“Kid gloves” refers to the need for extra care when handling fragile or sensitive objects or situations. The term originated from the soft skin of kid leather gloves favored by the upper class in the 1800s. It can also refer to difficult customers or situations that require tact and respect. Critics may suggest that the kid gloves need to come off in situations that are being handled too delicately.
When something or someone needs to be treated with kid gloves, that means extra care is needed. The term can be used to talk about a fragile or expensive object, or a situation that needs to be treated with tact and respect. It can also be used directly to refer to specific people, such as customers who are notoriously difficult to handle, suggesting that they need to be treated delicately to avoid a scene. The colloquial term can also be used pejoratively, to imply mollycoddling, or overly careful handling.
The origins of the term date back to at least the 1800s. Kid gloves are gloves made from kid skin, the super-soft skin of a kid. Soft gloves were favored by members of the upper class, especially women, in the 1800s because they protected the hands while being soft and comfortable to wear. Since most of polite society wore gloves in the 1800s, finding gloves that were comfortable and stylish was very important. The soft gloves would also have felt gentle on the hands of others, reinforcing the idea that the wearer had smooth, touchable skin.
In the early 1800s, kid leather gloves began to be strongly associated with nobility and the elegant upper class. Part of this was because the gloves would be quite expensive and not very accessible to other members of society. But even kid gloves aren’t very practical for hard or serious work. Because many upper-class women in the 1800s projected a frail or feeble image that was reinforced by society, kid gloves were likely related to frailty and also a need for kindness.
The Oxford English Dictionary indicates that people were writing about the need to handle something with kid gloves by the 1830s, but the term may have been in circulation earlier. In the sense of a person or group of people, the term often refers to a potentially sensitive or volatile situation. If the situation is treated with kid gloves, it can be easily and pleasantly defused for everyone. Fragile items, of course, require gentle handling or they will break.
When critics of a situation believe it’s being handled too delicately, they may suggest that the kid gloves need to come off. This is often the case with complex political situations that are not handled directly and appropriately. A critic of such a situation might suggest that it is being treated with kid gloves due to political concerns such as a desire to keep trade rights, to save face, or to hold a position in office.
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