DFIL - comments about DD

[Aweeweecupoftea]

So my DD started crying when I tried to hand her to my DFIL. He said to her, "you're just a little greeting faced bitch aren't you?" (We're Scottish by the way). He said it as if it was a term of endeerment

Aibu to not want him to say that again?

He's always saying things I deem strange and innapropriate! What should I say to him in these situations?

How so Yellow?

What's the difference between slang and an official word?

In a mainly spoken language, like Scots, it is quite hard to differentiate at times.

It is often referred to as slang by people who don't give it the cultural capital they give languages like French or English because it is seen as 'lesser'.

Anyway, not helpful to the OP. OP, tell you FIL not to refer to your child as a bitch. That's horrible.

Hmm that's interesting Yellow. My initial reaction is "but how is that any different from Northern slang" but I suppose it isn't and that part of the point. Rather than derail the thread can you link me any further reading?

"He's always saying things I deem strange and innapropriate! What should I say to him in these situations?"

I'd tell him not to say it to my child.

My friend once referred to my child as looking like a gargoyle, (when she cried) which she most definitely did not!

Just tell him it's not appropriate to refer to children as bitches (or adults or anyone else).

I'd punch the old cunt in the throat. What a pig.

I'd punch the old cunt in the throat.

Well that seems a bit extreme

It is slang, however used by the elderly, my GF used to call all his GC this, mainly used as a term of endearment as he loved his bitch dogs more than his GC.

You can ask him not to call your daughter that word.

'Bitch'?!

That's disgusting.

I loath the word 'bitch'
I also loath the fact there is not male-equivalent insult.

Nope wouldn't like a gf to call my dd this. If you don't like something, you have the right to say so.

2017. I don't think greeting is the word in dispute. Rather it is the use of "bitch", which is pejorative slang and rather vulgar when used to describe an infant. Shocking in fact. It obviously isn't pleasant to say "greeting faced" either, which is indeed slang when used in this context. I'm trilingual as well.

Yes, it's definitely the use of the word bitch that left me feeling

Now that i know I'm not just being touchy, I'll be ready to say something should he say it again.

I don't think greeting is the word in dispute.

I know. I'm aware it's not. I'd just never heard the word being used in that context before; didn't realise the Scottish used it as a slang word.

"Greeting" is surely not the issue.

Does he use "bitch" as a term of endearment generally? That doesn't mean it's acceptable or you shouldn't make him stop and I have never heard anyone doing it, but my Australian father used bugger or buggerlugs as a term of endearment......Which, looking back on it, must have sounded a bit wierd to outsiders!

"didn't realise the Scottish used it as a slang word."

Not slang. Dialect. Very different.

Not slang. Dialect. Very different.

Like with other pp further up the thread, we can agree to disagree.

My aunt used to call me a little bitch when I was young. It was never addressed by my parents. It really affected me.
When I was finally in a place I could address this (30's) I was told it was a term of endearment!!!!
Deal with it now, your daughter probably won't know to thank you later in life but that's a good thing!

i think it's a dialect.

i found this link

www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-slang-and-vs-dialect/

Maybe I lead a sheltered life but have never heard a loving Scottish grandparent address their wee (or for that matter, far older) granddaughter as a bitch.

Geeting - proper Scots language for crying
Bitch - proper Scots language for spoil (as in bitch, v., and make a bitch of, both = spoil in Eng. dial. (see E.D.D.))

But his use of bitch in this case is wrong I think and was definitely the gendered insult use. Which Robert Burns used:

"O Death, it's my opinion,
Thou ne'er took such a bleth'rin bitch
Into thy dark dominion."

Good luck speaking up to FIL about the "bitch" part OP. Would bother me too.

I'm surprised that "greeting" isn't more familiar to other posters as meaning "crying" - I grew up in England and never spent more than a few summer holidays in Scotland, and this is a very familiar word to me. I'm obviously more of a linguist than I realised :D

WhatTo Given that you are not Scottish and had never heard the word before, I don't think it's really for you to decide how to categorise it.

That's just not on op! Why would he say that to a child, I would definitely be having words. My dm has been known to say the likes of " here comes wee greeting face" if he's not in the best of moods but calling her a "greeting faced wee bitch" is just wrong! You're definitely not being precious.

"Not slang. Dialect. Very different.

Like with other pp further up the thread, we can agree to disagree."

No we can't. Because you are wrong. But that's not the point of the thread.

It's common enough in the Arab world too - a friend spoke fondly omce about her granddad pinching her cheek and calling her a little sharmuta (i.e. whore)

In this instance I'd be more upset about the bitch bit though, as that can go either way depending on company but generally isn't considered an appropriate term for a child.

If you look at a scots dictionary it will appear in there. Scots is an official language (ie not a dialect of a lods of slang words) therefore its a scots word...?