I don't seem to remember my parents being obsessed with who was top of the "Hit Parade", or finding Brutus jeans a "must-have" item, or needing to be an absolute ace when it came to Clackers when I was growing up.So why are so many people who are old enough to know better (let's say 40+) so much in need of the latest Hollister sweatshirt, so desperate to download the latest game app or so enthusiastic about reading Harry Potter?
Apparently, such creatures are known as "Kidults" - grown-ups who don't see why they should put away childish things. They used to known as "mutton-dressed-as-lamb" which is, incidentally, a great idea for a fancy dress party if you're of a certain age.
But I'm not saying that all apps per se are childish - in fact, a recent report suggests that children these days only really know about those that aren't terribly useful, which is kind of reassuring.
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I don't remember my parents even noticing such things, either. But we're all getting younger, aren't we? 50 is the new 12 :)
When I had my infamous "mutton-dressed-as-lamb" party, I had to explain to my German friends what it entailed, as no such expression exists in German. I certainly see much less of it around here than in the US/UK but there is the odd ghastly exception.
Another new book about Kidults - incidentally, I have one on my shelf called “Big Babies” by Michael Bywater, published in 2006 https://www.economist.com/culture/2024/08/16/is-western-culture-stopping-people-from-growing-up?utm_campaign=a.special-edition-newsletter&utm_medium=email.internal-newsletter.np&utm_source=salesforce-marketing-cloud&utm_term=9/28/2024&utm_id=1928187
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