To really detest the term 'little man' for a baby/little boy

[Mimicat44]

It just seems that everyone is using this term now and it annoys me - they're not a little man, they're a baby or a little boy! Why impose any connotation of being a 'man' already on a tiny child, just let them be a child! I don't hear 'little woman' with reference to a baby girl so why the keenness to have it the other way round?! Is this some subconscious way of encouraging little boys to be 'manly' or stereotypically masculine or am I completely overreacting and it's just a cute term. I am prepared to accept that maybe I am Anyway, anyone else got any terms/sayings they find (potentially) unreasonably annoying?

Kittenyes, yes they do.

My eye twitches slightly when I hear it, such is the effort that goes in to not laughing.

Alis thankfully I have never heard this, of course now it will be said a huge amount and I will be immediately thinking of this thread and trying not to laugh

I love it, I think it's cute. But then I also call mine my man cub. Frankly I couldnt care less if it bugs you as there's so many far more important things to get worked up about

I hate little man too. It's annoying as hell.

Kitten not only do people say it but there are baby vests/bibs with "I'm a boob monster" emblazoned on them.

I don't think it's common either. I'm common. I just find it supremely irritating.

Also, my DD calls me 'queen' sometimes, it sounds a bit vomit-inducing, but she came up with it herself and it's so cute really! (She's four, please don't hold it against her )

I say "My wee woman" all the time and I hear little woman and little lady nearly every time we go out with our girls. OP either you don't have girls or you have selective hearing but I'm guessing it's the former.

I generally go for 'little fella' which is probably all sorts of wrong as he's not a fellow and he's certainly now a fellow pronounced in a colloquial manner.

No hearing 'little man' doesn't bother me a jot.

'certainly not'

I call DS Wee Man and DD Princess.

I also call them Ratmuffin, ferret-face, mouse-bottomed-boy, Badger, trout-features, stinkfeatures and trumpet-bum.

I feel like that's pretty balanced. I don't really care for anyone else's opinion on how I address my kids.

So I guess you don't have any pet names for your dc op?
Please tell us if you do so we can find something offensive about it.
I call my sons little man because, well, they are.

I call my dog 'little man', amongst other things.

we call our LO 'little man' because he looks so serious like an old man sometimes, like hes pondering the mysteries of life haha!! i dont think im trying to force masculinity on him. Half his clothing is from the girls section of shops and his fave toy is a big pink glittery unicorn. Doesnt make him any less of a 'little man' in my eyes!! xxx

Oh Jesus, I also call my kids 'Mate'. And my OH (not their dad) refers to them as 'the terrorhawks'.

I'm basically Public Enemy #1. Ah well.

I use the term along with sweetpea, pumpkin, lollipop, honeypie & terrors/chimps 1 & 2. Find it hard to be bothered what other people call their kids tbh.

That's disgraceful Welsh, unless they're actually employed as a ship's mate. Tut

Don't think it would bother me. What I really loathe, though, is 'little princess'. Had to glue on a plastic smile and cringe inwardly whenever a colleague wanted to show me pics of her 'little princess' Gdd. I always think of such kids growing up to be horribly spoilt and bratty, though this will not necessarily be the case, I know.

Ah but 'little princess' might also be forced to work as a servant in a Victorian girl's boarding school when her father dies in a diamond mine explosion.

Like poor old Sara Crewe.

I don't like it either OP, even more so when they say "lil man" on FB..

Yes Little Princess ruined my life. I grew up believeing if i were just nice all the time and never complained it would eventually turn out that i was well rich and everything would be great. Thats not so far happened......

YANBU to detest it but YABU to judge it (if you do).

I hate it but....when DS a came along he became various names including the hated "little man" on occasions. And yes that was me doing the offending

I always picture a tiny but fully0formed and slightly wizened old gerontion of a creature peering out of a crib.

Some of them do look a bit wizened to be fair.