Sarcastic Baby-Talk

[Meh]

I'm wondering what is the psychology behind the use of sarcastic baby-talk. What do you think?

Examples:  "Does poor little baby-waby need a blankie"  "Does cry-baby want their mommy"  "Oh, baby has an oweee, a little boo-boo"  "Oh boo hoo hoo, boo hoo hoo"  "Whaaaaaah"


Has anyone out there heard this from a Narcissist adult?

Have you ever said this to anyone, and if so why? What were you feeling when you said it?

It seems like a psychological tactic. Is it meant to make the target of the insult regress?
And why is it an insult?

The insult is meant to make the target feel bad but it seems to show more of a infantile expression by the aggressor.
Is the aggressor expressing their own infantile issues?


I saw a political campaign commercial that displayed their opponents as babies. The person who made this commercial lost the race.

[Ami]

I'm wondering what is the psychology behind the use of sarcastic baby-talk. What do you think?

Examples:  "Does poor little baby-waby need a blankie"  "Does cry-baby want their mommy"  "Oh, baby has an oweee, a little boo-boo"  "Oh boo hoo hoo, boo hoo hoo"  "Whaaaaaah"


Has anyone out there heard this from a Narcissist adult?

Have you ever said this to anyone, and if so why? What were you feeling when you said it?

It seems like a psychological tactic. Is it meant to make the target of the insult regress?
And why is it an insult?

The insult is meant to make the target feel bad but it seems to show more of a infantile expression by the aggressor.
Is the aggressor expressing their own infantile issues?


I saw a political campaign commercial that displayed their opponents as babies. The person who made this commercial lost the race.

Does it count if you do it to a dog?                                           Ami

[teartracks]

Hi Helen,

"Does poor little baby-waby need a blankie"  "Does cry-baby want their mommy"  "Oh, baby has an oweee, a little boo-boo"  "Oh boo hoo hoo, boo hoo hoo"  "Whaaaaaah"

Sarcastic is the key word right?

Don't know if sarcasm is a blatant marker for narcissism or not.  It is a type of aggression.  It's nearly impossible to use sarcasm or play practical jokes on people without someone or even a group feeling put down or the victim.  

Baby talk between consenting adults?  Doesn't work for me, but to each his own.   And please, not in public!!!!

tt

 

[Overcomer]

It is like the N is putting you down by treating you like a baby.  If you whine, they use the "are you a little baby?" sarcasm.  My mother is the queen of sarcasm.  She can be so mean and cruel that way...

[Portia]

Hi Helen

Is the aggressor expressing their own infantile issues?
I have no idea but I'd say the aggressor hasn't got the balls to be an adult and say what they really mean. They are too scared to articulate their thoughts/feelings. They're attempting to be superior and failing miserably. Have I ever done it? No idea. If I have, i probably felt awful afterwards, demeaned by my own actions. Can't remember having done it but I've witnessed it and that felt bad enough. And if anyone does it to children above a certain age, they need removing from children. Just my opinion.

[Hopalong]

I think it's a particularly ugly (and childish) form of aggression, and couldn't agree more w/Portia.

Petty, bullying, just...ugly.

Hops

[Portia]

made a mistake:
And if anyone does it to children above a certain age

No! For any children at all, at any age - sarcasm is not okay at all. It's abusive. Glad that's clear.

[Meh]

I wanted to put one last comment here:

After I posted this, I rented the movie "August Rush". Maybe this was a synchronistic choice or just coincidence. Whatever the case may be the movie August Rush is about a little boy who is put up for adoption and tries to find his parents. While he is in the orphanage there is a scene where other kids come to him and talk "baby talk" to him and demand that he admits to them that his parents are dead. He refuses. He will not say it to the bullies that his parents are dead.

So I think what I was getting at is: I think the baby talk is suppose to induce intense fear by reminding a person of one of the most primal fears ever "abandonment". Or maybe it is a primal reminder of the helplessness that an infant has.
That's my theory. Ok, I will let go of the topic now....

I'm guessing abandonment and death are the two most intense primal fears ever.

[Gaining Strength]

oooh - I have to write without reading more than parts of the first post.

This really struck a nerve - a memory.
Boy, I had forgotten - but did I ever hear enough of this from my brothers.  I just shake my head at how often this was done to me and how willing my parents were to allow it.

Great post! 

[DOBA]

My experience with NH is when he uses sarcastic baby talk, he is communicating 2 things.  1. I am NOT his equal!  He is clearly in power over me and discounts and disrespects me.  2. Since he is using baby talk, he is NOT accountable or responsible for the drivel and nonsense that he spews, because "He's just kidding."  I'm NOT kidding.  Grow a set and learn to communicate like the grown up you're SUPPOSED to be or do not talk to me at all.  I hope this is not too harsh, these are the internal tapes I play while maintaining a blank expression and nonreactive front to hubby during these "cute" discussions.  Just my experience....

[Meh]

Hey, DOBA!

Thanks for your response describing a Nar-adult using sarcastic baby talk.
I'm actually enjoying your "harsh" comments about your H. It's making me smile. I like the "drivel" part.

[JustKathy]

Hi Helen,

My N mom never used *sarcastic* baby talk, but did use regular baby talk all her life. When we were in our 30s and 40s, she would continue to use baby talk as part of normal conversation. For example, going to the bathroom was "making a poo poo," and so on. I always figured that it was one more way to try and force us to remain children. After my sister, brother, and I grew up, we were never treated as adults.

I was the eldest of her three children, and my NM started wigging out on me when I became a teenager. She was completely unable to handle the loss of control . . . a child growing up and developing independent thoughts. She tried to keep me a child, sheltering me from things teenagers did, cutting my hair in a childlike style, buying clothes that looked like they were designed for a young child. I always felt that the continued baby talk was another form of control, and part of her refusal to acknowledge that the child who was never supposed to grow up, did.

Kathy

[bearwithme]

You go DOBA!!


I'm compelled to respond to Helen.

Quite simply:  BULLY.  N's bully.  It was even said here, it's a childish tactic used on playgrounds by non other than, CHILDREN!!!!!!!!

N's are children.   N's are not adults.  They want to demean and denigrate others for control/power.  How befitting of them to use the sarcastic and mocking "baby talk!"  Wow, so intelligent aren't they?  Doesn't everyone want to talk like a baby to get their point across??  I know I do!!! Can't wait for the next chance I get to try it out!!!

All kidding aside, it's sick and I have never even felt the need to talk to someone that way.  Just thinking about doing it, feels very bizarre.

[Overcomer]

My mom?  Never with an audience.  The sarcasm, baby talk, abuse is ALWAYS when we are alone!

[sKePTiKal]

August Rush is a great movie for those of us with abandonment wounds. It has the happiest ending. (Didn't Robin Williams use sarcastic baby-talk with August??)

It's just a simple, emotional movie - no heavy intellectual "message" - and I cried buckets at the end.   
I guess because I know this isn't going to happen for me. I was just happy it happened for SOMEONE; that it was possible, even if just in a movie.

Same thing happened with Pan's Labryinth, tho' that one was also nail-bitingly scary, too.

It seems recently, there are quite a few movies that provide this kind of catharsis (and that have this subtext)... detoxifying crying... maybe we need a list of those?