What's it called when

[SteveGlo]

people who are recognisably adult use childish language?

E.G. 'Footy' for football or 'Little Ones' for infants and babies. Why do adults talk about 'poo' - is it supposed to be cute and endearing?

Is there a recognised word ? If not I'd like to suggest 'puerilise'. Puerilising the language annoys me and it seems to be spreading.

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

I don't agree with your statement that "Footy" and "Little ones" are "childish". Surely calling them "slang", or "shorthand" would be a better term?

Dan

 

[CrystalStart]

You are such a tinny-winny googoo moogoo boy you :-D

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

Goo goo.

 

[CrystalStart]

'Footy' for a football IS childish IMO
'Little one' is what everyone should call babies IMO

 

[goesnowhere]

I think the spread of TLA's is more rampant than colloquial puerility .. IMO

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

Why do adults talk about 'poo'

Because it's funny (well, I know most Viz readers would agree on that one ;o)

They even have encyclopaedias:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-4025351-1102045

and coffee-table books on the subject:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl/026-4025351-1102045

Oddly enough, they make great toilet reading!

Dan


The answers you get are only as good as the information you give!

 

[Genimuse]

When you're a parent and you need* to use the childish words with your kids, over time they supplant the adult words and it's difficult to even think about the alternate versions.

*Subjective concept, I know. Let's just assume that the "need" is genuine.

 

[SteveGlo]

Genimuse

I accept the adults talking to young children line - its when adults talk this way to other adults that I find it annoying. And I don't mean the 'sweety-pie' drivel that one hears between lovers.

So there doesn't appear to be a generally acknowledged word for this, I thought there mightbe one in the same way you have bowdlerise when you 'gentrify' something.

Steve

 

[CajunCenturion]

There is a term for this: 'baby talk'

Good Luck
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[SteveGlo]

CC

I've noticed that over the last 30 years or so the trend has gone from trying to hang on to ones youth to trying to hang on to ones childhood - perhaps baby talk is an understandable progression (or is it regression?). I'd rather not think where that trend might go next (gulp).

Steve

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=infantilism

retention of childish physical, mental, or emotional qualities in adult life

infantile behavior in mature persons

Dan


The answers you get are only as good as the information you give!

 

[CajunCenturion]

SteveGlo - I don't know. Infant-directed speech (baby-talk or 'motherese') has been the target of numerous studies. There are some anthropologists who feel that baby-talk has been a part of pre-linguistic evolution since the days when humans first began to speak. This has been suggested by evidence of studying language patterns in primates and the noticable difference between infant-directed and adult-directed communications.

I think that baby-talk is far closer to being a 'parental instinct' rather than a regression founded in a mid-life crisis, or a longing for the simple childhood days.

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

Aaah sorry, it should be "infantilise", as used by Robert De Niro to Ben Stiller in Meet The Fockers.

Amazing what Hollywood can teach you ;o)

Dan



[tt]D'ya think I got where I am today because I dress like Peter Pan here?[/tt]

 

[Genimuse]

SteveGlo, I was noting that once you get into the habit of it with your kids, it automatically transfers into your adult speech, unconsciously.

 

[KempCGDR]

See, I don't get why people have to teach their kids these words in the first place. For instance, I have an aunt (quite a young aunt for those with visual thought processes here) and she insists on calling dogs "woof-woofs" and stuff like that when she's talking to her baby (or when she used to talk to her as the baby is no longer a baby). How was that going to help her to learn to talk english at all? Eventually the kid has to learn the real words and I'd imagine that would be harder if they've already learnt a different one.

Anyway, I've babbled enough, slightly more than my two cents worth.

 

[tsdragon]

I agree with KempCGDR. When my daughter was young my wife and I refused to speak baby talk to her (and wouldn't let anyone else either). As a result her language skills have always been better than most of her peers.


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[elanor]

I agree with TSDragon. My parents never used baby talk with any of us, and I refused to use it with my son. As a result, my eight-year-old sounds like a constitutional lawyer and our family's arguments have a interestingly elevated vocabulary level - no matter how low the actual reason for the fight!

 

[yanqui]

I never talked "baby talk" to my kids, although I did sometimes adopt their words for things because the way they said things was sometimes just too cute or funny not to. But I can't imagine asking toddler, "Do you need to [biologically correct bodily function]?" We use words to associate intentions and actions, and we use them on a level of the listener. Also as adults we use euphemisms (was that the word you were looking for?) because by doing so we can avoid the graphic representation associated with the actual biological funcion. Actually, when talking with adults, I rarely discuss bodily functions, preferring to leave it at "visiting the restroom" and allowing the listener to draw his or her own conclusion. But talking about toilet training with other moms we use the word "poo" because when undertaking the effort of toilet training, the word comes up quite a bit and replaces the biologically-specific word in our vocabularies, and is much preferable to the $h_ _ word.