diaper or nappies

diapers or nappies what do you call them

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Diaper here.... strangely enough there are people that I know that just call all diapers, "pampers."
 
Trevor said:
"Diapers" all the way. It's what I was raised with and it carries extra weight because of that. No other word matches it for me, although most of the pulse-pounding power has diminished since I started socializing with other ABDLs.
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All you have to do is say the word "diaper" and it conjurs up many things for me, mostly all of them good; encompasing softness, warmth, caring, security and being loved. YUP "DIAPER" all the way for me.
 
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Growing up in New Jersey, USA, I always heard diaper. We relate to that which we grew up. In my story "Coffee Stop" there's the sentence, "just the word diaper had so much power over me."
 
I'm from the U.K. I use nappy. For me nappy has many bad connotations (a childhood thing) so I like incontinence pads.
 
I tend to say nappy because I'm from the UK and that's the word for it here. Nobody native who gre up here would call it a diaper, just like nobody would call the pavement a sidewalk.

Online here I often say diaper because there always seems to be someone with so little awareness that not everyone's English is American English (come on, the clue's in the name) that they say "What's a nappy?"
It also avoids painful constructions like "nappie" or "nappys", because for some reason nobody learnt how to make a plural of a noun ending in 'y'. I think in my head that the soul of an English teacher cries out in pain every time one of those is used.

The one that sounds more little to you will be the one you grew up with.
 
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Diaper all the way but I’ve heard some people referred to them just as pampers but that’s just a brand-name
 
I am from the USA so I have always used the word diaper.
 
Although im English i prefer to use the word Diaper as always disliked the word Nappy... fun fact... "According to Etymonline, my go-to resource for these sorts of things, the word 'diaper' comes from the Old French diaspre meaning 'ornamental cloth; flowered, patterned silk cloth'. (See Diaper.) The British term 'nappy' is taken from the word 'napkin' "
 
I’ve always known them as diapers, though I have heard people refer to them genetically by brand name (Huggies, Pampers, etc...). Similar to people referring to tissues as Kleenex and soda as Coke.
 
both 'diaper' and 'nappy' refer to their respective weaves which give either a type of pattern (diaper) or a nap (nappy).
'nap[py]' in particular is likely to be an original English word from Anglo-saxon ('nappy' being recorded in the late 15C as meaning 'shaggy' fabric) and it's original use was in reference to woollen fabrics which had a fuzzy appearance due to their nap. wool was the mainstay of clothing; other fabrics were costly to produce and they were therefore only worn/used by the rich (unless you had happened to have robbed a Norman ;) ).

'napkin' refers particularly to a [hand]kerchief, with the little or small ('kin') probably referring to both the nap and the size of the cloth, as would befit a [hand]kerchief which needs to be discreet and easily rinsed and dried. such a sense is supported by the simultaneous use of 'napless', meaning threadbare (Shakespeare).
also of that time, diaper refers to a towel and you have to imagine that a diaper would have to be quite robust given the lack of running hot water and modern soaps; more of a scrubbing-cloth than owt (as most wives and mothers will still say).

'napkin', in the sense of a sanitary napkin, looks to be an americanism of the late 1900's, coming from adverts of the time. the first use of such a sense i have seen in Britain is from 1947, although it may have been used during the interwar period.
'rag', as in 'on the rag' and 'jam rag' (as still used today), indicates the most common terms of reference and the class snobbery involved in the marketing of 'sanitary napkins' (which shows how America isn't, and probably never was, the class-less society it's often claimed to be).
although, it has to kept in mind that the Victorian era, into the Edwardian era, saw a lot of to-ing and fro-ing of class culture across the pond, and something which we may have been led to believe was american or british, of that time, may be the other.
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That's a previous post of mine on this subject. There's more (the Flemish influence, the Industrial Revolution, Roman dining etiquette, etc) but like with a lot linguisticky things, you go off on a tangent.
 
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I'm from uk so use the word nappy , but when in general posting on here I use diaper as it makes posts more understood
 
I grew up with the words Nappy and Nappies here in Australia but often heard the Diaper and Diapers from American television so while I can use both sets of words from my frame of reference Nappy/Nappies is how I think of them internally.

Also growing up in Australia from when I was young if you said “nappies” it was generically thought you were referring to cloth nappies otherwise one would always say “disposable nappies” to specify. Not the same now if you say “nappies” people think of disposables where now one would have to specify “cloth nappies.”

Every once in a while packets of disposable nappies advertising themselves as diapers have appeared in our supermarkets over here.

One that does my head in a bit is NRU Little Rascals, I think I understand the are a British company and NRU is short for Nappies R Us but they are Little Rascals Diapers..... Fabulous nappy/diaper though.

This article seems quite succinct even if I can’t vouch for its accuracy.

https://www.quora.com/Why-are-diapers-called-nappies-in-Britain
 
“Diapers” gives me that little feeling like instant excitement and happiness

but if I got used to people saying “nappy” it could do the Same :).
Ps It’s also really cute sounding
 
For me in belgium and for people in general, people refer to diapers as 'pampers' (not the brand) but to refer to them in general. 'That person is wearing pampers' is how one would say it. 'luiers' is also used but I'm not sure if you english people would know how to pronounce it. (ask google :p) But it's either luiers or pampers. But the official way 'incontinent pants/slip/...' tends to be used.
 
Oddly enough, among Australian English speakers, I call them 'diapers,' but so does my boyfriend, who has no connection to the community at all.
 
Diaper is still the primary word I use and react to, but over the years from reading hear and visiting tumblr and other sites where nappy is also used it has begun giving me the same feelings I get when I hear/see the word as when I hear/see the word diaper.
 
I’m British so it’s nappy/ nappies.

No one here calls them “diapers” but everyone understands what a “diaper” is from American TV.

The word “diaper(s)” does nothing for me, but the word “nappy” or “nappies” has always been exciting.
 
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