The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

re: The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

visualj — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:16:18 GMT

All I thought about when I saw 'cerebral dynamite' was the fact that when some people try to use it, it blows up in their face.

Not that it has ever happened to me...

re: The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

Brian Tkatch — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:58:59 GMT

Pearls of wisdom:

# An adult is mysterious or maybe even secret. You can't tell what they are thinking in that developed brain of knowledge and thought.

If has oft been noticed that children speak what is on their mind. In many cases, the expressed opinion of a child is worth much that that expressed by an adult.

This kid has wisdom beyond his years.

...or he has been held back for many, many years.

# Some adults are just so boring that you wonder if they can actually laugh.

I agree with that sentiment.

"My cousin respects me until his friends come over."

Peer pressure happens to adults to. Befriend a child?!? But, he's not even a person yet!!

re: The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

Drak — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:38:00 GMT

"pioused" might well be meant to be 'biased' instead of 'poised'. Phonetically that seems to make more sense to me. Of course I have no idea what the kid was thinking he was saying with that sentence either way :)

[I think you're right. I've updated the gloss. -Raymond]

re: The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

peon — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:15:39 GMT

"Cerebral dynamite" sounds completely awesome, please let the kid know he(/she?) has invented a great metaphor.

re: The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

Eugene — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:08:32 GMT

"There should be a test or classified training facility or something to prove you're adult."

I'm so for it. At least 37% of the self-proclaimed adults are going to fail according to my estimations.

"My mom is so responsible she will fix mistakes someone else did. NOW."

Ah, she's clearly a programmer. She mush have inherited some bad code recently and the deadline is looming.

"Adults have excellent manors."

Lucky ones indeed do.

"Adults are often considered excepted members of society."

I refuse to join any society that would except me as member.

"College is where they learn to swear and smoke and drink."

There's some deep real life knowledge in here. I failed Smoking 101 miserably though.

re: The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

Gwyn — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:31:05 GMT

Thanks, now I have "You can't touch this" running round in my head

re: The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

Aaargh! — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:34:36 GMT

> You can't tell what they are thinking in that developed brain of knowledge and thought.

NICE

re: The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

Nawak — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:00:46 GMT

Well, it seems that my psychic powers are not up to par with Raymond's as they should have told me to verify your claim before posting...

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2006/12/29/1379914.aspx

re: The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

Steve C — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:58:57 GMT

I had to comment just for "cerebral dynamite". That's a vivid and very appropriate simile.

re: The wisdom of seventh graders: What it means to be an adult

Nawak — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:52:56 GMT

@oso: *My* psychic powers tell me that Raymond's prediction ended up being false! :)

Maybe Raymond is now a little bit embarrassed by his prediction, who knows :)