Is it common to call a child “sport”?

25 comments

1. I wouldn’t call it common. These days its more often used in a patronizing or antagonizing way to annoy someone.

   I wouldn’t think anything of a dad calling his son “sport,” but other names are way more common.

   Its just a pet/nickname. No idea where it came from.

2. Not anymore. It’s really old fashion and I would be surprised to hear anyone use it except as a joke or an insult to intentionally infantilize someone.

3. According to https://www.etymonline.com/word/sport it derives from Australia.

4. It’s nowhere near as common as it used to be.

5. My grandfathers used to call me sport sometimes. It’s something that old people used to say. I don’t think anyone says that anymore though.

6. No, not common. My dad who was born in the 1920s would use it to greet a boy he didn’t know his name. Same with Butch.

   I can find reference to it being used the same way back into the 1800s, but also a stranger in a very casual setting.

   “Hey Sport, gotta an extra smoke?”

7. Maybe in the 1950s

8. Only if you’re 1000 years old

9. I thought that was a British thing.

10. The only time I have heard anyone use “sport,” it was sarcastic, usually when someone was getting a dressing-down.

11. You can call your coworkers that if you feel like starting a fight

12. It’s something I feel like you see in media from the 50s as slang. So people using it then would be somewhere between 90 and 140 years old today.

13. Common? No. I associate it with Jay Gatsby calling everyone “old sport” in *The Great Gatsby*, a book that was written almost 100 years ago.

14. In the 40s sure

15. Maybe a hundred years ago

16. Have never heard that in real life. I feel like it’s more of a Hollywood movie/show thing at this point. I’m sure they did back in the “old days”.

17. It’s pretty old fashioned but nothing I would raise an eyebrow at.

18. This is pretty much never used anymore.

19. Not very common these days. Maybe someone’s jokey old uncle or grandpa might say it.

20. If you’re a character in a 1950s period drama? Yes. Otherwise? No.

21. Unless you’re quoting the Great Gatsby, only really old people say it.

22. It’s old-fashioned but I wouldn’t be surprised if I heard it.

23. In the 1950’s

24. They are hunted more for their meat and hide than for sport.

25. maybe if you’re a 90 year old man