Is 12 years old considered a teenager?

[Snaploud]

Count me among the people who assumed teenagers were just all the numbers ending in "teen" (13-19). A twelve-year-old would be a pre-teen or a tween.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The more current term for that age (10-12) would be a "tween," but that's kind of an obnoxious word that comes with the implied baggage of Beiber and sparkly vampire love.

I always thought "tween" was used for 20-29 year olds. A mix between twenty and teen.

J.R.R. Tolkien might have agreed.

At that time Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three.

 

[Mr Silver]

Yeah, in some parts of Britain "Tweenager" is commonly used to describe someone in their early twenties who maintains the personality and level of responsibility of a teenager.

 

[TerokNor]

Really? I think of 12 year olds as teenagers. For most girls that age, puberty has already started.

Really. Even a 13 year old would still count as a child (in Germany). From age 14 to 18 they are teenagers/ adolescents.

Though I think of a 13 year old as a teenager as well I have to say.

TerokNor

 

[TerokNor]

I always thought "tween" was used for 20-29 year olds. A mix between twenty and teen.

If you're a hobbit tweens are the 20's.

*nods* Yeah in the LOTR fanfiction fandom Pippin, Merry and Sam are called tweens. Some write them the way, that a Hobbit tween is like a human teen, from development aspects.

TerokNor

 

[Gov Kodos]

I always thought "tween" was used for 20-29 year olds. A mix between twenty and teen.

If you're a hobbit tweens are the 20's.

*nods* Yeah in the LOTR fanfiction fandom Pippin, Merry and Sam are called tweens. Some write them the way, that a Hobbit tween is like a human teen, from development aspects.

TerokNor

This I didn't know, I've never read any LOTR fanfic. The only time I've heard tween was in the quoted LOTR paragraph above describing Frodo.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

In our house 11 and 12 YO is a tween.

13-19 is a teen.

And 17 is just plain evil.

 

[RandyS]

No way....not unless you pronounce 12 as "twelveteen."

It is eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, etc.

This is just so silly I had to comment. So many people seem to need shades of gray with everything, as if there were some inherent evil in absolutes. Well, you know what? Sometimes white is actually white and sometimes black is actually black.

It has nothing to do with maturity, puberty, the way in which years are counted in a particular country or culture, or anything else. If the number includes "teen," then it's a teenager and if it doesn't, it isn't.

Excellent post. Agreed all around.

 

[Holdfast]

I'd call 9-12 year olds tweens. 13-18 are teenagers, to my mind. I think of anyone over 18 as an adult. I think this is pretty much a shared system with advertisers and market researchers who use a (broadly) similar classificatory system when figuring out what demographic to target.

 

[RandyS]

In our house 11 and 12 YO is a tween.

13-19 is a teen.

And 17 is just plain evil.

I can agree now, but in 1987 I would have chased you down the street with a knife.

And a gun.

And a flamethrower.

Oh, and my wheelchair.

 

[Count Zero]

Really? I think of 12 year olds as teenagers. For most girls that age, puberty has already started.

Really. Even a 13 year old would still count as a child (in Germany). From age 14 to 18 they are teenagers/ adolescents.

Though I think of a 13 year old as a teenager as well I have to say.

TerokNor

Those are the legal definitions, though. Anyone under 14 is a child, from 14-17 a youth, from 18-20 adult but possibly still a youth in regards to criminal law, from 21 really adult. Teenager isn't a legal term, though, so I don't see how that has any bearing on its defintion.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

In our house 11 and 12 YO is a tween.

13-19 is a teen.

And 17 is just plain evil.

I can agree now, but in 1987 I would have chased you down the street with a knife.

And a gun.

And a flamethrower.

Oh, and my wheelchair.

Pffft. Pussy. Knife? Gun? Flamethrower? Wheelchair? My 17 yo daughter can kill with a stare. And she has.

 

[Mr Silver]

Would it not be better to refer to a 12 year old, etc as a "Preen" (derived from Pre-Teen)?

 

[RandyS]

In our house 11 and 12 YO is a tween.

13-19 is a teen.

And 17 is just plain evil.

I can agree now, but in 1987 I would have chased you down the street with a knife.

And a gun.

And a flamethrower.

Oh, and my wheelchair.

Pffft. Pussy. Knife? Gun? Flamethrower? Wheelchair? My 17 yo daughter can kill with a stare. And she has.

Oh, well in that case I'll use my heat vision.

 

[smiki]

Would it not be better to refer to a 12 year old, etc as a "Preen" (derived from Pre-Teen)?

Seems logical and reasonable to me...

Preen
Teen
Tween

Rin Tin Tin... Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of a teenager.

 

[RoJoHen]

"Preen" is awkward to say.

 

[MacLeod]

Like others have already said, last I checked a teenager is someone aged from thirteen upto and including nineteen. Afterer that, it tends to be twentysomething, thirtysomething, fortysomething and so on.

 

[Trekker4747]

"12" does not have "-teen" at the end of it. A person who is 12 is not a teenager they are a pre-teenager.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I would consider ages 10-12 to be a "tween" (as in, between teens and childhood), or a "pre-teen." And from 13-19 as a teenager.

 

[nightwind1]

The more current term for that age (10-12) would be a "tween," but that's kind of an obnoxious word that comes with the implied baggage of Beiber and sparkly vampire love.

I always thought "tween" was used for 20-29 year olds. A mix between twenty and teen.

No, tweens are the demographic that watch the live-action "sitcoms" on the Disney Channel. IE: preteens in the double-digit age range.