Prince William said Ashley Cole had been 'naughty'. What a loaded word

For adults, it is full of nudge-nudge suggestion, while to call a child it is no longer acceptable
You naughty boy! Prince William jokes with Ashley Cole at St George's Park.
You naughty boy! Prince William jokes with Ashley Cole at St George's Park. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths

Opening the new England football academy in Burton-on-Trent Tuesday, Prince William reportedly warned Ashley Cole, the Chelsea defender currently under fire for tweeting his considered view that the FA were a #bunchoftwats, that if he continued to be "a naughty boy" he would end up having his Twitter account taken off him.

Interesting expression. Our future king used it in its modern, knowing incarnation: directed at an adult to signify a wry, possibly ironic understanding that their behaviour has not been altogether above reproach, that they have in some way overstepped the mark: "Who's been a naughty boy, then?" begs a "nudge, nudge".

Actual children, of course, may no longer be called "naughty". Despite the fact that the Oxford dictionaries give as an example of their primary definition of the word ("badly behaved; disobedient") the phrase "You've been a really naughty boy", any teacher or parent who uses it in this way today would be guilty of being naughty themselves.

For at least a decade, educationalists and child psychologists have been arguing that calling children "naughty" or "bad" in effect labels them, potentially damaging their self-esteem and adversely affecting their development. Children who are regularly told they are naughty will, the reasoning goes, eventually begin to believe that is what they are.

It's theoretically fine, on the other hand, to describe specific behaviour as naughty or bad; that way you label the act, not the child. So "What you did is very naughty" is largely considered OK; "You are naughty" is not. (Some creches, however, have banned the word altogether: "You did something silly" or "You made a bad choice" are preferred, and "the naughty step" has become "the thinking step".) Needless to say, the debate has angered the political-correctness-gone-mad brigade.

No such qualms, obviously, afflicted Sir Salman Rushdie – then plain Salman – when, as an advertising copywriter, he coined the slogan "Naughty ... but nice" to promote fresh cream cakes; the resulting TV commercials, starring the likes of Barbara Windsor and Les Dawson, were popular in the 70s and 80s.

But Rushdie's use of the word plays on the notion of guilty or illicit pleasure suggested by its second main definition. As the Oxford dictionaries again put it, "naughty" these days – perhaps mainly – means "mildly rude or indecent, typically because related to sex". Think Cosmo top tips, or Fifty Shades of Grey. In time, this secondary definition looks likely to supersede the primary. Which, applied to Ashley Cole, may not be entirely inappropriate.