Wonder if it's related to "picayune".

Language is a trap. I came across two black children wandering around a shop in America looking worried, and said (as I would in Ireland) "Have you lost your mammy, loves?" They glared at me and stormed off.

It was only later that I discovered that "mammy", a perfectly ordinary and friendly word for one's mother in Ireland, has racist connotations in America.

I still occasionally forget and use it to Americans, but I try not to.

If the word's going to hurt people and remind them of bad times, I'd steer clear of it. When *they* want to revive the word and rehabilitate it, that's time to start using it.

We call children sprogs and snappers in Ireland. And don't you call them kids in America?