Jadzia

My husband and I have been watching the Buffy DVDs. It is his first time watching it, my second time after having seen them on FX and then the last few seasons as they aired. We are just now starting season 4 (and watching concurrently with Angel).

The Buffy dialogue is always so well-written but this is something minor I noticed I wanted to ask you guys about. I have noticed in several instances that Buffy and the gang refer to adults as "grown-ups". Every time I hear it, the usually spot-on dialogue comes to a halt and the term sticks out like a sore thumb. To me, the term "grown-up" is kind of little-kid cutesy and doesn't seem like something a teenager would say. After all, teenagers long to be "grown-up" themselves and it would seem more realistic that they would just refer to people their parents' age (or Mr. Giles' age) as simply "old".

Of course, I went to high school in the late 80's and not the late 90's, and in Michigan, not California. So maybe I am completely off on this. Has anyone else noticed this?

I realize that this is something trivial but I know we have our resident Buffy-watchers out there who might like to comment. It's just whenever Buffy refers to "grown-ups" I instantly think "What is she, seven years old?"

garmonbozia

without any exact quotes I can't be sure, but possibly the term is being used rather tongue-in-cheek....

I mean I'm 28 and still often jokingly say "when I grow up.....yada yada yada"...
ok, so maybe I am not joking when I say it :P

Josh-da-man

I don't think anybody used the terms "grown-up" in reference to adults, except maybe when they're speaking to small children.

I've felt that the term was a bit jarring in the series, too, and it's used quite often. I think that maybe the writers don't really know what other term to use in certain cases.

milo bloom

I don't think it ever stuck out for me, but I remember one of the things I read about the writing on Buffy and such was that they weren't always going for accuracy in the terms, but rather the feel of the words in the scene. Much of Willow's dialogue points to this. I would have to agree with the tongue-in-cheek theory.

renaldow

When I watched them originally on TV and then even more so on DVD I would notice some parts of the dialog that stick out like a sore thumb. That kind of thing really bugs me. I didn't even like kids using the term 'grown ups' when I was a kid...

BizRodian

Me either, heh.

I noticed it in Buffy, but it didn't bother me too much there, as I figured it was tongue in cheek.

Kevin M. Dean

I've been watching some Friends episodes recently and they use the term "grown ups" quite a bit too. I don't have a problem with it.

sq240

I always took that line to be tongue in cheek, especially with Willow.

I am 25 and I know a lot of people who use the phrase in one way or another. Unless you are talking to a 4 year old, it is generally used in a tongue in cheek context.