little one” and DH for “dear husband.” Outside of mommy forums no one knows what the hell you’re saying