as "General
Tom Thumb" circa 1861 (under
P.T. Barnum)
Merriam-Webster states that the first use of the term "midget" was in 1816. Midgets have always been popular entertainers but were often regarded with
disgust and
revulsion in society. In the early 19th century, midgets were romanticized by the middle class and regarded with the same affectionate condescension extended to children, as creatures of innocence. The term "midget" came into prominence in the mid-19th century after
Harriet Beecher Stowe used it in her novels
Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands and
Old Town Folks where she described children and an extremely short man, respectively.
P. T. Barnum helped popularize the term "midget" when he began featuring
General Tom Thumb,
Lavinia Warren and
Commodore Nutt in his
circus. "Midget" became linked to referring to short people put on public display for curiosity and sport. Such performances continued to be widespread through the middle part of the twentieth century, with
Hermines Midgets brought from their performances in Paris to appear at the
1939 New York World's Fair, the same year that
MGM released
The Wizard of Oz, which featured 124 little people in its cast, most of whom were from the
Singer's Midgets troupe.
Controversy When interviewed for a 1999 piece, performers engaged in
midget wrestling stated that they did not view the term as derogatory but merely descriptive of their small size. Others disagreed, with one stating that the performances themselves perpetuated an outdated and demeaning image. Towards the end of the 20th century, some people began to consider the term
pejorative when referring to people with dwarfism. Others, such as actor
Hervé Villechaize, continued to self-identify as "midgets". There have been movements to remove the use of the word "midget" from age classification categories in youth sports, with
Hockey Canada announcing that it would refer to the division as "U18" in 2020 as part of a wider renaming scheme. In the United Kingdom,
Liverpool Hope University academic Dr. Erin Pritchard complained that the word midget, considering its etymology and use as a slur (often referred to by people with dwarfism as "the M-word"), was offensive to people with
dwarfism and campaigned to have it removed from the name of the confection
Midget Gems.
Marks & Spencer became the first retailer to rename their product, adopting the name Mini Gems. Other brands started to follow suit over the following months and years. Dr. Pritchard then petitioned to have the Midget pub in
Abingdon-on-Thames—named after a vehicle produced by
MG Cars, which was formerly based locally—renamed. In 2024, the pub's owners,
Greene King, renamed it the Roaring Raindrop, after another MG Cars model. However, this decision was controversial and led to a counter-petition to keep the old name. == Mascots ==