How is “Kidspeak” Used in Recent Years?
By: Sophia Mattia
In his 2019 article for The Atlantic titled “Why Grown-Ups Keep Talking Like Little Kids,” John McWhorter brings the term “kidspeak” into the linguistic conversation when talking about the increase in childlike language in adult speech and communication (McWhorter 3). The term references phrasing that would be deemed as grammatically incorrect with its tendency to leave out words or say them in a way that sounds childish (3). Some examples of kidspeak would include describing someone as “yelly” (2) or the “because” trend where people use because as a way to say something without explaining themselves such as “because science” (3). Upon reading this article, I began thinking about what the recent version of kidspeak would be considered as based on popular internet phrasings I have encountered. Using my internet knowledge, McWhorter’s article, and Emmy J. Favilla’s A World Without Whom, I argue that while recent kidspeak is a bit different from what we knew it as in 2019, it still holds the same if not more value in the processing of life for young adults.
As someone who spends a decent amount of time on the internet, I would say that I am pretty updated on the current language trends. When I was reading McWhorter’s article, I was thinking about various phrases that I use almost daily in communication with my friends and phrases that I see on social media that I would consider kidspeak. I’ve gathered several Instagram posts to analyze from the years 2022-2023.
Image 1
Up first is this Instagram post from May 2023 by @frogloversociety that was reposted from original creator @stinkykatie. McWhorter ends his article with “The horrors of the real world are enough to make a person seek the safety of childhood by any means, including linguistic ones” (McWhorter 6). The phrase “the horrors” has actually become quite popular in e-communication and social media and is equivalent to the life responsibilities that people don’t want to deal with. Some of these include going to class, going to work, paying bills, getting groceries—basically existing as a functional human being in a society that makes it very difficult to do so. In Image 1 the suggestion to buy yourself a tasty treat coupled with the adorable image of the frog aims to “make the horrors a bit more bearable.” The image of the frog itself is very endearing and childlike as well, reinforcing the kidspeak narrative visually. The phrase “the horrors” is just a much more dramatic way to address our responsibilities as adults, as a way of coping with the fact that we have to do them. Image 1 allows us to be “playful” (5) with our language and make thinking about responsibilities a bit more fun.
Image 2
Another example of current kidspeak-like speech on the internet are posts using language similar to this repost from November 2023 by Instagram user @trashandtypos originally from Tumblr user @edwad. The language “becaus I don’t want to” is a callback to the 2011 “Because internet” trend (Favilla 163) that Favilla and McWhorter both refer to in their respective works. The only grammatically incorrect elements in this post are the lack of capitalization, misspelling of because, and lack of punctuation, but otherwise, the complete sentence structure is there, unlike when the trend first appeared (164). The meaning of this post is self-explanatory. This user cannot make it to work ever again because they do not want to (which is a completely valid reason in my eyes). Favilla defined the purpose of the because trend in her book: “…the referenced line of reasoning is blatantly obvious, and delivers its message with a tinge of irony” (165). No, this person is not going to call their boss and tell them they cannot make it to work because they simply do not want to, but saying “becaus I don’t want to” showcases the blatant obviousness that Favilla is referring to. Of course they do not want to go to work. Who wants to go to work? The addition of “or ever again for the rest of my life” adds a layer of drama to this post in a similar way that the horrors does. Are we catching onto the theme?
Image 3
This last example is a repost from June 2022 by Instagram user @nochalantflowerboy originally posted by Tumblr user @e1derberry. It relates to the beginning of McWhorter’s article where he talks about the language trend of adding -y to the end of words to make them sound more childish (McWhorter 2), one of the examples of this being the aforementioned “yelly” (2). While silly is its own word, it is used very frequently in the phrase “silly little tasks” in reference to the tasks that young adults need to complete. The -y adjective gives this phrase a childish sound and categorizing things such as buying coffee or doing laundry as silly little tasks makes them more fun to think about. This is also similar to the “adulting” trend that Favilla brings up (Favilla 211), which McWhorter mentioned briefly as well (McWhorter 7). While this word was popular amongst millennials, it died out amongst Generation Z. Favilla claimed that the word adulting “calculatedly undermines the speaker’s attempt to convince themselves and those around them that they are actually an adult, for comical effect” (Favilla 211). The phrase “silly little tasks” works similarly, but more as a way to convince yourself that you are capable of doing everything that you need to do by using the words silly and little to distance the responsibilities from yourself and make them less significant. This makes the tasks themselves seem less scary. The use of the happy and sad faces in image 3 provides a certain child-like touch to the post that could be equivalent to drawing a smiley or frowny face on a paper with a crayon as a kid. Some days we believe that we can be adults and accomplish everything that we need to (happy face). Other days the tasks seem too daunting and we don’t believe that we can take them on (sad face). Either way, I think saying silly little tasks is way better than adulting.
While Images 1-3 were not exactly the kidspeak that McWhorter was talking about, they are still phrases that I found myself thinking about while reading the article. I have used every single one of these phrases (and their many variations) when communicating with my friends before and while they may seem like just words, they do make my approach to being an adult much more bearable. I find it more enjoyable to say “I faced the horrors today” rather than “I did a lot today” or “I’m doing my silly little tasks” rather than “I’m doing my homework.” I think that having this language where young adults can communicate with each other in this way is extremely beneficial, especially during a time when navigating the world is extremely terrifying, whether that be due to political climate, the cost of college, the job market—the list goes on. Who cares if we have dramatic silly little phrases to get us through our day-to-day life? As long as it is making us happy I say bring on the kidspeak and do not think twice about it.
Works Cited
Favilla, Emmy. A World without “Whom”: The Essential Guide to Language in the Buzzfeed Age. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.
@frogloversociety. The horrors frog meme. Instagram, 17 November. 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs5QseDLTzZ/.
McWhorter, John. “Why Grown-Ups Keep Talking Like Little Kids.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 19 Apr. 2019, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/why-young-adults-are-talking-like-3-year-olds/586000/.
@nonchalantflowerboy. Tumblr post about silly little tasks. Instagram, 22 June. 2022, https://www.instagram.com/p/CfIIlRKvOX-/
@trashandtypos. Tumblr post about not going to work. Instagram, 17 November. 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/CzvZrbcsyg8/