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six person-month
2 ct bottles
Dec 21, 2010 12:56
13 yrs ago
3 viewers *
English term

umbilical cord

English Other Education / Pedagogy Preschool education on childbirth
Anyone know of any easy-to-use English term for an umbilical chord for use in educational material for children. The text I have has a child adding a squiggle on the abdomen of Boticelli's Venus. When her mother asks her what the squiggle, the little one tells her it's the umbilical chord (although she doesn't say that at all; the original German was "Nabelschnur", which a three-year-old could handle very well; "umbilical chord" would be quite a mouthful for her english-speaking equivalent).
Responses
5 belly button
3 +2 navel string
3 +1 baby cord
Change log

Dec 21, 2010 13:13: Tony M changed "Term asked" from "umbilical chord" to "umbilical cord"

Discussion

British Diana Dec 27, 2010:
@Jaime It is very easy to press the wrong button, but it is also quite easy to put your mistake right.

You (and only you, the Asker, can do this) just have to put in a Support Request and ask for the change to be made.
Alternatively contact the Moderator and they will help you.
Jaime Hyland (asker) Dec 27, 2010:
I apologise sincerely. In a hurry over the Christmas, I simply pressed the wrong button.

I apologise to everyone affected
British Diana Dec 26, 2010:
Just for interest if your pal went for "baby chord" (sic) why does a different answer get the points?
JapanLegal Dec 21, 2010:
I agree with Kimberlee; I've never heard a kiddy version of "umbilical cord."
Suzan Hamer Dec 21, 2010:
I'm inclined to agree with Bashiqa and Sheila. It would depend on the rest of the text. Perhaps the child has heard her mother (or someone else) use the term. Perhaps someone has previously explained to her why everyone has a belly button and used the term... Perhaps she heard it on TV. Obviously she has heard about the concept someplace. No one says she pronounces it correctly; perhaps she even says something like "um-belly cord"... or "mum-belly cord"...?
Bashiqa Dec 21, 2010:
I would leave it as umbilical cord. It saves a lot of argument later on. Tummy button does not include the cord.
Sheila Wilson Dec 21, 2010:
a phrase rather than a word, perhaps? I can imagine a young child explaining it in more (but shorter) words, e.g. it's the string that came out of her tummy button
Kimberlee Thorne Dec 21, 2010:
For umbilical cord, I've never heard anything but just that. I can't remember growing up hearing anything but "belly button" for the hole and "umbilical cord" for what it really is. Moreover, can't seem to find a reference for anything but that either...
Tony M Dec 21, 2010:
tummy-button Something using tummy-button, I think; though when I was this age, we were protected from such unsavoury topics, and I would never have even known what one was until I was older, and could master 'umbilical cord' anyway!

I wanted to say 'tummy-button tube', but I doubt a child would appreciate that it is in fact a tube at all.

Poor Jack, fancy your never having heard 'tummy button'! — I wonder if it's a generation thing, or regional, or maybe class...? I know that my parents always considered the child's word 'tummy' to be acceptable, but 'belly' was considerd coarse / vulgar and reserved for meat...
Noni Gilbert Riley Dec 21, 2010:
Cord ;-)
Kimberlee Thorne Dec 21, 2010:
Misspelled - should be "cord" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbilical_cord

Responses

17 mins
Selected

belly button

This is what children commonly call it in the US.

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Note added at 4 days (2010-12-26 09:14:06 GMT) Post-grading
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Thanks Jaime!
Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navel

Peer comment(s):
neutral Paul Lambert : Belly button, sure. How about the cord? Assuming kids even know that a cord was once attached. My father told me that my belly button is there to keep my legs from falling off.
2 mins
agree Sheila Wilson : Tummy button for the UK. I think cord or string would work
8 mins
agree Jack Doughty : Even for UK, belly button is fine. I have never actually heard "tummy button".
22 mins
neutral Sabine Akabayov, PhD : but the child is not drawing the button itself but the cord. The Venus alrady has a belly button
1 hr
disagree British Diana : with simsab - button doesn't work here
6 hrs
disagree Budi Suryadi- : Umbilical Cord is only attached during pregnancy, and a short while after baby is born.
171 days
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks to all for all your help. My pal went for baby chord."
+2
3 mins
English term (edited): umbilical chord

navel string

One possibility
Peer comment(s):
agree Odette Tanase
6 mins
Thanks
neutral Tony M : I'm not convinced an EN child would use / know this expression either / I was basing myself on the 3-year-old mentioned by Asker
10 mins
Depends how old and what country he lives in. There are certain to be other possibilities.
agree Sabine Akabayov, PhD : belly botton wouldn't fit, since the Venus already has one and the German child is definitely drawing the cord and not the button
1 hr
Something went wrong...
+1
6 hrs

baby cord

I would imagine a three-year- old who had the idea of drawing an umbilical chord would have been told all about it, perhaps from having seen one still on a new-born younger sibling or from having been told the "facts of life" in full detail by modern parents.
I agree that a three-year-old might not remember the word "umbilical" but would associate it with a baby, so the word "baby chord" seems quite possible. .

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 hrs (2010-12-21 19:37:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.babycenter.com/400_should-i-bank-my-babys-cord-bl...

After writing this, I looked up "baby chord" on Google and saw that this IS the term used even for adults these days!
My CF would now be FIVE !
Peer comment(s):
agree Tony M : Apart from the fact that I always thought it was 'cord', I think this sounds a very suitable bet; as you say, this young artist must at least have a basic idea of what's going on... / Yes, perhaps B minor ?
8 mins
Yes indeed, sorry about my error, although the idea of a "chord" is somehow quite pleasing, it has a harmonious ring to it..
Something went wrong...
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