the concept of the "man-child"

[The_root_of_all_evil]

but everyone at some point has looked down on someone younger than them, because they've been looked down upon themselves.

Hmmm..I think you may be pushing things in there that really aren't.

I know a few people younger than me who are very cool. A few older people who are equally as cool.

What "man-child" means to the wide majority of people is someone that isn't acting according to their set age limit. If youths act older, they get shocked (because youth is oh so holy) and if older people act younger, they get jealous (no-one left childhood behind willingly, they just swapped it - double for Parents because that's re-living childhood)

Now, I'm gonna poke people into watching things like "The 3 Stooges" because it's comedy genius despite it being something before my parent's time; but I'll also extoll the virtues of "Toy Story" for the same reason. I'm outside both of these "focus groups".

Looking down on someone for age just means you're concerned about where YOU are, that's the same with any ribbing. Equally, looking down on someone for what they're doing means you're concerned about what YOU are doing.

And face it, what is now OCCUPY used to be OUT OF VIETNAM which used to be VICTORY OVER THE AXIS which used to be...The Boston Tea Party.

 

[Aeonknight]

but everyone at some point has looked down on someone younger than them, because they've been looked down upon themselves.

Hmmm..I think you may be pushing things in there that really aren't.

I know a few people younger than me who are very cool. A few older people who are equally as cool.

What "man-child" means to the wide majority of people is someone that isn't acting according to their set age limit. If youths act older, they get shocked (because youth is oh so holy) and if older people act younger, they get jealous (no-one left childhood behind willingly, they just swapped it - double for Parents because that's re-living childhood)

Now, I'm gonna poke people into watching things like "The 3 Stooges" because it's comedy genius despite it being something before my parent's time; but I'll also extoll the virtues of "Toy Story" for the same reason. I'm outside both of these "focus groups".

Looking down on someone for age just means you're concerned about where YOU are, that's the same with any ribbing. Equally, looking down on someone for what they're doing means you're concerned about what YOU are doing.

And face it, what is now OCCUPY used to be OUT OF VIETNAM which used to be VICTORY OVER THE AXIS which used to be...The Boston Tea Party.

Well yea. I'm not saying that no one ever hangs out with people younger/older than themselves, that's just silly.

I'm saying the phrase is more or less kind of a default insult used by the older generation against the younger generation. Man-Child is to age differences what noob is to gaming. That may not be what it means, but that seems to be the way it's used anymore.

 

[Vault101]

Im not entirly sure how long this steryotype of "man-child" has been around for, Id hazard a guess its "sort of" a recent thing..."sort of"

Nah.
James Dean ring a bell?

Man-Child is a hazing term that the older generation uses to describe "them pesky kids".

Hey, unfair. Being an older generation, I have that used on me as well.

It's an economic thing. By now (whenever now is) you should be able to provide an income to spend on whatever they want to sell you. If you're not doing that, then you're wasting their potential sales.

Same reason why you should be married by now, you should have kids and you should be in a size 0.

Here's a thing: I pay my own way, I play games, I don't get caught up in stupid commitments and I provide a decent public service. I also don't use drugs (much) or prostitutes dressed as Nazis, fiddle expenses, beat my partners, spend all my time in front of the telly, drink myself into oblivion or destroy other people's works.

I have friends (male/female/transgender), I read, I game, I write and most of all, I don't do half the stupid shit that REAL MEN or REAL WOMEN do daily in the scare rags the others put so much faith in.

I'm 41, single and a gamer. If that makes me a man-child, then so be it. But I've had a more fulfilling, helpful and peaceful life than if I'd done half the things I was meant to do.

The people that hammered us down are now hammering you lot. And blaming us for it. As they did to our parents.

Screw them. Do your own thing.

Oh, and man-child?



(Btw, works equally well for women. They're not "mad cat-ladies" either. Well, some are, but they're obvious.)

Spoiler: A special message from Barack Obama

never seen the show....I thourght mabye fonzie would have suposed to be alot younger than the actual acotor playing him....as it usualy is with that stuff

also Mabye the Obama thing was unintentional

 

[Thaluikhain]

The term isn't that neccesary, IMHO, it's jsut anotehr way of saying irresponsible/entitled.

Spend lots of time at your parent's home playing video games? Ok, maybe that's being somewhat childish. But as long as you have a job, or at university, or are trying to be, fair enough. You're not doing muh with your life now, but you are trying to be able to do so later.

Once you start saying "fuck it, someone else will deal with it", or ignoring things that don't happen to affect you much, then you have a problem.

 

[Vault101]

but everyone at some point has looked down on someone younger than them, because they've been looked down upon themselves.

].

In regards to toy story...I get the impresson tory story 3 was made with the "older" fans in mind, those that had grown up with toy story..

anywya I supose PIXAR films (and to be fair quite a few other animated films)embody the Idea of what a family film should be, somthing eaqually enjoyable for all ageis.....not some bad kids movie, (that may or may not have some cheap "adult' gags thrown in)

sorry...off topic,

 

[Nickolai77]

The term isn't that neccesary, IMHO, it's jsut anotehr way of saying irresponsible/entitled.

Agreed, and as far as i am concerned there have been lazy, irresponsible and self-entitled people all through history, from 17th century paupers to 18th century aristocrats to many ordinary people in the 21st century. It's a negative personality trait that has always existed.

But i think the term has more salience now with the economic hardships we face- some people of the older generation may not understand why, if you have a degree, you can only find work flipping burgers or are still unemployed. Decades ago if you had a degree and were unemployed that could have with some accuracy call someone a man-child, but not now in this economic climate.

Compounding this is the spread of video games into the mainstream, with the post-cold war generation going to uni, finding jobs and starting to make a life for themselves and playing video games along the way. Older generations are more accustomed to games being for children only, so reinforcing the stereotype of the man-child if young people arn't employed and playing video games.

So really the concept of the man-child is a combination of the recent global recession and good old generational zietgiests.

 

[TimeLord]

-snip-

We don't cease to play because we grow old. We grow old because we cease to play.

Yeah there can be extremes to this statement whereby 30 year old men act like 10 year olds but what's the point of leaving all the fun stuff behind?

 

[Thaluikhain]

But i think the term has more salience now with the economic hardships we face- some people of the older generation may not understand why, if you have a degree, you can only find work flipping burgers or are still unemployed. Decades ago if you had a degree and were unemployed that could have with some accuracy call someone a man-child, but not now in this economic climate.

I'd agree with that.

It's not the first time I've seen it mentioned, people assuming that a person's job, or lack of it, is determined solely by how much effort they are willing to put into it.

That's never been the case, but more in the limelight now.

 

[Vault101]

The term isn't that neccesary, IMHO, it's jsut anotehr way of saying irresponsible/entitled.

Agreed, and as far as i am concerned there have been lazy, irresponsible and self-entitled people all through history, from 17th century paupers to 18th century aristocrats to many ordinary people in the 21st century. It's a negative personality trait that has always existed.

But i think the term has more salience now with the economic hardships we face- some people of the older generation may not understand why, if you have a degree, you can only find work flipping burgers or are still unemployed. Decades ago if you had a degree and were unemployed that could have with some accuracy call someone a man-child, but not now in this economic climate.

Compounding this is the spread of video games into the mainstream, with the post-cold war generation going to uni, finding jobs and starting to make a life for themselves and playing video games along the way. Older generations are more accustomed to games being for children only, so reinforcing the stereotype of the man-child if young people arn't employed and playing video games.

So really the concept of the man-child is a combination of the recent global recession and good old generational zietgiests.

I also found it kind of interesting (as the article pointed out) we were always told that a mcdonalds job was the epitomy of failure

yet then we get scolded for not working those jobs..not that it mattters though because I hear even those jobs are harder to get..in america at least

 

[shasjas]

Childhood is for enjoyment. I regret nothing.

However, most people aren't going to transition well from childhood to adulthood without some major reevaluation. I'm in university, and I'm "getting my shit together", ie. entertaining myself less, working harder, rearranging and filling my schedule to maximize output, blah blah blah, and I'm STILL in great danger of flunking out.

I define a "man-child" as someone who never made a mental and priority transition between childhood and adulthood, excepting if they had very independent/work-heavy childhoods. A good acid test is if someone can sit down and work twelve hours a day for a week straight while still cooking and cleaning after themselves, leaving themselves no time for fun.

whats the point in living if you live like that? you need at least some fun to make the hard work worthwhile.

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

"Man-child" as I use the term is typically someone who should have the responsabilities of any self respecting adult, but doesn't and has no intention of doing so.

Don't get me wrong, my dad's 50 and plays Halo just about every night. I have no problem with that. Playing to relax or whatever is fine, but when it becomes your whole existance to satisfy your baser needs of entertainment and pleasure, well, you essentially become a baby, who does the same thing and pitches a fit when they don't get what they want.

That's my definition. Your mileage may vary.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

...I think I might be a bit of a "woman-child"... but I do want to at least improve on my life a bit... just as soon as I can stop procrastinating...

 

[shasjas]

"Man-child" as I use the term is typically someone who should have the responsabilities of any self respecting adult, but doesn't and has no intention of doing so.

Don't get me wrong, my dad's 50 and plays Halo just about every night. I have no problem with that. Playing to relax or whatever is fine, but when it becomes your whole existance to satisfy your baser needs of entertainment and pleasure, well, you essentially become a baby, who does the same thing and pitches a fit when they don't get what they want.

That's my definition. Your mileage may vary.

but surely anybody's whole existance is to satisfy their baser needs. everyone wants to have fun and pleasure and love and entertainment, isnt that what people live for? you just have to do the responsibilities to allow you to do the things you want. you need to work to earn money to fund what you want, and you need to stop being an asshole so people will like you and so on.

 

[Thaluikhain]

but surely anybody's whole existance is to satisfy their baser needs. everyone wants to have fun and pleasure and love and entertainment, isnt that what people live for? you just have to do the responsibilities to allow you to do the things you want. you need to work to earn money to fund what you want, and you need to stop being an asshole so people will like you and so on.

To an extent, yeah. But, hopefully you'll end up in a job that you think is worth doing.

And, you shouldn't try to be a good person to get people to like you, you should because it's teh right thing to do.

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

but surely anybody's whole existance is to satisfy their baser needs. everyone wants to have fun and pleasure and love and entertainment, isnt that what people live for? you just have to do the responsibilities to allow you to do the things you want. you need to work to earn money to fund what you want, and you need to stop being an asshole so people will like you and so on.

True, but you missed a section of what I said.

""Man-child" as I use the term is typically someone who should have the responsabilities of any self respecting adult, but doesn't and has no intention of doing so."

I understand that people need to do things to get what they want, that's why I and so many other people call them "man-children" because they don't and have no intention of doing so. It's fine when you're a baby and can't contribute to get what you want, but after that, you need to work for it.

 

[Iron Mal]

Being something of a man-child myself I've stumbled upon the realisation that the term (and it's equivilents) are usually pulled out when someone feels that you don't fufil their standards for what a mature adult is supposed to be (or, sadly more often, if you're not like they were at your age).

In other terms, it's self-inflated and self-important people turning their noses up at people they percieve as below them.

For some people you aren't a 'real adult' or 'mature' unless you survive the hyperboled situation of balancing work (for twelve hours a day, six days a week), education, a family and sorting out the finances and utilities of your house single handedly without having any assistance.

Yes, there are people who do actually do this (some even with multiple jobs taking up even more of their time) but that isn't 'adulthood' or 'maturity', those are concepts which are a tad more abstract than just get a job and get your own place.

 

[Iron Mal]

So living in mommy's basement?

Actually, I have my own bedroom but thank you for taking the time and effort to read through my post and come up with such a well thought out and mature counter-arguement rather than just making a petty snide remark.

Oh wait...