What’s with this weird habit of referring to one’s kid as “stinker”? Even if it was cute at some point (which I don’t think it was), it gets old after months of consistent use.
“Where can I take my 21-month-old stinker in this weather?”
“My stinker is only 3 months old but we have the same problem.”
I knew I’d hate moms’ FB groups.
Ah, Clarissa, so many hours after your post, still no comment. So here’s an ancient reply. When I was growing up many decades ago as a child. I heard children refer to each other as “stinkers” (rarely as “stinkpots”), but never heard adult parents refer to their off-spring as “stinkers.”
Years later when I was a young physician, a few of my disgruntled young mother patients occasionally let their composure slip, and would refer angrily to their old-enough-to-talk-back young children as a “little shits” — presumably a worse condemnation, but fortunately not very common.
I haven’t communicated with young mothers in several decades, on FB or in person — so one of your other readers will have to advise you of the current trends.
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“refer angrily to their old-enough-to-talk-back young children as a “little shits” — presumably a worse condemnation, but fortunately not very common.”
In the South I assure you it is very common (but often almost a kind of endearment). When an adult is telling a story and says “And then the little shit….” there’s more humor than exasperation.
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It’s very interesting how hung up these parents are on the anal theme.
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When I was young, in the 1980s, the word “stinker” was reserved for a kid doing something mildly naughty or deceitful. Using it in conversation without anything to provoke it is new to me.
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Yes, the discussion started with complaints about the stinkers’ misbehavior, that’s true. Thanks for clarifying!
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I would guess that the origin of the term is that babies/small children in diapers stink when they need to have their diapers changed. Changing diapers is parental effort and the stink is a signal that it needs to be done. Misbehavior also requires parental effort, so the transfer of the association of the bad smell to misbehavior seems pretty straightforward.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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