Kids, darling, sweetheart, guys...
I read a post on FB a while ago about someone who hated children being referred to as 'kids'. She, and lots of other childminders, hated it because kids are baby goats. I looked it up in the dictionary, because I often refer to children as kids, but only in informal situations if you know what I mean. I was hoping that I hadn't offended anyone or was sounding sloppy or anything. Anyway, my dictionary does give a definition relating to both goats and young children, so I feel fine about it again lol. Food for thought though.
A friend of mine was telling me how her son's nursery teacher greeted her child at the door with 'Good morning mate'. She told me how she thought this was so inappropriate and unprofessional that she mentioned it to the head of year. My DD was in the same nursery at the time and DH and I both thought this teacher was lovely and gentle - he was also Australian and so without meaning to stereotype, the word mate was something he probably used quite a lot. We thought her reaction was OTT, but again, food for thought!
The same friend and I then had a discussion about what words were appropriate - she didn't think sweetheart or darling were appropriate to use in a professional setting at all and would just like people to use her children's names when greeting them. Remember, this is a nursery class we are talking about - not a sixth form class, where yes, calling a pupil sweetheart would be questionable!
I remember a deputy head at my old school telling me how she has noticed that I always use 'guys' when chatting to groups of children. It was just an observation/chit chat on her part - although I do now wonder if she was hinting that I shouldn't use that word.
Do you have any words which grate you when you hear others using them?
