Teenagers

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I suppose this is slightly premature, since I am still a teenager for 6 months, but anyway. I keep noticing recently that teenagers can be complete bastards. I saw some loitering round the back of the house today in someone's driveway and thought to myself 'bloody teenagers!'. I think it when I see them in town as well, drinking underage like, well, we all used to. At what point did you realise your teenage years were probably spent being surly and miserable and spotty and what was your reaction?

Bill, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I was just surprised at the speed with which I realised that teenagers = stupid. (Well, mostly).

Bill, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I found myself continually shocked by the modern hits I hear on the radio, such as that "Oh My" song. Kids don't need to hear that! Oh, I guess this doesn't really answer your question; just makes me look old.

Samantha, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

My teenage years would have been vastly improved if I'd been able to hear "Oops (Oh My)" on the radio instead of "18 And Life" or "Talk Dirty To Me".

Dan Perry, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Kids don't need to hear that!

Considering a Surgeon-General had to give up the job after pointing out masturbation was nothing to be ashamed of, where else are they going to hear it?

Ned Raggett, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

yeah, all those songs about fucking and doing drugs warped me beyond belief in high school. i -wish- i had a song about jerking off back then! (no, the divinyls don't count.)

jess, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Give it two months and I'll be thinking "bloody under-43s! They don't know they're born!"

I'm trying to remember to describe things (like these computers) as "new-fangled" and I'm trying to find somewhere that were all fields when I were a lad.

Martin Skidmore, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

For me it was when my parents and friends of the family felt aboe to say to me "Mark, when you were 15/16/whatever, you were a right surly, difficult, taciturn bugger".

Mark C, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I think through most of my teenage years I probably thought that teenagers were stupid. However I am not one now so it doesn't worry me. I think that, also, during university I thought that almost all students were stupid and irritating. As you can tell, I'm an easy guy to get along with....

Ally C, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Teenagers are horrible.

Graham, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Time for us (not just jess) to direct some hatred.

Honda, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

here

Honda, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I didn't like teenagers when I was a teenager. I do not recommend this as a way to go, it doesn't make being a teen any more tolerable or pleasant.

They actually don't bother me as much now, even the ones that come off as annoying seem more silly than anything.

Nicole, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Not all teenagers are horrible! Yes there are the annoying ones (usually boys) with their hoodies pulled down over their faces and their Colt45s and the fake tanned mallrats but they are no more horrible than the 20 something college dude who thinks he's so smart cos his philopshy prof had him read a couple of books and now he knows EVERYTHING and thinks he's a communist. There's always one at a house party where he's the oldest one there and he thinks he's so beyond all the juvenile behaviour but it's so pathetic cos he'd try to get down your pants in a second. Worse is your dad's 30-something bachelor friend who, after a couple drinks, tries to be all hip "so, do you do drugs? you can tell me" and "ha ha, my music was so much better than these Backalley Boys!" with you.

Evangeline, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to sound snotty and 'ALL ages are horrible'! I blame Home Truths.

Evangeline, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

the 20 something college dude who thinks he's so smart cos his philopshy prof had him

I like the idea that this is all of the sentence one needs.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 15 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

see the trick with teenages is to keep their mouths full.

Queen G, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"18 and Life" and "Talk Dirty To Me" are two of the best songs ever written.

I hated being a teenager. But now I'm in my mid 20's, I'm not so sure.

jel --, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I dislike when teenagers criticise other teenagers. I mean "all people my age suck" is about as annoying as all the reasons you might want to say "all people my age suck".

So eh......yeah some teenagers are great and others are bad. SHOCKER!

Ronan, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I was a lovely & perfect teenager and my mum had a big go at me since my immaculate behaviour meant that they weren't prepared for my brother's uberteenaged behaviour (mind you he still communicates with them in grunts so there you go). However not getting it out of my system in my teenage years means that I have VAST AMOUNTS of pent up fury to work through in my 20s. Grrr.

Emma, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

/me offers Emma hanle y's head on a platter

Mark C, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I bet my brother is more of an uberteenager than your brother! Nyah!

Bill, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I dislike when teenagers criticise other teenagers. I mean "all people my age suck" is about as annoying as all the reasons you might want to say "all people my age suck".

Yeah, my friends ect are alright, but then I was despairing at the stuff scrawled on the waiting room wall in the railway station. It's a stereotype thing: "Teenagers" are horrible.

Graham, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

No I wasn't having a go, not at all...

Ronan, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

The greatest video-gaming related joke I told in 1995: "Yo, what does Scottie Pippen have on his toast? NBA Jam."

Ramosi, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Fuck it......I'm not a teenager anymore so I should stop asking people to refer to me as 1. Chauncey Diggs. 2. Dodge Ram. 3. "Irish" Tommy Lopez.

Ramosi, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I realized it a few months ago because my family hated me because I was surly and miserable and spotty (it was surly that bothered them most). I blame it on SCHOOL but cannot be bothered to hate everyone and eerything as they'd be likely to hate me back.

Maria, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

yeah no-one hates teenagers like a 20 year old ...

, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

you should try working in a high school. then you'll feel the hatred of these intolerable creatures too.

di, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

When I lived in south London the worst group of teenagers used to hang around at the top of my road, all bad gel, white Reeboks and Ratners gold. One day, struggling home from work knackered, I was greeted by:

"Awight dawlin'? Can I have you for this evening if give you a fiver?"

"Why has the babysitter cancelled on your mum?"

I'd reached the end of the road before they worked out what I'd said. It wasn't even the best comeback.

Anna, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I think the 'high' point of my teenage years was standing in the unbuilt basement of my house in the evening, my mother and I having coincidentally run into each other both rolling drunk: 'Fuck you ...!,' 'No ... fuck you ...!' 'Yeah ... fuck you!' 'Fuck you!' 'Fuck you!' Meaning it, but both kind of sniggering helplessly, realising that ridiculously, neither of us would be able to summon better epithets.

maryann, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

three years pass...
Dog whistle' to control youths.

When someone told me about this yesterday I thought it was a joke. How do under-12s not hear it, anyway?

Alba (Alba), Thursday, 16 February 2006 10:23 (eighteen years ago) link

This was mentioned elsewhere I think.

"The traditional methods of dispersal were not working"

What are these traditional methods?

I figure it could cause more aggressive behaviour in some cases. If the YOBBOES know the shop guy is trying to stop them loitering outside they might get even more lairy and smash the windows.

Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Thursday, 16 February 2006 11:01 (eighteen years ago) link

It is kinda asking for retribution. An arms race, as it were.

tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Thursday, 16 February 2006 11:16 (eighteen years ago) link

(By which I mean, teenagers particularly can be very stubborn and strong-headed)

tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Thursday, 16 February 2006 11:17 (eighteen years ago) link

I prefer the 'pipe out classical music' idea.

Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Thursday, 16 February 2006 11:38 (eighteen years ago) link

"Area youths completely destroyed Harold Buntingtons' fromagerie early today when he attempted to disperse them buy blaring an annoying sound."

Mr Jones (Mr Jones), Thursday, 16 February 2006 11:43 (eighteen years ago) link

nine years pass...

was thinking about teenagers when a hs classmate of mine posted a pic of her 13 year old kid with the caption "stop growing up so fast!"
i was 13 when i met her, and to think that one of our moms would have publicly published a school pic with that caption -- i would have literally died of embarrassment. i'm sure kids today feel differently, right? i have no idea. are 13 year olds cool with that these days?

Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Saturday, 25 April 2015 23:23 (eight years ago) link

i sure do see a lot of photos with parents and kids (well, moms and daughters, tbh) where they're cheek-to-cheek at a high school football game, and the caption is something like BFF!

I don't know what's happening anymore.

pplains, Sunday, 26 April 2015 04:31 (eight years ago) link

x-post- Some kids are not FB friends with their parents and do not see that stuff. While they might be embarrassed by it, as long as their friends don't see it, they can probably ignore it.

curmudgeon, Sunday, 26 April 2015 14:27 (eight years ago) link

between the caption, the photo itself, and having known the mom when we were 13 i still can't help it -- i'm appalled on the daughter's behalf! if my mom had the impulse to do that i would have been furious. my real first thought when i saw it was that if my mom posted that i would want to grow up ASAP so she would stop telling me to stop growing up so fast. too late, already there! that clearly says more about my oppositional nature than it does about the actual thing that happened though.

Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Sunday, 26 April 2015 14:45 (eight years ago) link

I don't know your situation so I do not mean to diminish it. But I do not think it is that unusual for parents of 13-year-olds to wish their young teens were still younger and not growing up. I am not saying this was ok, just that it is fairly normal I think (says this parent of a kid now older than 13). I think many kids would dismiss this with an eye-roll; or if really mad, would quickly vent at the parent and to friends and then move on to more important things

curmudgeon, Sunday, 26 April 2015 15:14 (eight years ago) link

Every adult in my life has been saying that to every child in my life since I was a child, iirc. Variations on, "You better put a brick on her head [to keep her from growing any more]" were common.

Maybe this is worse bc you remember how she would have felt about that at 13 and now she's become that mom! But in general I think it's p norm?

Orson Wellies (in orbit), Sunday, 26 April 2015 15:27 (eight years ago) link

Yeah I think I grew up under more public scrutiny than anyone I knew at the time so I have a weird and deeply ingrained viewpoint when it comes to public/private and parental relationships. When people (never my parents) told me to stop growing up (or noted how much I had grown with a sense of sadness) all I could imagine was a living hell in which I was a puny child forever and never got to make any decisions for myself, permanently stuck like a pet or something. I realize that it is quite normal for ppl to say this, and my disgust is compounded by this particular woman and her use of her kids as props for her skin care products (she makes the boy pose for before/after photos to show how well her natural skin care products took care of his acne)

Anyway it's really weird to see people I only knew when I was a teenager (ppl I went to hs with and basically never saw again) have their own teenagers and what cliches they latch onto. It's interesting I guess.

Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Sunday, 26 April 2015 15:47 (eight years ago) link

this particular woman and her use of her kids as props for her skin care products (she makes the boy pose for before/after photos to show how well her natural skin care products took care of his acne)

That's quite the extra element to this already embarrassing story. Maybe "They grow so fast!" is the 832th most-cringe inducing action this woman has taken against her kids.

pplains, Sunday, 26 April 2015 16:41 (eight years ago) link

could be. she is also into some weird precious metal thing you're supposed to place under your pillow for sound sleep or something? she's really pass-agg about her snake oil sales.

Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Sunday, 26 April 2015 17:15 (eight years ago) link

Yeah I think I grew up under more public scrutiny than anyone I knew at the time so I have a weird and deeply ingrained viewpoint when it comes to public/private and parental relationships. When people (never my parents) told me to stop growing up (or noted how much I had grown with a sense of sadness) all I could imagine was a living hell in which I was a puny child forever and never got to make any decisions for myself, permanently stuck like a pet or something. I realize that it is quite normal for ppl to say this, and my disgust is compounded by this particular woman and her use of her kids as props for her skin care products (she makes the boy pose for before/after photos to show how well her natural skin care products took care of his acne)

Anyway it's really weird to see people I only knew when I was a teenager (ppl I went to hs with and basically never saw again) have their own teenagers and what cliches they latch onto. It's interesting I guess.

smoochy-woochy touchy-wouchy, (sunny successor), Sunday, 26 April 2015 18:31 (eight years ago) link


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