what is ´boy´ in turkish?

is it ´erkek´?   or   ´oğlan´?

I would say erkek çocuk if you want to put an emphasis on the gender..

The boy catches the ball..  Çocuk topu yakalıyor/yakalar.

In this case you can just say çocuk(child), you don´t need to point out that he is a boy=) cuz if it is "the girl catches the ball, you would say "kız topu yakalıyor", so the subject changes.

But in cases like they´ve had a beautiful baby boy.. "Çok güzel bir erkek çocukları oldu." then you will need to say "erkek çocuk"...

I am not sure about oğlan.. I´ve come across a discussion about it once and people say that it is also used in a bad meaning..  Not sure what it is I forgot..

Mind you I´m not a native=) so I would wait for some Turkish native speakers to either correct me or explain it to you in a different way=)

thanks for the reply

yes, ive heard that it can mean something else in a bad way but wasnt sure because it said ´oğlan´ on the livemocha site