Of those adult children who live at home, 30% don't work at all and 49% are in full-time employment. Of those in work, 58% live at home rent-free and only one-third are charged rent, averaging at (pounds) 95 per month. While this may be a testimony to good parenting skills, now that raising our children is taking on epic proportions it is important that the communal living space should work smartly around the generations. These three properties all come with strong kipper potential which demands generously proportioned rooms, a hub-of-the-house kitchen and ample parking space.
—Heather Macleod, "3 of a kind," The Herald, December 3, 2003
The combination of high property prices and laziness has left many parents with the surprise — one that is not always welcome — of finding their thirtysomething children are not in a rush to leave.
And who are they? They are "kippers", an acronym for "kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings", according to the survey from the Prudential, the financial services group.
—Becky Barrow, "Parents pay up as 'kippers' refuse to sever home ties," The Daily Telegraph, November 17, 2003
This word is usually seen in plural form since the phrase on which it's based — kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings — works best with "kids" rather than "kid." In any case, it all feels a bit forced, but the media have lapped it up, so the word may be here to stay (at least in countries that are familiar with the traditional meaning of
kipper: a smoked herring, often eaten at breakfast).
Silly as this acronym may be, the image it conjures up of children taking their parents' retirement savings illustrates that at least some parents resent their children hanging around the nest. This is also evidenced by some of the synonyms for such children, including parasite singles and slops, singles living off parents.
