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Playground nicknames like 'four-eyes' and 'pizza-face' good

telegraph.co.uk — Playground nicknames such as "four-eyes", "carrot-top", "pizza-face" and "stinky" can be good for children, according to an academic.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 6, 2009

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  • inactive, on 01/05/2009, -2/+162It's true. I had a friend we called "Poopy Pants" and he turned out fine. In fact he is due to be released from prison later on in March.
  • AmyVernon, on 01/05/2009, -0/+73Hell, we call our older son stinky drawers and poopy pants at home, and he loves it. Of course, he's 4 years old and thinks the words stink and poop are inherently hilarious.
  • WordsnCollision, on 01/05/2009, -7/+80Wot, the Nanny State hasn't banned schoolyard name-calling yet?
  • spokenkaraoke, on 01/05/2009, -2/+52wedgies are also good, trains them to be opera singers later in life
  • alex7575, on 01/06/2009, -2/+50Heck, I'm 30 years older than your son and I still think that the words stink and poop are inherently hilarious
  • NathanielJ, on 01/06/2009, -1/+411) The study that was done was about college students (not playground children), so why is this article about how the results *may* apply to playground children?

    2) The headline is misleading. The article is talking about playful banter among children, not real bullying or insulting. FTA:

    '"If everybody's smiling there's no reason to step in and stop it," she said.'

    So her big hypothesis is that, as long as the insults and name-calling aren't hurting the person they're aimed at and the children are having a good time, it's OK? Gee, ya think?
  • alex7575, on 01/06/2009, -0/+30Related by keyword:

    Scientists Discover True Love
    Security and your mother's Linux box
    How to cook pizza on a gas BBQ

    WTF...
  • Haoie, on 01/05/2009, -1/+27How else are they going to get used to snide name calling as an adult?
  • chriskzoo, on 01/06/2009, -2/+27No, just tag and dodgeball. I wish I was joking.
  • NJank, on 01/06/2009, -0/+24Actually, the people who did this study weren't talking about kids at all. It was about college students. The stupid telegraph article decided to use the term children to get sensational headlines. What a stupid head.

    FTFA: "The academic - an American - carried out recent research into the role that teasing plays in US college fraternities."
    ...
    "It found older students mocked newcomers with crude nicknames about drunkenness and other failings in a way that encouraged them to change their behaviour and helped group bonding."

    Oh, so freshmen in fraternities get picked on by the older brothers. WOW... that's almost the same as childhood bullying and name calling.

    BURIED INACCURATE. If there was a better time for that option, I know it not.
  • ryan83189, on 01/05/2009, -2/+25I ran into a guy from grade school I only knew as "*****-Stain", I wanted to talk to him and see how things were going, but I did not want to yell "Hey ***** Stain!" to get his attention.
  • inactive, on 01/06/2009, -6/+29I'm sorry but I don't believe in the wussification of any society... We take dodgeball out of the school system. Lawsuites for "cyber bullies" Everyone wins at little league.....

    ***** when my daughter comes home from school, I have to ***** deprogram her because she takes a hissy fit if I beat her at wii baseball. She doesn't know how to deal with losing as in every school in my area, all the kids are "winners" which has turned them all into "whiners"....

    You must grow up learning how to deal with the crap as adult life will eat you alive if you don't.. Sink or swim *****... sink or swim...
  • inactive, on 01/06/2009, -4/+25The people who did this study were most likely those at the giving end of the insults.
  • inactive, on 01/06/2009, -0/+20You guys are all stupid heads.
  • oldhick, on 01/06/2009, -5/+25Of course verbal abuse is destructive and painful. So is life. After they get out of school they're not going to step in to some utopian bliss. We need to stop abusive behavior when we see it, but we must also remember that children need some room to make mistakes and to learn to how to deal with complex situations.

    It's a balancing act, but we all survived it and we need to help future generations deal with it as well.
  • Leviathan433, on 01/06/2009, -0/+19rightly so!
  • inactive, on 01/06/2009, -0/+19My daughter's school banned them long ago. We play dodgeball in the backyard. She loves it, even when she takes a good hit. My wife thought it was completely one sided at first but then when she saw how much exercise and fun my daughter was having and how good her reflexes and reaction has become, she couldn't complain. My neighbor who has three children between 2 and 6 with the non-netted giant trampoline thinks I'm a horrible parent...
  • Cancerkitty, on 01/05/2009, -4/+21Hard to believe, isn't it? Hell yeah it's good for kids. Toughen the little bastards up.
  • serif69, on 01/06/2009, -1/+17Hey Lois! Diarrhea!
  • bpoteat, on 01/06/2009, -2/+17Screw that. Nothing beats red-rover for toughening a kid up - a good clothesline to the throat never hurt anybody...except for that one kid in 3rd grade who had his larynx crushed and had to go to the ER. But I'd say the time spent in speech therapy and the gravelly sound of his new voice gave him that much more character...like a lifelong smoker without the risk of cancer.
  • NJank, on 01/06/2009, -0/+15I know you are but what am I?
  • eclectro, on 01/06/2009, -3/+17Sure, and taking their lunch money must make them feel like millionaires.
  • potchovsky, on 01/05/2009, -0/+14we had a kid that was nic named Egor, we openly called him that, every time i hear his real name...it takes me a minute or two then im like OOOOH YEAH Egor!
  • coyote1284, on 01/06/2009, -0/+14hehe, poop
  • Maddoktor2, on 01/06/2009, -0/+14Dumbest feature yet...
  • NJank, on 01/06/2009, -0/+14I can't. He's dead.
  • gingerboy, on 01/06/2009, -1/+15no! we as kids used to get told 'sticks and stone will break our bones but names will never hurt us', now its the slightest mention of name calling the kids should rightfully feel hurt and depressed and tell someone which can only lead to kids being soft and needy. Its this that IMO is leading to a lot of depressed kids, we are teaching them to feel upset by being called a stupid name or someone laughing at them - that its the right thing to feel and someone else must come to the rescue, instead of teaching them to think that the person calling them is an idiot or just simply doesn't mean it (these are kids, they say all sorts and dont mean it, hell adults do too in the heat of the moment)

    Please don't confuse playful, now and again nasty or simply heat of the moment name calling with bullying (as in vindictive, constant and downright evil pressure and abuse from one or more individuals) leading to the bullied kid developing depressed antisocial and isolated feelings which can lead to massive tragedies or just simply depression and anxiety.

    Bullies want a reaction, we are teaching kids to show this reaction instead of simply teaching the kids that its stupid silly name calling most of the time, the extreme cases need dealing with but its not hard for teachers, parents etc to see patterns where one or more kids are constantly causing another kid to feel upset or excluded - that's or when we or teachers need to step in and not before.

    I was called quite a bit as a kid, and called back, and it didn't bother me one bit - I teach my son to stop whining and have spelled out many times that someone calling you a nasty name in the heat of the moment or just for a laugh does not constitute a bullying campaign, regardless what the nanny state minded teachers tell them and hes getting on with things just fine - plus when he leaves and goes to college, onto work etc its not going to be so much of a shock that the cotton buds are not always watching out for you - sometimes you/your children have to just think 'screw em - idiots!!!'.
  • NJank, on 01/06/2009, -0/+13any joke using the word underpants is an instant hit with the 5 and under crowd. no punchline necessary.
  • groo68, on 01/06/2009, -2/+15tag and dodgeball are the best sports, how else are they going to combat obesity. in the end they will say books are too dangerous what with the paper cuts and what the teachers say is too confusing so the kids should just sit and watch pbs all day.
  • cloudberries, on 01/06/2009, -0/+13"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will leave psychological scars that aren't visible on the surface"
  • kevdotbadger, on 01/06/2009, -1/+13Turns out my old school friend pizzaface is now on a 90k salary.
  • thespiff, on 01/06/2009, -2/+13I agree 100%. By the time you get to college, you're comfortable with yourself and name calling is usually all in good fun. I gave and received many offensive nicknames in college, and was none the worse for it.

    But it doesn't work that way in elementary/middle school. When a kid gets called pizza-face (presumably because of acne) everyone is laughing except him. At that age you are insecure and judge yourself almost entirely on how others see you.

    Nickname-giving is an inclusive social construct when you are older, but as a child it's usually used to isolate and ridicule.
  • mjonesy, on 01/06/2009, -1/+11I have ginger hair and got a bit of stick for it in school, I eventually got over it and realized that I wasn't the one with the problem and became more confident. If this sort of crap didn't go on I might have had a happier childhood. Only recently have i really been able to come out of my shell.

    Even though it was always taken as a joke, there was always that self doubt that haunted me until the end of high school.
  • cathpah, on 01/06/2009, -0/+9I'm rubber and you're glue....
  • EdgarVerona, on 01/06/2009, -0/+9Obviously you are developing your social skills, and we should encourage that.
  • acid_jazz, on 01/06/2009, -0/+8I was called french fry because I was so skinny. There was another kid called big mac. At least they were consistent with the McDonald's theme.
  • Bloodwine, on 01/06/2009, -0/+8Exactly. Dealing with failure and other situations is what makes us stronger, and are the true learning experiences.
  • MaryCait, on 01/06/2009, -0/+7They called me "pris" and I cried and cried and cried.
  • Morghin, on 01/06/2009, -0/+7You need to learn to cope with failure at an early age, otherwise you'll end up getting ground to dust every time something bad happens. Also, you need to learn to cope with any kind of banter, be it nasty or nice. Otherwise your sense of humour's going to be sadly stumped when you grow up, since a lot of people base their jokes on poking fun at each other, which is based on trust and friendship.
  • vilago, on 01/06/2009, -0/+7they called me "mullet-man" in high school.
  • 1longtime, on 01/06/2009, -1/+8*lol* Oh Peter, I'm holding iced tea!
  • PeanutCheeseBar, on 01/06/2009, -4/+11When I first saw this article headline, I thought it was from The Onion.
  • netneutrality, on 01/06/2009, -0/+6I was called Squeaky. ^_^
  • o0joshua0o, on 01/06/2009, -3/+9Every person, young and old, needs to learn to have some sense of self-worth. If your self-esteem is high enough you will laugh when someone calls you a name instead of getting all depressed about it. Teach your kids that getting called stupid doesn't make them stupid any more than being called a hippopotamus makes you a hippopotamus.

    Unfortunately, it's difficult to develop a sense of self-worth when society puts you in an insulated cocoon in which there is no winning or losing, or danger of any kind, and you never have any difficulties to overcome.
  • Smokeydabear, on 01/06/2009, -0/+6How about my nickname in college? *****?
  • truebeliever83, on 01/06/2009, -0/+6dugg up for the declarative "I have never ***** a dog" bit at the end!
  • coyote1284, on 01/06/2009, -0/+5The problem here is determining where the line is crossed from "harmless" teasing that anyone with any real self-esteem plows through and reaches a relatively stable adulthood into real verbal abuse. We aren't talking about making fun of Downs Syndrome here or a circle of "mean girls" yelling in the face of a the unpopular girl thelling her she's ugly and noone will ever love her and she's a failure at life. Calling the kid with glasses "four-eyes" is not inherantly destructive and painful unless the kid has no self-esteem to speak of. Singing songs about how special they are and making name-calling and physical play suspendable offenses only creates a false sence of entitlement for some, makes a larger portion of "alternative education" students, and stunts the emotional growth of all.
  • liljay2k, on 01/06/2009, -0/+5Please don't cry.
  • cubicrystal, on 01/06/2009, -1/+6Emo my ass.

    Let me show you the stats for how the abuse cycle begins and how and where it ends. And those that stifle it? Suck it up? Addiction, mental health issues, rage, domestic violence and even wars have all been started because of *harmless words* eating someone up inside till they couldn't take it anymore. A classic casework - Columbine and the bullying the killers endured prior to their rampage.

    Read - http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/shooting/1003c ...
  • raskali, on 01/06/2009, -0/+5Thank you for that, I now feel ready to assume a leadership role.
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