I recently learned of the word "niblings", a word which some people use to mean "nieces and nephews". When I first saw that word in Amy Dickinson's advice column, I felt nauseated. One of the problems that children have in a world dominated by adults is that they are not always taken seriously. Many people don't see children as individuals in their own right, as if being small means that they have no character. The word "nibling" makes that worse by labeling them. Not only is it a label, the word characterizes them in a cute way that may not be appropriate to the individuals in question, as if they were hamsters or some other cute pet that spends most of its time eating.
The term "niblings" is not endearing; it is demeaning. Although it is being used to mean "nieces and nephews", before long people will start using it to mean anyone's children.
When criticized, Dickinson gave a full-throated defense of the word, giving her readers permission to objectify children with a cute label. How stupid. Perhaps we should dredge up the old-fashioned phrase for "advice columnist" and start calling Dickinson an "agony aunt".
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