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I have a running disagreement with most everyone around me that the proper form of "teenager," when it's used as an adjective, is "teenaged," not "teenage" as in, "we care for needy, teenaged boys." We don't say, "He's a middle-age man." Instead, we say "middle-aged," right?
And while I'm at it (!!), is it proper to say "You're welcome" or should it be "You're welcomed"??
Thanks in advance for putting this issue to rest!
Margaret
I believe you've already answered your first question yourself. In my opinion, you are correct: "teenaged" is the proper form when used in that sense. Just as you typed "middle-aged", so, too, was teenaged once written (i.e., "teen-aged"). The word teenage has lost its hyphen, but the same rules apply that one would apply to the word age. In the sense you ask about the word teenaged, it is a participial adjective and thus takes an -ed ending. Although I could see how someone could make the argument that age is used as a noun in such constructions, I think it makes more sense as a verb (although I hesitate to say you could "teenage" a barrel of Glenlivet, because, even at 18-years-old, that "verb" wouldn't make any sense in that construction --- hmmm, I guess I've talked myself out of my first position a bit).
As to your second question, "You're welcome" is proper. Welcome as a verb is transitive only, so you must welcome someone or something (an object). In the phrase "You're welcome," welcome is used as an adjective to mean, basically, that, for whatever you were thanked, it was a polite courtesy and was done without expecting reciprocal favor. I think at this point "You're welcome" is simply idiom and is simply a polite response to "Thank you." I doubt it really has a deeper meaning, popularly, anymore.
According to all the dictionaries I consulted, both Teenage and Teenaged are valid adjectives meaning the same thing. Both have been around for nearly a century. The only distinction I could find between the two is that Teenage is positionally restricted: it can only be used prenominally. Teenaged can be used anywhere. So you can say "a teenage girl" or "a teenaged student" both with identical meaning, and both completely correct.
The example I constructed for predicative use is a bit contrived but, in it, you cannot substitute Teenage:
There are five extraordinary entrepreneurs in our community, three of whom are teenaged.
(However, I suspect most would use teenagers in that position.)
I'm with tunawrites: "Teenaged" is proper, "teenage" is frequently seen but sloppy. Unfortunately, appeals to a dictionary are useless: There are no dictionaries left (that I know of, including the OED) that consent to prescribe. The editors of your dictionaries uniformly decline to tell us what usages are proper, only what usages are often found in the wild.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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