Eriksimon Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 In Dutch: een weerspannige tienerjongen... Hmm... Even in my parentlanguage I can't seem to find it. But I need it in English, so...: What would be the best adjective to describe a teenagers' reluctance to become an adult/responsible? The teenager I'm not looking for rebellious or (though it's closer) reluctant Not necessarily looking for funny, though I 'm not against it... Shiv? Posh words are fine, scientific (psychology) terms are also welcome, as a last resort. Prize: a nice word or phrase in Dutch (with translation). Thanks People! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 irresponsible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redlogic Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 From http://thesaurus.com/ Synonyms: afraid, averse, backward, calculating, cautious, chary, circumspect, demurring, diffident, discouraged, disheartened, disinclined, grudging, hanging back, hesitant, hesitating, indisposed, involuntary, laggard, loath, opposed, queasy, recalcitrant, remiss, shy, slack, slow, squeamish, tardy, uncertain, uneager, wary Can't help with the Dutch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Moth Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Maybe recalcitrant? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookatthisguy Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Typical. Seriously now, depending on the context (is said teenager trying to defy said responsibility, or just wary of it?), perhaps diffident? Though that doesn't necessarily flow very well if we're talking lyrics here… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) Thank you Redlogic. The small ones are 'rejects', the rest are either unknown to me (I'll go look 'm up in a minute) or they're candidates. Which one do you feel comes closest to what I attempted to describe? The afraid, averse, backward, calculating, cautious, chary, circumspect, demurring, diffident, discouraged, disheartened,disinclined, grudging, hanging back, hesitant, hesitating, indisposed, involuntary, laggard, loath, opposed, queasy, recalcitrant, remiss, shy, slack, slow, squeamish, tardy, uncertain, uneager or wary Teenager? Can't help with the Dutch. Not true! We have the word recalcitrant as well, exact same spelling, and probably one of the better candidates. In my experience it is close to if not synonymous with weerspannig. (= rebellious, exhibiting reluctance and resistance). Ah, I see BM has recalcitrant too. It is a strong candidate, though it may be too posh/pretentious? That may be more so in Dutch than in English though? What say the native English speaking? Maybe I should read the other rersponses first... Edited January 12, 2011 by Eriksimon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 Typical. Seriously now, depending on the context (is said teenager trying to defy said responsibility, or just wary of it?), perhaps diffident? Though that doesn't necessarily flow very well if we're talking lyrics here… Thank you. Should have said that. It's for a title. Two or three syllables would sound best I think/feel. That is why I am still hesitant about recalcitrant. Wary may be not bad, either... Stereotypical - six syllables is okay somehow... hmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 irresponsible? Thanks. But I feel irresponsibility is more the result of said teenagers' state of mind, not the state of mind itself. He's not of the I-don't-care type, which the word irresponsible suggests a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookatthisguy Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 'Loath' stuck out in my mind when I read it, though it doesn't really roll of the tongue as nicely either… I mean, if I heard that in a title, I'd expect it to be the name of a song Mel Brooks wrote for "The Producers," or sommit like that… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shivermetimbers Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 A title? To a book? A song? Trying to write about a stubborn/childish teenager and putting a descriptive title to it would be like writing a book about a yellow crayon and calling the book 'A Yellow Crayon.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 'Loath' stuck out in my mind when I read it, though it doesn't really roll of the tongue as nicely either… I mean, if I heard that in a title, I'd expect it to be the name of a song Mel Brooks wrote for "The Producers," or sommit like that… Loath to me means "being repelled", but "my" teenager is more like a Holden Caulfield type of guy, he is very capable of love, but very vulnerable and therefore (occasionally aggresively) defensive. So he does loath adult ways (their lack of true personal integrety), and yet he needs adulthood to understand and deal with this loathing. He refuses to become an adult until he understands it, but he can never understand it unless he becomes an adult. Something like that. Hmmm... I'll listen to the track again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Moth Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Rebel as noun,and teenage for the adjective? Or look up the Nadsat equivalent... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 A title? To a book? A song? Guess. Trying to write about a stubborn/childish teenager and putting a descriptive title to it would be like writing a book about a yellow crayon and calling the book 'A Yellow Crayon.' and another I do have some grasp of the obvious. Jeez, I'm being pretty grumpy. I even looked up keelhauling just now. Anyhow... I would call it "about a yellow crayon" I suppose. Or The Crayon in the Rye But it is not about a yellow crayon. The singer is the yellow crayon, he doesn't sing about the yellow crayon, his yellowcrayonness is evident from the fact that he behaves, laments like a yellow crayon. Yes, it is about me. 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Moth Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Spoogy Malchick. http://www.soomka.com/nadsat.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shivermetimbers Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Yes, it is about me. 8) So now we are getting somewhere. http://www.medilexicon.com/images/pages/choice_and_directions_signs.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shivermetimbers Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 de stomme ezel tiener Ik ben gewoon een stomme ezel tiener Ik ben gewoon een tiener leeftijd stomme ezel 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 Rebel as noun,and teenage for the adjective? Or look up the Nadsat equivalent... Thank you. 1. Nice idea, but it may get a bit of a judgmental flavour that way, that is not what I'm after, I think... I'm not completely excluding it though... 2. There is no link to youth culture in the song. It wouldn't 'fit'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 de stomme ezel tiener Ik ben gewoon een stomme ezel tiener Ik ben gewoon een tiener leeftijd stomme ezel 8) Honk! Teenage Tantrum, midlife crisis - ironically similar... But what did you do here? I admit it eludes me... are you Dutch? Or is it a web translation of some sort? I cannot "reverse engineer" it... Am I on "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" online? Are you in fact Phil Jupitus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Torres Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Here's another one: wayward [ˈweɪwəd] adj 1. wanting to have one's own way regardless of the wishes or good of others 2. capricious, erratic, or unpredictable [changed from awayward turned or turning away] Sounds like a freaking teenager to me! J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 Thanks J., I like the overall sound of the word, it has poetic qualities, and it does get closer to that Holden Caulfield thing... lots to chew on... about real teenagers: I have a son who's now 15, and he is wonderful. Though I am an atheist, I thank God for this boy. He's sensitive, calm, intelligent, creative and open. I'm blessed. And I haven't even mentioned my 10 year old daughter... aka "The Cuteness", who's the lead "singer" on this old track, my "greatest hit": O baby baby by Artflywork Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Jackson Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 (edited) Though I am an atheist, I thank God for this boy. Wow! That one definitely gets the award for best oxymoron. Vastly overshadows even this..... Edited January 13, 2011 by Scott Jackson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookatthisguy Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 +.5 for "wayward." ( +1 because I find it poetic and fitting, -.5 because it feels a little overdone/used, though that may just be my kid brother's copy of Guitar Hero talking) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 Though I am an atheist, I thank God for this boy. 1. No oxymoron. God is a concept... 8) 2. No oxymoron. "Though..." 3. No oxymoron. God is a metaphore, especially for atheists... 4. No oxymoron, concious choice of words; poëtic license. Hmmm... look who's being recalcitrant now Erik... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Jackson Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 1. No oxymoron. God is a concept... 8) 2. No oxymoron. "Though..." 3. No oxymoron. God is a metaphore, especially for atheists... 4. No oxymoron, concious choice of words; poëtic license. Atheism, in a broad sense, is the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.[1] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.[2] Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist.[3] Atheism is contrasted with theism,[4] which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists.[5][6] One cannot thank something or someone that does not exist. Even if you have a valid, non expired Poetic License. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 1. No oxymoron. God is a concept... 8) 2. No oxymoron. "Though..." 3. No oxymoron. God is a metaphore, especially for atheists... 4. No oxymoron, concious choice of words; poëtic license. Atheism, in a broad sense, is the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.[1] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.[2] Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist.[3] Atheism is contrasted with theism,[4] which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists.[5][6] One cannot thank something or someone that does not exist. Even if you have a valid, non expired Poetic License. Hey bulldog! I can thank whatever I like. You see, wikipedia is no law, I am a free man, I can define the word God for me personally. Everybody can. Everybody does. Oh, and atheism is the belief that no deities exist... Full circle. http://kadowinkel.kadovanhetjaar.nl/img/5/20/1.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shivermetimbers Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 God is all things ... and that includes being an Atheist. Don't ask me, it's a mystery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synthpreset Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 (edited) Here's another one: wayward [ˈweɪwəd] adj 1. wanting to have one's own way regardless of the wishes or good of others 2. capricious, erratic, or unpredictable [changed from awayward turned or turning away] Sounds like a freaking teenager to me! J. Wayward suggests its about a lack of direction or inconsistency, a prior failure at previous responabilities. It not a positive characterization. An equally poetic and perhaps more appopriate would be the word "headstrong." Edited June 25, 2011 by synthpreset Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nublu Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 But it is not about a yellow crayon. The singer is the yellow crayon, he doesn't sing about the yellow crayon, his yellowcrayonness is evident from the fact that he behaves, laments like a yellow crayon.Yes, it is about me. 8) Have I got this right Eric? The lead singer is revealing his "teenage" nature by the way he sings the song with the phrases he chooses? If that is the case I am not sure he'd be using one word to describe his condition. Hmm......, a person whose physical, emotional, mental, cognizant state is dynamically (sometimes turbulently) evolving.... who's hesitant in the face of a lot of changing, not fully grasped natural, social, economic conditions and as-yet-to-be revealed life-factors... and knowing that some of this is crap, and is coming from scheming weasels, but not yet knowledgable about what to do about it... and "I have a good situation now, why would I mess with it"... and "all those "adults" who are telling be to grow up secretly wish they could be as irresponsible as me".... How about lo^$!#ve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickenbacker360 Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 The forever teenager. Or if you need more syllables and a nice fun thing to sing: The forever-ever teenager Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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