Wednesday, November 04, 2009

I Hate Young People

Not people who happen to be young, but the phrase "young people". Is there anything more irritating than constantly referring to young people as "young people" when done by politicians or other professional busybodies? The phrase grates like nails being dragged down a blackboard. This is the immediate article that prompted this post:
Many of the 300 young people attending the debate, including the young person I accompanied, left home at 5.30am during their half-term holiday to represent the views and opinions of their peers, and they did so with passion and integrity. Young people rely on public transport, and it was this that let them down and resulted in the late start to the debate.
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Young people have never been allowed to sit on the formidable green benches before, and I imagine that some were daunted by the prospect.
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I have worked with children and young people for many years, and do not consider them to be a helpless group who will eventually grow into citizens.
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I saw young people of all shapes and sizes; some were shy and others were confident. None were brazen.These young people are not merely "playing" at politics – they are elected by young people to raise awareness of the issues that matter to them.
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It showed that, when given the opportunity, young people are able to forcefully debate, discuss and fully participate in local and national decision-making.

I fear that your article disrespected the many young people of this country who are trying to make a difference and contribute positively.

This is about the "youth parliament", a body made up of the sort of young people who refer to themselves as "young people".

8 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

Yup. Reminds me of that Ben Elton sketch (from when he was still funny about twenty years ago) where he is the presenter of a yoof TV programme who keeps telling his audience not to interrupt. He pronounces it "Yang peepoo". The expression was annoying even then.

Ross said...

Are you referring to this? That's about "Young Adults" rather than "Young People" though.

I hadn't seen it before looking it up just now.

Matthew said...

You are a young person. When I want to know what the yoof are thinking I head on over here.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Ross, exactly that one.

I could have sworn he was saying "Yang peepoo", he was actually saying "Yang Addoos"

Yaffle said...

And when did "pupils" become "students"? It all used to be perfectly straightforward - pupils went to school, students went to college/university (which fortunately we have never called "school").

Everyone had an image in their mind of what a "student" was. Now when you hear the term, it could still mean a scruffy daytime-telly-watching near-grownup, or it could be some semi-feral ten-year-old in a hoodie bunking off down the shopping arcade. Who no doubt feels greatly "empowered" by being called a "student".

Moan moan mutter mutter

Ross said...

When I want to know what the yoof are thinking I head on over here."

Quite right, all da kidz is talking about David Miliband and such like.

"Everyone had an image in their mind of what a "student" was"

Which you would have thought would make the term somewhat of an embarrassment...

Yaffle said...

Of course no sooner do I post that than we have "college pupils" kicking off in Kent. They certainly don't sound awfully grown-up.

Anonymous said...

I love "I Hate Young People. :-)
http://www.ihateyoungpeople.com/