Of course I’m childish – I’m 4! －そりゃ、こどもっぽいよ。ぼく、4さいなんだから！－

I was in the train station with one of my friends yesterday.  While we were waiting for the elevator to arrive, we encountered a young mother and her son.  I would guess that the son was about four years old.  And he wasn’t happy.  He was screaming at his mother at the top of his voice.  He screamed and screamed and only paused when he needed to take a breath to scream some more.  His mother was very quiet, asking him nicely to stop.  I couldn’t work out exactly what his problem was but I’m pretty sure it didn’t warrant such a petulant reaction.

But I suppose children are going to behave in a childish way, aren’t they?  Anyway, it got me thinking about some English phrases involving children and babies.  Here are three words which can be used to make interesting expressions.

 

1.

A toddler – A toddler is a small child that can walk, but not very well.  They are older than babies but younger than, say, elementary school children.

“To toddle” means to walk like such a small child.  For example, you can say, “My son has just started toddling, so we have to watch him carefully.”

In Britain, we sometimes say “I’m going to toddle off,” meaning I’m going to go home or leave.  For example, at the pub you might say, “Okay guys.  I’d better toddle off home.  I’ve got work in the morning.”

 

2.

A dummy – The word dummy has several meanings but in regards to babies, it is the small object shaped like a nipple which parents put in their children’s mouths to suck on.  In American English it is called a pacifier.

We sometimes use the phrase “to spit the dummy” to describe someone who behaves very childishly or petulantly, like a child spitting out its dummy because it is angry.  For example, if a footballer doesn’t get a penalty and then kicks the ball away in frustration, the commentators might say, “Well that’s just stupid.  He is just spitting the dummy.”

 

3.

A cradle – A place for a baby to sleep.  Unlike a cot, a cradle can be swung or rocked from side to side.

When the British welfare state was established in the late 1940s, the ministers expressed a desire to provide welfare for the British people “from cradle to grave,” in other words from birth until death.

A humorous slang expression using the word cradle is “a cradle snatcher”.  If you haven’t heard the expression before, can you guess what it means?  To snatch means to grab or steal something.  So the phrase could describe someone who steals a baby.  But we sometimes use it in a humorous sense to describe someone who is much older than their partner.  For example, “Did you hear that John’s new girlfriend is twenty years younger than him?  He’s a real cradle snatcher!”  Please be careful how you use this expression, especially if John is listening!

 

Other vocabulary used in this article:

to warrant something – To deserve something.

to be petulant – For someone’s character or behaviour to be childishly sulky or bad tempered.

welfare – Support given by the government to people in need.