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Reader question: Please explain “kid gloves” in this sentence – Saudis treat pilgrims with kid gloves. My comments: It means that the Saudis treat pilgrims nicely, not rudely or roughly. “Kid gloves” is an age-old idiom referring to fine gloves made from a kid’s kin. The “kid” here, of course, has nothing to do with children. “Kid” originally referred to a young goat. This meaning was first recorded from circa 1200, according to Online Etymology Dictionary. Its extended meaning of “child” was “first recorded as slang in 1599, established in informal usage by 1840s.” Anyways, before any children were involved, kidskin had been widely used for making extra fine leather gloves. Therefore, if you handle something (fragile) or someone (sensitive) with kid gloves, you treat them gently and with special care in order to avoid causing damage or offense. Obviously the pilgrims, millions of Muslims from around the world to visit Mecca every year, are a sensitive issue to Saudi Arabia. Therefore the Saudis are said to be handling the matter with “kid gloves”, that is, carefully and tactfully, in order to avoid diplomatic or religious controversy. Alright, here are more media examples of the phrase “kid glove”: 1. Media observers note that the president often gets kid-glove treatment from the press, fellow Democrats and, particularly, interest groups on the left — Bush’s loudest critics, Obama’s biggest backers. | 
