To absolutely hate the word… snacks

[Ughughughughugh]

When did the word snacks come in?! When I was a kid it wasn’t used. It gives me the ick… kids have a snack, give them snacks, snacks snacks snacks . Why not meals?! I could rant all day about the word snack and my hate for it . If you do give your kids food just call it fruit , crisps etc but snacks can jump off a cliffe

The term “ick” is infinitely worse.

I’m an adult and I love a snack. I just had one!

Crisps isn't a meal, it is a snack.

It’s an old word originating from middle Dutch snacken., meaning to bite, and is in use in its current meaning since 1807.

It’s not as bad as picky bits. That really makes me feel 🤮

Because a meal is not a snack 🤔

Raised in the 70's and we had snacks. It is not a new term unlike ick which is a sound rather than a word and at that a horrible sound.

I don’t mind snacks but struggle with picky bits and sweet treats (not too sure why re the latter)

Omg yes don’t get me started on that! When m and s starting using it I lost all respect for them. I perceive it as chavvy ! We have nibbles of a buffet or charcuterie and cheese , canapés.

Yes, ‘snacking’ is a manipulation tactic of the UPF food lobby.

The UPF lobby suggests there’s a need for the product; it creates a market; it makes up some problems that the product’s supposed to solve; it pretends it’s a healthy option; gets celebrity tie-in, promotions and SM marketing; makes it look appealing to children and parents alike; it lobbies MPs; and gets very rich.

Same. Horrible phrase, I can't even bring myself to say it.

I don't mind 'snacks' though.

A snack is a 'treat you can eat between meals without ruining your appetite ' isn't it? We had that in the 70s.

*cliff.
Snacks seems OK to me. They certainly aren't meals though.

Chavvy is a disgusting word.

Snacks are snacks. What's there to hate about it?

This is kind of what I think. I was at a park morning and a parent kept asking her child non stop if she wanted a snack. Let the kid play or give her a piece of fruit. I don’t walk round eating all day - I’d be huge. It’s quite consumerist . My kids have 3 meals plus maybe fruit/ veg or something but I don’t load with with shit non stop and teach them it’s normal and use or encourage the word snacks

We call them Shnacky Shnacks, in the style of Sean Connery here, is that alright?

I have occasionally seen it written as "snakes" on English-language menus abroad.

I can cope with snacks but “snacking” as a verb drives me mad. In supermarkets there often a “snacking” section now

Picky bits just makes me think of bogeys and scabs.

Us too!! Especially if it's a salty snack that we're after (as opposed to a sweet treat!).

Cant stand 'ick' so you are unreasonable already

However to answer your question 'snacks' became constantly talked about, all the time when it was deemed that children need to be eating all the live long day and cant go for 30 mins without a snack and get 'hangry' and how that is the worst thing in the world and how we need to constantly be topping up for blood sugars etc etc etc. No one can wait til tea time and one must never feel hungry. Totally obsessed about kids eating all the time.

We didnt have snacks as such when growing up.

Oh god! So do I! It’s an horrible word but I feel the same way about the word ‘meal’ too 🤢

Yeah I mean Ive just had a rant on my soap box about kids eating too many snacks but as an adult, well if you cant beat em, join em!!!

Meh... I've heard worse.

Picky bits is universally acknowledged on Mumsnet to be the work of the devil. Never does a day pass without someone getting the vapours over this phrase, see also hollibobs and hubs.

I don't love any of these phrases but I find the predictability of the daily rants over them exhausting: can people not be more imaginative in their choice of hateful words?

Here in Portugal, snacks are called "lanche", which is very confusing. The Portuguese snack a lot, on pastries.