# Should It Be Teenage or Teenaged?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 7, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835 "2011-03-07T20:51:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/1 "2011-03-07T20:51:24Z")
I was reading a magazine article and the sentence was:
The teenage stockboy was staring at her.
Is that correct? Or should it be teenaged stockboy?
Or is it just a matter of style and/or usage?
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/2 "2011-03-07T20:55:21Z")
Style and usage.
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/3 "2011-03-07T20:57:30Z")
I would say that “teenaged” describes a person, while “teenage” refers to qualities that appeal to, or are characteristic of, teenagers.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/4 "2011-03-07T21:17:05Z")
The Associated Press Stylebook says “teenage.”
Of course the AP Stylebook is the last word only for those who follow it.
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### Author:  [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/5 "2011-03-07T21:29:09Z")
Heaven knows that Katy Perry is the best when it comes to grammar of her song titles, in fact she’s probably one of the worst offenders, but “Teenage Dream” seems to be grammatically correct, as it implies the dream of a teenager. “Teenaged Dream” to me implies that the dream itself is over 13 years old.
(And, FWIW, Firefox spell-check had no problem with “teenage” but did have a problem with “teenaged”.)
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/6 "2011-03-07T21:39:01Z")
> [@dhkendall](#):
>
> “Teenage Dream” seems to be grammatically correct, as it implies the dream of a teenager. “Teenaged Dream” to me implies that the dream itself is over 13 years old.
Right. Or, “teenage dream” suggests a dream _like_ a teenager would have. “Teenage” is a quality.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/7 "2011-03-07T23:00:32Z")
Teenaged sounds more like something they used to say but has fallen away. Like something Mr. Burns would say. “Smithers, I can’t enjoy my iced cream with all these teenaged hooligans loitering about the parlortarium!”
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/8 "2011-03-08T01:11:21Z")
> [@TBG](#):
>
> Teenaged sounds more like something they used to say but has fallen away. Like something Mr. Burns would say. “Smithers, I can’t enjoy my iced cream with all these teenaged hooligans loitering about the parlortarium!”
Do you also hear it as teenagéd (i.e. teen-age-Ed)?
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/9 "2011-03-08T01:47:27Z")
OneLook Dictionary finds “[teenage](http://www.onelook.com/?w=Teenage&ls=a&loc=2osdf)” in 27 different online dictionaries, but “[teenaged](http://www.onelook.com/?w=Teenaged&ls=a&loc=2osdf)” in only 17. This suggests that “teenage” is the preferred form (as does my ear).
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### Author:  [@Romeo\_and\_Whatsherface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Romeo_and_Whatsherface)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/10 "2011-03-08T04:06:16Z")
Technically, teen-aged was correct , but it’s gone or is going out of usage. It’s like “skimmed milk,” which actually makes more sense than the current and popular “skim milk.” The ones that drives me nuts are “ice tea” (If it has ice in it, it’s iced.) and “whip cream.” But I digress.
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-teenage-or-teenaged/573835/11 "2011-03-08T04:21:03Z")
I am not sure what “technically correct” means in this context, but, according to the OED, “teenage” goes back to 1921, whereas “teenaged” (which is designated as a “derivative” of “teenage”) was first seen in 1953. It looks to me as though “teenaged” is the product of hyper-correction.
I say “skimmed milk,” and “skim milk” makes me wince.