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Kid’s Stuff

I love the English language. This is the sign for the paediatrics unit at Sunderland Royal Hospital, I love the different ways that we can refer to children even in a small set of islands like ours.

2 replies on “Kid’s Stuff”

At least two of them wouldn’t work in the South of England either – but what do they know about speaking English down there?

Bairns is derived from Scandinavian via the Vikings, infants from French (blame the Normans – who were actually displaced Vikings anyway), I think Children is from the Anglo Saxon. Weans is used in the West of Scotland and Northern Ireland and is derived from wee-ones (small ones). I haven’t a clue about the others.

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