To want my child to learn the proper words for things?

[AmIThough]

A friend offered to buy DC a top that says "ask me to see my moo cow" then if you lift the top there's a picture of a cartoon cow.

Crappy tat anyway but that's not the point.

I said no thanks, as I want DC to learn the proper words for things - I don't see why you would teach a child to call a cow a ' moo cow' or a frog a 'ribbit' (which is another example I've heard) rather than a cow or a frog.

I got told I'm a 'boring fart'.
What do you think? Am I being overly precious?

YABU - very small children surely learn words from you speaking to them, not from reading what's on their t-shirts!

I shall borrow 'allow me to divest you'.

"Ta" isn't regional FFS.

When DD started both nursery and reception (different schools), we got a letter home about language development and part of it was that you should encourage your dc to begin to use the 'proper' words for things instead of a children's version. It specifically mentioned 'kitty' and 'bunny'. I was glad I'd always used the proper words. [They still were a bit at her use of the word 'vulva', but that's another post].

Of course it's regional. Have you never noticed how in some places people say it a lot more than others? That's what 'regional' means.

Putting a vest on them "Let's investigate." Taking a vest off "Allow me to divest you of that." Love it.

'Ta' isn't particularly regional. Off the top of my head I know people from the home counties, Scotland, Black Country, East Anglia and south-west UK who say it.

Had to share. Working on a text right now that talks about using a food processor for more uniform slices of courgette –except it says 'more uniformed', so all I can see is courgettes in a police outfit

Can’t believe how many people are getting their knickers in a twist about a t-shirt! The ‘Ask to see my t-rex’ one is better though. My 2 year old never used Ta even though nursery insisted on it, he prefers thank you. My aunty still refers to Baa lambs . We even use winky instead of penis. Shock horror (cue handbag clutching). My DS has a higher than average vocabulary (according to the health visitor) and talks non stop. I used babyish words as a child and am now extremely well educated. Language is fun to play with and should be experimented with. Intelligent children will be able to do this!

Ta is regional. It is used much more from the Midlands northwards.

I grew up in the Midlands. It was all around me. I have lived in Essex most of my adult life and it is comparatively uncommon here. Not unknown, but not in regular use.

I think over this sort of thing you are being precious, cows say Moo 🤷🏻‍♀️

What I cant stand is when people say "Do you want a Butt Butt" (sandwich) or do you want a Yog Yog (Yoghurt) that sort of things is just ridiculous... especially Dum dum for dummy 🙄

*DD picked up a plastic toy to pass to the other child, the mother said to DD 'oh have you got a bunny'. DD looked her square in the eye and with a dead pan face said 'it's a rabbit'
The mother then snatched her daughter away, scowled at me and told me that my child was rude and too old for the class anyway.

1. my child wasn't wrong.
2. she wasn't too old for the pre-school class
3. the only person rude at any point was her*

Why would you be proud of this story? You have a rude, snobby toddler who doesn't know that a rabbit and bunny are the same thing. Congrats

You are not being a boring fart,
I wouldn't buy that top either.

Baby talk can be quite annoying and I can see why people prefer to just stick to the proper words... But I don't think it's anything to get worried about. You don't come across many adults who are unable to use the correct names for things because as a toddler they were taught incorrect names. I also think that most children seem to learn fairly quickly that certain things have more than one 'name'- eg thank you and ta are interchangeable, pyjamas and 'jammies' are the same thing.

Someone I know said to my dc when he was tired is.. Oh baby are you tie-tie wtaf?

I don't know a single adult that calls a cow a moo-cow so i’m sure it doesn't matter either way. They learn as they grow up what the proper terms for things are. If it captures their imagination and they enjoy it then I see zero harm.

at least a "moo moo" will make some kind of sense to everyone else.

If your baby language leave other adults completely baffled, then you are using the wrong words.

if a kid was asking me for a butt-butt or a dum-dum, I am not sure I would translate that correctly.

Babies (and pets) respond to raised pitch voices and exaggerated vowel sounds and so on. I know, I speak fluent baby (and cat).

A dog trainer I know recommends that dogs always have names that end in vowels, as it helps when training them to come back when called.

My grown up kids always call a boiled egg a 'top eggy'

St.Charlotte there are places that have steam trains. Our local station is not one of them. No point calling a train a 'choo-choo' if it doesn't actually make that noise as it's pointless. If they'd been going on the steam railway then a 'choo-choo' is what they'd have heard.

We've never said 'moo cows' but have, for a bit of a joke referred to cattle in fields as either 'milky moos' or 'bully moos' - depending on their sex.

I wouldn't mock anyone using any of the terms mentioned in the thread but I just don't see the point of them.

Obviously talk to your own child however you want but strict orthodoxy on vocabulary seems oddly joyless to me. As far as I know, some form of baby talk is found in cultures and societies across the world and we’ve all eventually ended up with the vocabulary we each have so...

I’m also a bit perplexed about the contrast on here about using cute or affectionate names for things, and the enormous focus in the Baby Names thread on potential nicknames (which seems to me to be a peculiarly English phenomenon).

All in all, live and let live.

the enormous focus in the Baby Names thread on potential nicknames (which seems to me to be a peculiarly English phenomenon).

No not just an English thing at all - pet names are a big thing in lots of parts of the world.

I grew up in Scotland and say Ta. Everyone did. It’s not baby talk at all. It’s definitely regional

Oh yes but not, in my experience, to the extent of people creating lists of them before the baby is born, or looking to reverse engineer a real name for Binky or Tinky like you see on here.

Oh yes I see but I’ve never seen any English person do it in real life either. Do you hang out on any non English language baby name forums? I don’t but I bet they do it too.

I do - I’ve had babies whole living in two other countries (and I’m from a third), all English speaking, and there’s definitely not “Muribelle, nn Mimi” or replies saying “she’ll definitely get called Bella by everyone” the way you see here!

I also don’t seem to see it ever on the threads here with Welsh, Scottish or Irish names, so I’ve come to my own scientific conclusion that it’s English!