Recently, Tori Roloff and her family stepped away from the drama. There are more important things in life than feuds and reality TV.
Speaking of her precious little family, Tori also shared 6-year-old Jackson’s back-to-school look.
He and 3-year-old sister Lilah both looked all dressed up.
But Tori’s caption rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Did she just insult her kids? Why?
Before we get into the backlash, can we talk about how precious Tori Roloff’s Instagram Story photo was this week?
She shows Jackson in a powder blue, collared shirt and little khaki pants. We can’t get over his outer space print backpack!
And then Lilah looks downright adorable while wearing a carnation pink blouse alongside black leggings. Check out her little bow!
“Picture day for these goons!” was Tori’s caption on the photo.
Now, she included a series of smiling face emojis. So no one thinks that Tori was, like, just spewing insults at her kids.
But as much as her fans and followers adored the photo of her adorable children … what’s up with the nickname?
So, naturally, Little People, Big World fans took to Reddit to discuss Tori’s unexpected turn of phrase.
“What the what… building healthy self-esteem, one social media post at a time!” one redditor mocked.
A commenter contributed: “I’m Scottish and here it means a stupid person/not very clever person, it’s an insult not a playful name.”
Just for the record, “goon” does not really hold that meaning in the United States.
Here, it is more likely to refer to, say, henchmen or minions. It’s not a compliment, but is only mildly derogatory at most.
We can acknowledge that there is another meaning for “goon.” Given that usage’s sexual nature, we’ll just skip over it. Tori doesn’t mean it that way.
Another observed that Tori’s nickname for her two eldest kids seemed especially insensitive.
“I don’t like it,” the redditor expressed, “and it feels even worse since they are little people.”
And another admitted: “Ergh this just feels wrong. I winced inwardly when I saw that.”
To be blunt … a lot of families just have nicknames. Unless it’s a slur or a real, actual insult, it’s probably fine.
To Tori, this could be the equivalent of calling them a “silly goose.” That is certainly what her tone suggests.
Also? Geese are terrifying, aggressive beasts with teeth on their tongues. In that context, “goon” seems much gentler.
