• SuperNovaStar@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            13 hours ago

            Is english your first language?

            “Girls” can mean children, but is frequently used for women of any age as a diminutive. Same goes for “boys.”

            However, “children” almost exclusively refers to someone underage.

            • n0xy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              12 hours ago

              It is not, but the same thing occurs in my mother tongue. I’m just salty that there is a gender neutral word, but only the gendered versions got their meanings expanded

              edit: now that I think about it, the translation for boy/girl is acceptable in less places and I don’t think we use it in compound words

              • stray@pawb.social
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                6 hours ago

                I think it doesn’t work because “child” is gender-neutral referring to age, rather than referring to a specific gender. What we need is a word for enby kids.