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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 09:09 AM
Original message
Poll question: People who refer to their pets as their children
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:07 AM
Response to Original message
1. Wow--this is a tighter race than I would have predicted
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nickinSTL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:09 AM
Response to Original message
2. it depends...
a lot do it in a really annoying, cutesy way that makes me want to hurl...

But, I have friends who do it, a childless couple, who refer to their (very large) dog as their son. :shrug: They aren't cutesy about it, and it doesn't bother me.
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:09 AM
Response to Original message
3. Depends
If it's "I'm qualified to tell you how to parent because I have a cat and it's the same thing" that's fucking annoying. If it's "Daddy got you treats at the store! Yes he did! I'm gonna get your belly!" that's kinda cute.

Not that I know anybody who talks to thier dogs like that. ;)
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:40 AM
Response to Reply #3
8. That's it exactly!
If someone is talking to his or her beast in an affectionate, faux-parental manner, that's okay (I mean, it's between them and their beasts, right?). But if someone is talking about his or her beast in that same tone, it grates on my nerves.

And good grief, when I hear someone issue parenting advice based on what worked with his or her Shih Tzu, I want to vomit copiously.
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:04 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. Have you tried a squirt gun? It kept my siamese off the counter.
:P
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WildEyedLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 12:05 PM
Response to Reply #10
21. LOL! That is definitely the best method of cat control
My cat is a huge brat, but if he goes somewhere he's not supposed to be, all I have to do is *pick up* the squirt gun and he starts spazzing and blinking rapidly and very quickly removes himself from the situation. He's such a BABY about water!
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petronius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 12:19 PM
Response to Reply #3
29. I know what you mean about parenting advice
However, I have to admit that I do that on purpose sometimes, just to mess with people. For example, when someone has been going on about their wonder-child at nauseating length, oblivious to my total lack of interest, I like to throw in a "Oh, yeah, my cat totally does that, too!" Tends to end the conversation...
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Tyrone Slothrop Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:15 AM
Response to Original message
4. Where's the choice for "fucking creepy"? n/t
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JVS Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:25 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. I vote with Tyrone!
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MrCoffee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:07 AM
Response to Reply #4
11. absolutely. edit this poll pronto!
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Quantess Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:30 AM
Response to Original message
6. Grey area
What if you hear someone calling their dog "kid", when they are talking to their dog? As in, they are petting their dog and they say "you're my kid"

Does that make anyone cringe?
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Kajsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:33 AM
Response to Original message
7. Where's the category for considering your companion

animals to be members of the family?

Does that fall in here, anywhere?
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:51 AM
Response to Reply #7
9. Considering them members of your family? Sure!
Considering them children? No.

Of course, YMMV.
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Kajsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:19 PM
Response to Reply #9
38. YMMV- Your mileage may vary?

I'm not quite up on all acronyms.
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noonwitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:15 AM
Response to Original message
12. My pets are people, but I don't talk babytalk to kids
My dog and cat are sweet, and they certainly think they are people. Who am I to disabuse them of that notion?

I don't talk down to kids, unless they are literally babies. Most kids over 2 like it when you treat them like intelligent human beings. Talking babytalk to kids over two just encourages them to whine all the time.
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sinkingfeeling Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:27 AM
Response to Original message
13. I see no point in talking 'baby-talk' to anybody or anything except
George W. Bush. However, my dogs are my kids and I treat them about the same way as I did my son decades ago. I talk to them, explan things to them, will punish when necessary, play with them, and take them places. And I really don't care if others think it's 'creepy' or 'crazy'.
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maxsolomon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:28 AM
Response to Original message
14. we do refer to each other as the dog's 'mom' & 'dad'
but in the IRONIC mode.
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calico1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:29 AM
Response to Original message
15. I think baby talk is annoying. But I still
refer to my pets as my kids.
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Arugula Latte Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:36 AM
Response to Original message
16. I know a couple who wanted human children but were unable to have them.
They have dogs and refer to them as "The Kids." Those dogs have the best life you can imagine. Them referring to the dogs as their kids doesn't bother me at all.
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ProfessorGAC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:39 AM
Response to Reply #16
17. Just Like My My Wife & I
Same situation. Wanted kids. Couldn't have them. She miscarried four times. Figured that was enough and it wasn't meant to be. So, we treat our pets like our chillun'.
The Professor
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Fleshdancer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:47 AM
Response to Original message
18. pets are family members but they're not children
Calling a pet a child is just as odd to me as referring to them as an aunt or grandfather, etc. In my world, "pet" is an exclusive term for non-human family member. We all have our own titles and there's no reason to confuse the matter. :)
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calico1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #18
20. Well, I call my pets my kids and don't think it's
strange. And I don't go on and on about them all the time. And it's not like I take rolls and rolls of pictures to work and subject my coworkers to them, like some people with kids do!:D
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Phillycat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
19. I don't use babytalk, but my kitten is my child and I am his mommy.
And the way he follows me around the house and cuddles with me at the least provocation, you'd know it was true. And like someone said above, I don't really care if other people find that "Creepy" or "Crazy".
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 12:07 PM
Response to Original message
22. My pets are my fur children.
And I do baby talk to them. I call my Rottweiler Mommie's little girl.
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ceile Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 12:09 PM
Response to Original message
23. They are my babies plain and simple.
My ex and I share "custody" of the dogs. I got the cats.
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Heidi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 12:10 PM
Response to Original message
24. Why on earth would I want to declare someone "annoying"
for something that doesn't affect me one way or the other?

I'll err on the side of compassion and choose "charming," but only because there's no other option. :shrug:
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 12:13 PM
Response to Reply #24
25. Spare me your cup-is-half-full gobbledygook!
Because this is the Lounge, where snarkiness is the order of the day!

I refuse to further acknowledge any post so replete with positivity, just as I refuse to further acknowledge split infinitives.
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Left Is Write Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 12:15 PM
Response to Original message
26. Other: doesn't get to me one way or the other.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 12:17 PM
Response to Reply #26
27. Nonsense! Where's your sanctimonious outrage?
:mad: Get your dander up, gosh darn it! :mad:
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Left Is Write Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 01:24 PM
Response to Reply #27
31. My dander is feeling lazy today.
Can I be santimonious another time?
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 03:34 PM
Response to Reply #31
33. Well...
Only if you promise to be doubly sanctimonious, to make up for your downtime.
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CatholicEdHead Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 12:18 PM
Response to Original message
28. Girlfriend does this to her cats
Though that is all she does, she does not baby the cats (they won't allow it for one thing).
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petronius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 12:23 PM
Response to Original message
30. These poll answers are actually the same,
if by "charming in the same way" you include the possibility of 'totally not charming.'

My take is that both babytalk and referring to your pets as children ("furbabies" :puke:) is perfectly fine if it makes you happy, but if you do it in front of me I'm going to think you're an ass...
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bicentennial_baby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 01:29 PM
Response to Original message
32. Babytalk doesn't really bug me, but this does
Yep.
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JitterbugPerfume Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 03:40 PM
Response to Original message
34. My daughter in law does that(baby talk to her "children")
and although I love her a LOT , that shit drives me up a wall
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Broken_Hero Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 03:42 PM
Response to Original message
35. more annoying than charming...nt
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HarukaTheTrophyWife Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 03:54 PM
Response to Original message
36. It depends.
Edited on Fri Oct-13-06 03:56 PM by haruka3_2000
I call my cats my kids, but I'm not cutesy about it. I don't baby talk them, etc. Some people take the cats being human kids things way too far. I find those people annoying.

And the oldest furkid just attacked my arm without reason, so she's going by the name of asshole for a few days.
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idgiehkt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 05:46 PM
Response to Original message
37. don't care. they can say what they want.
I've seen so much horrid shit done to animals it's a relief to me there are good pet owners out there, because most aren't.
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LiberalHeart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:20 PM
Response to Original message
39. oh dear ... I'm guilty of this -- AND I hate it. How should I vote?
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Mutley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 10:22 PM
Response to Original message
40. I do it
I call my dog my kid, AND I talk baby talk to her.

:evilgrin:
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REP Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-13-06 11:10 PM
Response to Original message
41. That They're NOT Children Is Why I Have Pets
If I wanted children, I would have had some. I wanted cats, not brats. My cats are cats, not hairy children.
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