Booty

We use the word "butt" which is short for "buttocks" which is the actual anatomical name for this part of the body.

I woudn't want my young daughter to regularly use "booty". She will use it in fun around me sometimes and I'm OK with that.

I think of it as a sexualized word, so I don't use it with my kids. I sometimes use it with my husband. ^_^ But I don't really think it's inappropriate or bad, I just don't like that word in reference to my children.

I refer to my kids' posteriors as their "bums." ^_^ I will also used "butt," since I think it's just short for buttocks, which is the actual anatomical name for that body-part.

i too, think it's a context thing. they won't be starting riots if they come over here and say it. i have heard moms say it to their little ones here. i think it's a bit of an odd choice just considering the world we live in (why open that can of worms?) BUT i don't worry about it. there are a LOT of words in the english language that are like that. i had to explain the word "dam" to my son the other day. no biggie.

but for the record, we use "bottom". now that he is almost 6 we have used "butt" too, but i still like "bottom".

"Booty" is slang with a bad connotation. Historically, it was a word born out of the European- particularly the English and American slave experience/culture. Slaves were called "booty" which means valuable treasure, by the slave traders when they were stolen from their home country and imported to this country and other European colonies to work against their will for someone else's financial gain.

People not up on their early American history probably fail to draw the historical connection between light hearted cartoons and movies of today that depict pirates and their "booty" and the old slave trade and plundering of royal and privateering supply ships. Yes, people think of diamonds and gold coins but "booty" also included humans trafficked for menial labor and sometimes prostitution.

In time, the word stuck in the American language. Slaves (maybe even owners) eventually would call each other "booty" because their physical body was the only thing of value they owned (....Get your booty over here boy!). It was rarely used then as a form of endearment but to insult and demean. Despite this, in time, this word stuck and became an African-American slang word that eventually made it's way into the daily dialect, and on the street is a word that primarily has sexual connotation. i.e. prostitution -i.e. (sell your "booty") and sex culture i.e.( booty call or goinna get some booty), and depending on how it is used, is the sort of word used to demean someone.

Interestingly, thanks to the music industry, and so many songs that reference "booty" and "getting it out on the dance floor" or to "shake..shake..shake your booty," or comedians have had much fun with the word because of how it sounds...the word "booty" has become a term of light-hearted endearment for some and there is even an organic snack pop corn for kids named "Pirate Booty." Clearly the word has lost it's historical significance and meaning with time.

With all of that said, I think depending on how the word is used, it might not be polite and considered crass. I chalk it up to "potty" talk and don't let my kids use it. I think the word is ugly (because of its origins) and just sounds ugly. It doesn't sound good coming from anyone's mouth who wants to be considered polite and well mannered. JMO.

I am shocked at the amount of people who are saying it's wrong. We use it in our house and have since our kids were little. I see NOTHING wrong with it, but to each their own.

I wouldn't change the way you are or speak for others though. I'd tell MIL to go find someone else to pick on.

We say booty sometimes (shake your booty), butt, bottom, bum, keister... in public though I say bottom or butt (put your butt in your car seat please). I've had friends though tell me they thought butt was not nice...

I don't think booty is inappropriate, but if your MIL does, maybe you could just remind them that grandma prefers "bottom" or whatever.

J.

I say "bottom", "bum" "butt" or "rear end",but "booty" is not a big deal to me. Just tell your DD not to say "booty" around your MIL. My MIL has an issue with using the word vagina... Oh well. I still use it because that's what it is and it's fine by me for my kids to say it. I'd rather that than calling it a "cookie" or a "coochie" or whatever. :o)

Booty is slang. And that slang can be taken in various ways depending.

I have kids that are 5 and 9. And well, I think if they used that word around me I find it real, tacky. If they used that term in school, the Teacher would correct them.
Kids that age don't know what a "booty call" is.
My kids have heard "booty" before. They know it means rear end. But they don't say booty.

Rear end
Derriere
Bottoms
hiney
behind
are other words for the same thing.
Regional or cultural differences exist.
Sometimes, the wording a person uses, slang or not, also denotes or reflects a person's station in life or upbringing.

Hi M.-

We are a 'fanny' or 'bum' family here.

Best Luck!
michele/cat

booty has only turned into a naughty word since the music industry picked up on it and made it risque. before that it was just a fun word. i wouldn't worry about it, just tell your daughters not to use it front of MIL. if it offends her, why stir up trouble?
khairete
S.

I am with Julie F. if we are playing around I would use the word tuchus... Like Put your tuchus in the chair. But most often use the word tush or tushie. I dont see anything wrong with the work Booty, and have used it too. I think Back Side is a bit formal, but hey thats just me. Maybe use booty and a few other words for it so that way when your around your MIL you can use another word and your kids wont think you have lost it!!

We use a lot of Yiddish words in our house, so tuchus has been our word of choice. It often gets morphed into the American-English version, tush or tushie.

We usually say rear end, bottom, behind, or backside.
Butt is not inappropriate but a little too abrupt a word for us.
For older kids we use gluteous maximus which is literally the name of the muscles.
When we hear 'booty', we think of pirate treasure, spoils of war, loot which is in line with it's dictionary definition.
I would not use 'booty' as a word for backside for kids.

My daughter does say "booty", but I try to get her to say "bum" instead. It seems to have less negative connotation.

A "booty" family here. My daughter got her fathers booty, cute little shape and it's so adorable when she dances. At times when she thinks I'm feeling down she's turn her back and shake her rear at me. "Mommy, it's my cutie booty!" Makes me laugh every time.

We also use "Patookie", we got it from the animated series Lelo and Stitch.

See I only use booty when saying a "booty call", so for me it has that meaning. The other day my son was dancing and said something about shaking his booty to be funny. It's all about the context in which it is used I guess.

Booty has a sexual connotation. It is more "slang-like" than butt or bum. The word "bum" is used mostly by the Brits and some Asian/Brits like Singaporeans. Rearend is one, backside, and even tush.

I would not call the word booty perverted at all, but you shouldn't have a kid using it. The first thing people think of is a booty call.

Dawn

when I see the word "booty" my brain goes to "booty call".

I don't know where you are living abroad, however, you might want to try picking up their slang word for behind, rear, derriere, fanny, bottom, etc.

What do we use in our house?
Behind - I should be seeing your behind right now!! :)
Bottom - my hand has a clear shot at your bottom!!
Butt...get your butt in gear! :)

If BOOTY works for you and your family - I wouldn't change. What does your husband say about it? Does he agree with his mother or does he tell her it's fine?

I think booty is fine.

We call it "booter" at our house. I had never heard it called that before, but my husband called my son's bottom a booter when he was little and the name stuck. I guess that's what he called it when he was younger.

Too funny. When I saw the subject, I thought the post would be about well, um "booty."

We use "tushy!"

I don't like the way it sounds, but that's my personal thing. I don't think that it's necessarily inappropriate. I use "bottom" with my little one.

My kids say buttocks, pronounced boo-tocks or bee-hind! However, at our house, booty is fine, but butt is not!

In our house we just think it's a funny word...we say it. :)I guess your MIL would like you to use the word "posterier", ha ha!

my family is half gypsy so we use their words sometimes so we call it BULL ..and no one really knows what we are talking about..

example: daughter get your bull to bed!..

It does have a sexual connotation. I know that you mean it innocently. Honestly, I wouldn't know exactly how I feel about it because I've never used this word in my life. I'm trying to think of when I would have used a word like that with my kids ... keep your bottom in your chair, put your bum back in your pants .... mine are 13 and 17 now so those aren't really words that we have a need for.

Be interested to know the country you and your family are living and how much the term "booty" is used to refer to the backside?

I agree with your husband's mother, I don't like reference "booty", it sounds cheap.

We sell booty shorts in the store, they have a 2" inseam. They cup under the cheeks therefore the name "booty" shorts.

Older people would think it inappropriate to call it all kinds of things. We call it their hiney's. It is more adult to call it by it's name but everyone pretty much has their own name for body parts.

At our house we use booty or bottom. I think your MIL is strange for associating it with booty call. Who even uses that term anymore anyways. I hear on tv booty being used by children too.

I would just stick with what you use. When my older girls were little-maybe 3 yrs old, they called their front their booty and their rear their butt. So when taking a bath, we would tell them to wash their booty and wash their butt. They came up with it themselves. Of course, now that they are 13, they don't call it that (call it "down in front" actually). For my 4 yr old, it has continued.
Of course, when it comes to bed, it is get your butts to bed NOW.

Ha! My seven year old's nickname has been Bootie since before she was born. Of course, her dad's name is Shu. So, what else would you call a baby shoe?

I could see how it could be taken wrongly by strangers. The adult terms booty shaking and booty call kind of ruin it as an endearing child term. Maybe use "bottom" instead?

We don't use booty.... rap songs, cultural references to booty calls killed that! We use bottom.....

Actually booty call means sex