<p>My friend’s mom the editor of local newsletter.
I got her to read my essay and she said that I should never use the word “KID” in my essay because it’s a slang and it has secondary meaning of baby goat and that some old people might be offended by the word. So she told me to change it to “Child”.</p>
<p>Really? Should I not use the word kid in my essay? Essay is supposed to reflect my voice but I never use the word “child”. kid and child gives off completely different tones.
Is my friend’s mom right? Would some adcoms really be offended at the word “Kid” because I’d rather use the word child then to offend them.</p>
<p>Why in the world would the word “kid” offend anybody?</p>
<p>College essays are technically informal- you don’t need to be stiff and rigid in your language.</p>
<p>I agree that kid and child have completely different tones. I guess it would depend on the context of your essay in terms of what would sound better. You also don’t want to sound awkward in your language.</p>
<p>I’d just use whatever sounds right to you. I ignored suggestions about my essays from English teachers and I still got into Brown.</p>
<p>Essays are supposed to reflect your voice while being written in standard, non-colloquial English. Your mother is correct in that “child” is more appropriate for a formal essay than “kid”. I don’t think that they will be offended, but it is more appropriate to use the word “child”.</p>
<p>I also would not suggest believing that college essays are informal. They aren’t.</p>
<p>It depends on context, for example if you are using the word “kid” as a diminutive reflexive then it is fine like “I can still see that kid…” (although I personally prefer the terms “little/young boy” or “little/young girl” in that respect). However the phrase “When I was a child” would be better than “When I was a kid.” Hope that was mildly coherent…</p>