2

Nobody can deny how sweet and cute some young children talk; they make you laugh by the way they put words together and it's mainly because of the thought behind it or minor grammatical mistakes. When you're delighted by a child making some funny statements, what words would you use to describe or to refer to them?

A: Yes. Mosquito want to eat me and I chase him and I tell don't come here.

B: Aren't you a little [the word].

I'm open to adjectives too and it doesn't need to be the words to address a child himself/herself.

Improve this question
7
  • An adjective that can be applied to the child or to the talk? Or to the child when talking so? A _______ child, meaning "a little child speaking as little children do"?
    – TimR
    Sep 24, 2017 at 12:19
  • @Tᴚoɯɐuo As a noun, I'm looking for a word like sweet-talker but we know what sweer-talker means and it doesn't work here. As an adjective something like eloquent but again eloquent doesn't work here since although it means gorgeously and perfectly said but it implies having a way with words which abviously cannot be used to describe a child.
    – Yuri
    Sep 24, 2017 at 17:18
  • Nouns don't "describe". Adjectives describe. The idiomatic way to ask for a noun is "What is a word for one who does such-and-such..."
    – TimR
    Sep 24, 2017 at 19:56
  • We don't have such a noun, to my knowledge. Prattler might do.
    – TimR
    Sep 24, 2017 at 19:58
  • Again,we have to define “grammatical mistake.” Kids actually say things, for example, ranned, because they are applying the pattern they have observed about forming the simple past tense.
    – green_ideas
    Sep 24, 2017 at 20:05

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
2

There is a rather common phrase here in the U.S.:

Kids say the darnedest things

which became somewhat popular with the rise of the television show with the same name. A UK version of the show was named “Kids Say the Funniest Things”, but I don’t know if that expression made it into the vernacular over in the UK as it did here in the US.

As another option, I suppose you could simply say, “You’re so cute!” (The word cute can be applied to many contexts; one of them is the kinds of things a young child says, particularly when that child makes an adult laugh.)

Improve this answer
1

I would most likely describe this child to a friend as adorable. Then, because that's a very general word (it can describe many different behaviours or even appearance), I'd add something like "S/he says the funniest / randomest / sweetest / cutest / darnedest things" and quote the line.

To the child him/herself I wouldn't give that reply, to be honest. Children know when they're being talked down to! I would probably answer the child's intent, not my impression:

That was clever of you! / That was thoughtful of you! / What a funny thing to do!

Improve this answer
0

A word that is often using to describe a child's manner of speech:

a prattling child

a prattler

When used of children it is understood to refer to a child's simple manner of speech as they learn the local idiom. It can also mean that they speak quite a lot.

Improve this answer
3
  • 2
    Its rather perjoritive to call a child a prattler. Suggests that they speak a lot of nonsense and are annoying rather than sweet.
    – James K
    Sep 24, 2017 at 22:21
  • It needn't be pejorative, @James K. Such terms often double as terms of endearment. books.google.com/…
    – TimR
    Sep 25, 2017 at 1:43
  • books.google.com/… or books.google.com/…
    – TimR
    Sep 25, 2017 at 1:51

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .