Neil Ashby Aug 8, 2013:

Slang is very regional I think we can all safely agree that slang terms are very regional, the same term in different areas can have a different 'weight' or even meaning....

Ryan Becker Aug 5, 2013:

I again want to point out that this child has been sexually abused. One of the common signs that a child has been sexually abused is the use of adult language and words that are not age appropriate.

spanruss (asker) Aug 5, 2013:

I will add that I have seen similar interviews with children around the ages of 4-7 who actually use the Spanglish "pi pi".

Julie Thurston Aug 5, 2013:

But you're right James I think "pee pee and "wee wee" are as far as a female would go in describing "that area", the rest I think were invented by men, never, never, dare I write it.........beaver.

James A. Walsh Aug 5, 2013:

I think an important aspect of... "pee-pee" or "wee-wee" is that it indicates where urine comes from, so can't be mistaken for anything else "down there".

spanruss (asker) Aug 5, 2013:

You may be right, Julie. I think boys have more of a fixation with that area when they are younger. Hence, they have numerous names for their genitalia. However, girls seem to gravitate toward the mystery of it all, and prefer not to speak any name aloud (generally speaking of course). In fact, popular women's magazines still often use "down there", and many women seem to steer clear of colloquial terms. There are probably hundreds of adult slang terms for "penis", while I'm sure there are comparatively few for "vagina" (and men are probably the ones who came up with those words). So this definitely points toward different gender attitudes (of all ages) toward coming up with nomenclature.

Julie Thurston Aug 5, 2013:

I think an eight year old girl in this situation might just say "down there"

Simon Bruni Aug 5, 2013:

Having lived in Spain I would say 'chocho' is not especially vulgar, more humorous, and certainly used for children, along with 'chichi'.

Ryan Becker Aug 5, 2013:

I think that it is important that we keep in mind that this is a child of sexual abuse. While it may be uncommon for a normal child to use vulgar terms, a victim of sexual abuse is more likely to be exposed to inappropriate terms for their age. While we may hope an 8 year old would have a special term for their privates, this may be a case of a child using a vulgar term.

James A. Walsh Aug 5, 2013:

@spanruss Very valid point. Tricky one. I'd say either "pee-pee" or "wee-wee" would be your safest bet then. My sisters used to refer to it as their "fairy", but I don't think that's very common...

spanruss (asker) Aug 5, 2013:

Good suggestion, James. I thought of that before. However, I think there is a problem with that. "Private" implies early on that the child already understands the "off-limits" aspect of genitalia to some degree and depicts an attitude toward it that simply isn't present in the word. Such a non-existent attitude could be misinterpreted in a legal forum. Social workers are very cautious about how the entire process is handled.

James A. Walsh Aug 5, 2013:

How about... ..."private parts" or "privates"?

Simon Bruni Aug 5, 2013:

Agreed, fanny is the normal child-friendly term in the UK, no idea about US. '"cooter"?

spanruss (asker) Aug 5, 2013:

Agreed, lorenab23. What would an 8-year-old girl call it? I know boys often say "pee-pee" for penis, but I'm not sure if girls would for vagina.

spanruss (asker) Aug 5, 2013:

Country of origin unknown, but this was in the US, in Texas. The child is eight years old.

lorenab23 Aug 5, 2013:

Although chocho may mean beaver in US English, I do not know of any little girl that would use beaver to refer to her private parts. Beaver is used by adults in a very vulgar context. I think that here we need something that a little girl would actually say...

George Rabel Aug 5, 2013:

Country please! When posting questions that involve slang terms, it is extremely important to provide the country or place of the target audience. Sexual organs have MANY different slang names, depending on the country.