Goats can be called 'kids,' not children

This is in response to the letter writer who vehemently denies that calling "children" by the derogatory term "kids," is not wrong (Fence Post Aug. 29.)

The writer claims that calling a child "a kid" is similar to the modern German word for child, "kind." It is correct that the word for "child" in German is "kind." That's where the modern English word "kindergarten" is derived -- which literally means "garden of children," which is a beautiful, poetic expression.

But the modern English word, "kid," has nothing etymologically in common with the German word, "kind." The modern English word, "kin," as in "next of kin," would be more analogous to the German word, "kind," not "kid."

"Kid," in modern English, refers specifically to the offspring of a goat. Just as a puppy is a baby dog, a kitten is a baby cat, a chick is a baby chicken/rooster, etc. The modern English word for a non-adult human being is "child!"

What is so hard in understanding this? Why can't ostensibly well-educated people realize that substituting the word "kid" for "child" is not an equal synonym and is, in fact, an inappropriate derogatory term for a child? Shouldn't educators use proper English in school? Would you incessantly call your own child a "little goat?" What does that say about the person using the word?

The vocabulary we use tells others volumes about ourselves!

Instead of probing obscure, obsolescent meanings of words in "indo-European," perhaps educators who think it's acceptable to use the word "kid" in the aforementioned sense, should face-up to the fact that they are behaving like rubes. It's simply bad manners to call children, "kids," and the sooner they give up this bad mannerism, the better off they, and the children, will be!

Roy W. Mashek

Downers Grove