This is a new one for me. In fact, it is so new that it draws the red squiggly line under it in MicroSoft Word. Adultescent<\/em> refers to \u201ca young adult or middle-aged person who has interests, traits, etc., that are usually associated with teenagers\u201d (http:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/adultescent?s=t<\/a>) and says that it first appears between 1995 and 2000. The Urban Dictionary defines it as \u201cAn adult whose interests and behaviour [sic] follow youth culture; someone who has not fully grown up\u201d (https:\/\/www.urbandictionary.com\/define.php?term=Adultescent<\/a>). The OED<\/em> records the first usage from a magazine called Precision Marketing,<\/em> \u00a0the 17 June 1996 edition: \u201cConsider the importance of adultescents to the music biz\u2014they make up over a third of the audience at gigs, but have more cash to spend than teenagers,\u201d although the word could easily have been in circulation before it was first put into print.<\/p>\n Adultescent<\/em> may have replaced an earlier, similar term, kidult<\/em>. Kidult<\/em> goes back at least to 1960, and it is perhaps a bit more specific, focusing on adults who enjoy kid-oriented entertainment (TV shows, movies, computer games, et al<\/em>.). But don\u2019t confuse kidult<\/em> with the BBC series Kidulthood<\/em>, which was not at all designed for kids. Kidult<\/em>, however, does not elicit the red squiggly line under it as adultescent<\/em> does.<\/p>\n Adolescent<\/em>, according to www.etymonline.com<\/a>, comes \u201cfrom Middle French\u00a0adolescent<\/em>\u00a0(15c.) or directly from Latin\u00a0adolescentem<\/em>\/adulescentem<\/em>\u00a0(nominative\u00a0adolescens<\/em>\/adulescens<\/em>) \u2018young man or woman, a youth,\u2019 noun use of an adjective meaning \u2018growing, near maturity, youthful,\u2019 present participle of\u00a0adolescere<\/em>\u00a0\u2018grow up, come to maturity, ripen,\u2019 from\u00a0ad<\/em>\u00a0\u2018to\u2019 (see\u00a0ad-<\/strong><\/a>) +\u00a0alescere<\/em>\u00a0\u2018be nourished,\u2019 hence, \u2018increase, grow up,\u2019 inchoative of\u00a0alere<\/em>\u00a0\u2018to nourish,\u2019 from a suffixed form of PIE root\u00a0*al-<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(2) \u2018to grow, nourish.\u2019\u201d Adult comes \u201cfrom Latin\u00a0adultus<\/em>\u00a0\u2018grown up, mature, adult, ripe,\u2019 past participle of\u00a0adolescere<\/em>\u00a0\u2018grow up, come to maturity, ripen.\u2019” Put together, they combine to mean one who is all grown up but still growing, a kind of oxymoron.<\/p>\n I can imagine that for most people adultescent<\/em> would have negative connotations, but I\u2019m not sure it does, at least for me. Or maybe the problem is how things, particularly bits of entertainment, are categorized by marketing specialists in the 21st<\/sup> century. For instance, \u201cAccording to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the\u00a0American Library Association (ALA)<\/a>, YA books are those aimed at kids aged 12 to 18 years\u201d (https:\/\/www.thebalancecareers.com\/the-young-adult-book-market-2799954<\/a>). But the source claims that nearly 70% of YA titles are actually purchased by adults, ages 18-64.<\/p>\n