DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Can we stop calling every player a "kid"?

What is with the large amount of members on this board calling every player a kid? These players are grown men. Most of them are much larger than most of us and earn much higher salaries as professionals. That's not what kids do. It seems so pretentious every time I read a post that calls a player a kid, as if that member thinks he is a wise old man who will determine when that player will finally be deemed an adult.

"This Hoyer kid is phenomenal." He's almost 30 years old and a millionaire, he's not a kid.

LOL, really?

I don't like Mondays either.

cause a lot of the members on here are eligible for their golden buckeye card.

Refer to me as an infant please

Yep, it irks me to no end.

Well it's just going to have to irk you. I have a daughter older than most players on the Browns roster. So it's pretty hard to think of people under 30 as anything else. It's not a slam or a put down. So I guess you'll have to deal with your own issues of how you hold disdain for how others express themselves.

and this important why?

Anyway, the reason I refer to them as kids is because I'm 62 years old,, For me, someone in their 30 and younger are kids.

It has nothing to do with thier physical size or the fatness of their pocket book.

It's strictly an age thing

I don't know how old you are, but if you are in your 30 or younger, your a kid also... at least to me. And for the record, it's not meant as a sign of disrespect..

You knew someone would do it.

I guess I'll just start calling all players aged 30 or over as old men. It will be weird, but is apparently what makes sense when we're referring to 29-year old men as kids. I'll give it a trial run.

Their income means nothing, so not sure why you mention that at all.

As for the rest... I'm 43, so in my mind, most all of them ARE kids.

It's all relative.

Most kids aren't making millions of dollars, have mortgages, have children of their own, able to provide for themselves and their families, and professionals in their careers of choice. That's why I mention money. Aside from the very few celebrity outsiders, kids aren't successful millionaires. Once a person becomes the eligible age to join the military and die for me and not break any laws by having a beer, they're an adult. Calling a grown man a kid seems out-of-touch, disrespectful, and pretentious, in my opinion. I also don't witness this anywhere other than these forums, so it makes me wonder why it happens here more than anywhere else I see.

Money means nothing, ever. Money doesn't make a boy a man (if that is what you're getting at with the "kid" stuff). Earning a paycheck, having a mortgage, a family, or kids, drinking a beer, yada, yada, yada... none of it means a thing.


Why does it happen more here than "anywhere else"? I don't know, maybe you only notice it here more? Maybe it's just because the majority of folks here are older.

If I'm a generation older than someone, I don't care what you do, what you earn, whatever... you're a "kid" to me. That isn't said in a demeaning way, it isn't a slander. It isn't out of pretentiousness. It's the fact that when I was their age, they weren't even a mutli-celled lifeform, yet. When someone my father's age calls me kid, I just chuckle, because I get it.


Me thinks that you're over-thinking it.

A 29 year old NFL player is, generally speaking, an old man.

I am close to 400 in dog years... If you don't like the word kids how about

Brats

Children

Young uns

Immature

offspring

Entitled

Demon seed

Yet, they're called kids in this place. I'm trying to understand why.

I'm not over-thinking it, I just don't like it and it doesn't make sense to me. Even if it's not being said in a demeaning way, it comes off like that. Calling a grown man a kid is disrespectful.

I'm 28.

If I feel like a 21/22 year old is acting childish.. I'm going to refer to them as a child..

How much money they make, or how big they are, is irrelevant.

What about 28 and 29 year old players? Do you call them kids, too?

I would but I'm 30 years their senior and if I was 30 when you were born, you'll always be a kid to me.

All my best,

Gramps...

No I probably wouldn't.. I would say they are acting "childish"

I just disagree with your idea that once you turn 18 you are automatically an "adult"

I know 16/17 year olds that act more mature than some 25 year olds..

Guys like Manziel and Gordon.. Clearly haven't grown up..

Hoyer continues to be called a kid by many on here. THIS is what perplexes me.

Well again, like some have said, a lot of people on this board are older..

If you're 50+ years old.. calling someone that's under 30 a "kid" is not that big of a stretch...

Okay, kid.

If Donald Trump was to marry again and have a child, that child would be an instant millionaire.. According to you, that makes that kid and adult?

Money doesn't matter, size doesn't matter.. AGE matters.

M

Perhaps infantile is more appropriate given his actions

Hmmmm..........not sure the OP is expressing himself well enough.

I get what some of you are saying that because you are older, these guys are kids.

What I object to is that posters continually make excuses for "kids" when they mess up, even though they are adults. We have seen that w/Gordon especially.

The guy is not a kid. He is a grown man who has made multiple mistakes and people have tried to explain away those mistakes by saying he is a kid.

I would say that Gordons constant troubles are proof that he has not grown up..

Calling him a kid in that sense isn't making excuses for him.. its calling him out for acting like a child..

And I've seen nothing that shows he ever will "grow up"

To the point that I hope he's saved as much of what "little" he's made (in comparison to what he could make) because if he keeps this up he won't be at it for long... and league minimum probably doesn't cover the price of his car insurance..

Some people never get it. That doesn't mean they are a "kid," it just means they are foolish.

No.

Kids are gonna be kids... take their shoes off and run around in the grass...

No, I said a kid doesn't EARN millions.

Earning a salary, size (aside from the 1% of our population composed of giants), and age do matter. Those are determining factors for deciding who is an adult and have been the determining factors for centuries. Again, a 30-year old man is not a kid just because you're older than that. It's a foolish argument. An immature 45-year old, like Tom Green, is still a man even though he acts like an idiot.

That was my point about people being pretentious by calling grown men kids. They think that because they're old, they are above other grown men, for some odd reason. So, they call them kids in an attempt to make themselves feel more valuable than they actually are. They do the same when they say they've been a fan since 1910, as if their old age makes them a more valuable fan. Nobody cares that you're old, you don't get an award for it. I've seen it in other discussions as well. I was in a thread a couple of weeks ago where cell phones were being discussed and a few members proclaimed how they're older than others because they don't have smart phones, as if anybody cared.

I'm 32 and have worked my butt off to earn the success I've had. If some old guy callously brushed me off as a kid simply because he's nearing his end of days, I'd be offended and get pissed off. It's disrespectful, just like it would be for me to brush off an older man as a delusional old man who lost touch with reality years ago.

One thing that does annoy me is when people refer to our troops on the front lines as 'kids' or 'boys' when those 'kids' have seen and done more than most of us could even imagine.

I agree.

I use 'kid' a lot. I've done it in here. I sometimes do it in reference to my colleagues ("Hey, kids- look what a fool your boy Clemmy was..."). I use it when talking about my sister's offspring- all of whom are parents in their own right.

Here's another point, made gently: When they take their helmets off and I see them on the sidelines, I'm always struck by how young their faces look. They really DO look like kids to me, sometimes. Their faces are still "clean slates"... devoid of the legacy of 40+ years of life experience. I see those faces and realize how much of their lives are still ahead of them.

Sunday, My Wife and I were saying our goodbyes at my in-laws' house, after spending 5 days with them for Christmas. She's 89, he's 88. At the door, George shook my hand and said, "Thanks for all the extra little things you did for us when you were here. You kids really helped out."

We're two grownass middle-aged adults, but to him, she's still his little girl...and I'm the guy she's stuck with (same age). From him, it was a term of endearment. From me to my friends and family; same thing. About football players- it's a relative age thing.

I can see from your comments that you view the word 'kid' as a loaded term. In some cases, you may be spot-on... I HAVE heard it used in the context you described- with that supercilious air. But it can also be 'loaded' with different content, as well... content that is benign- or even affectionate. Words can be remarkably flexible in that way, you know?

Just another way of looking at it,
Clem

Thanks for the sensible and well thought out reply. It's much appreciated.

Anyway, for me it's strictly an age thing..Has nothing to do with anything else.

That's my opinion, feel free to have yours.

And that's a sad reality. You're old enough to have a fully automatic weapon in your hands and kill, but not old enough to buy a pistol or a beer in your own country.

Society has decided you're grown enough for them to use you for their own purpose yet you don't have the benefits they give adults.

And I'm sorry if the term "kid" offends so many, but as I said earlier, I have a daughter who will be 37 at the end of January. And I have to wonder how many of you once you're in your mid 50's or older will look back and realize when you are at that stage of life just how much you think of young people as kids?

Hopefully all of you will continue to learn with age. The older you get the more knowledge you will acquire. The more you will understand people and the world around you. The old saying is "I wish I knew then what I know now".

Hopefully as life continues, you will have the full understanding of this and understand better why some of us use the term kid. It's not a slam at all, but a better understanding.