# Could I have been called a Man at 18? How about you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 18, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-have-been-called-a-man-at-18-how-about-you/419601 "2007-09-18T13:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-have-been-called-a-man-at-18-how-about-you/419601/21 "2007-09-18T20:58:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **msmith 537** > _I remember the same thing from college. That pretentious way they would refer to students as “men” and “women”. I think that many prep (high) schools do the same thing. Oh, you mean the same “men” who were shotgunning beers until they puked and the same “women” who were dancing on my fraternity bar after too many tequilla shots? I think it’s basically a ploy to get them to start thinking like they are actually men and women and to stop acting like retarded monkeys._ This is funny. I work with college students, and I pull exactly that ploy. It drives me crazy when I get a student in my office whining, “But I’m just a kid!” Listen, Sparky, I’m only 5 years older than you. If you’re old enough to go to college, you’re old enough to turn in a damn form on time. > [@](#): > > _Yeah, but what about selfish adults? They’re still adults, they’re just jerks._ Good point. It’s just that’s the first time I really, truly realized I was an adult, and that there was no going back to childhood for me. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-have-been-called-a-man-at-18-how-about-you/419601/22 "2007-09-18T21:29:13Z")
[QUOTE=burundi] Good point. It’s just that’s the first time I really, truly realized I was an adult, and that there was no going back to childhood for me. [/QUOTE] Maybe the biggest difference between adults and children is that adults realize that there are permenant consequences for their actions and that it is up to them to decide how their life will be. Children have the luxury of acting as if nothing they do matters and that if they whine “not fair” enough someone will come and fix it? ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-have-been-called-a-man-at-18-how-about-you/419601/23 "2007-09-19T04:43:14Z")
You know, I’m 36, and on some level, I don’t fully consider myself an adult. Well, not really – I never really considered myself an adult until I was 30, for some reason. Sure, I’ve been gainfully employed full-time for many years. I’ve been married and have one child, to whom I am now the sole means of support. I pay my bills on time, as much as possible, including a student loan which I might actually pay off sometime in the next 12 months. But I never lived away from my parents. I’ve never driven a car. Hell, I watch cartoons all the time and hate cleaning my room. So am I truly an adult, or do I remain an eternal child? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-have-been-called-a-man-at-18-how-about-you/419601.md?page=1)