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Lyrics: English language question


Eriksimon

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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!

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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.

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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 by Eriksimon
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Typical. :wink:

 

 

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...

 

 

:idea:Stereotypical - six syllables is okay somehow... hmm...

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'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...

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A title? To a book? A song?

:roll:

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 :roll: I do have some grasp of the obvious.

 

Jeez, I'm being pretty grumpy. I even looked up keelhauling just now. :mrgreen:

 

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. :oops: 8)

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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'.

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de stomme ezel tiener

 

 

Ik ben gewoon een stomme ezel tiener

 

 

Ik ben gewoon een tiener leeftijd stomme ezel

 

 

:mrgreen: 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?

:mrgreen:

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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

1248725848_pic2011-01-13at00_29_54.png.1103bf513f93cd8ac5653123b62e3725.png

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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... :oops:

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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.

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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

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  • 5 months later...
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! :twisted:

 

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 by synthpreset
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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. :oops: 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.

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  • 3 years later...

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