Crotch Goblin

About

Crotch Goblin is a slang term used by internet users to refer to children. Use of the term "crotch goblin" as a means to refer to kids can be traced as far back as the mid-2000s on the internet and is often heavily associated with "cringe" millennial or Reddit lingo.

Origin

The exact first appearance of the term online is unknown, but it began appearing as early as the mid-2000s. On September 28th, 2005, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Juke Joint Jezebel posted the earliest known definition of the term "crotch goblin," defining it as "A child. Also known as crotch spawn, or runny nosed shrieking brat. Essentially, a baby or small child that is a whining little hell demon. Elementary schools and daycare centers abound with crotch goblins." The post gathered over 600 upvotes in 18 years (seen below).

Spread

Sporadic use of the term "crotch goblin" as a way to refer to children exists on X (formerly Twitter) as early as January and February 2010.^[2][3] On October 12th, 2010, a user on "Work Wasters"^[4] asked the question, "Should I be offended that my boyfriend called my unborn baby a crotch goblin?" The user received a range of responses, with responses mostly acknowledging that the statement should be taken as a joke (examples shown below).

On January 30th, 2019, Redditor^[6] Freddie83 posted a meme to the /r/memes subreddit that used the word "crotch goblins," gathering over 1,000 upvotes in four years (seen below, left). On December 27th, a now-deleted Reddit^[5] post to /r/starterpack centered around "Crotch Goblins," gathering over 2,300 upvotes in four years (seen below, left).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References