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?

I hate it, but have absolutely no logical reason or justification to explain why, so in real life keep my abhorrence to myself.

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

Ha yes, me too

My son has lots of nicknames. Little man is one his dad uses. I mostly call him Kickey (which was his nickname before he was born), or Monkace (something I said in a sleep deprived state when I couldn't decide whether to say monkey or menace). I can't see why little man should inspire such hatred .

I can't stand the phrase either and it causes me almost physical pain with the PILs ask, "And how is Little Man?"

Well, lil' man is twee.

But it's not very nice to try to police how an otherwise well-meaning mother might coo with her baby.

Mine have been puppy, poopy, schnitzel, taco, doodle bug, bear, cookie, peach, peach pie, snickerdoodle, too many to remember.

Me too, it's horrible. Though whilst I have never heard "little woman" I have heard "little lady" used in precisely the same way, though not as commonly as little man. They're babies ffs! It lasts such a short time, let's just enjoy it.

Welsh I love ratmuffin and trumpet-bum. Our DS gets called Piggy because he snorted like a piglet constantly when he was first born. We'll need to drop it soon, before he develops a complex.

I don't like Little Man or Little Lady personally, but it's just a preference and probably WBU to attach anything more significant to it than that.

DH came out with Little Friend to DD the other day which just made me melt I loved it so much!

My mum called me 'ploppy' and various diminutives of this until I was embarrassing old (I thought this was my real name for a bit when I was a toddler as she used it so much) little lady would have been more than welcome

YABU

But what do I know, I call my ferret 'my little boy'

I don't use the term myself but I think you're reading too much into it.

I call my dc all kinds of funny names especially the baby.

I call them angel cakes, little monkeys/dinosaurs/monsters, I even call my boys girls as in "come on girls" as it makes ds1 laugh.

They are none of the above they're just terms of endearment.

You are massively over thinking this

My friend calls her ds little man/dude it's sweet.

I'm currently expecting my first baby and I already call her my little princess and I've even brought some pink to put her in

I can't stand 'little man' either, because as others have said, it makes me think of a baby-sized man.

My dad calls ds 'old boy' which is cute 😊

Just to reiterate, I don't really have an issue with pet names/terms of endearment in general, in fact the more ridiculous/imaginative the better as far as I'm concerned, I just don't like 'little man' because it sounds creepy and weird (like an actual miniature man) and a bit like you're trying to age them/make them 'manly'.

YANBU

Admittedly I haven't read the whole thread, but what I can't stand is when baby boys are described as 'flirting' with the baby girls. Just really weird.

On another note, Dmil calls ds 'sausage pants'. Meant nothing by it, but I thought it it could sound a little inappropriate if out. I don't mind though. Just a pet name. I call him 'dude' or 'buddy boy'

I would put a stop to 'sausage pants' it just sounds wrong.

It was only the once thankfully. She didn't think it through, clearly.

Sausage pants!? I do call mine "sausage" but sausage pants is distinctly dodgy-sounding!

Ugh, 'little man', I hate it when people call my DS (11 months) that. Ditto 'little prince' looking at you MIL.

That said, I call him 'wee guy' (we're Scottish) quite a bit and I suppose that's the same sort of thing?

I'm glad quite a few people think its fine as it seems to be virtually a criminal offence on MN to use this term. There are thousands lots of things that make me irrationally angry but this isn't one of them. I agree that some people think it's common. DS1 went through a phase of calling himself 'Todger' when he was little which was mildly embarrassing, especially at nursery.

I hate baby's being referred to as babas

'sausage pants' is the only term of endearment mentioned that would make me go 'errrr, what was that?'