infantile - childish, immature

"Why are you acting like an infant? Why are you acting infantile?" The usage sounds normal enough to me, and sounds appropriate based on the details you have provided so far. Can you expand on what you are looking for exactly?

Well I suppose I can't counter that argument. :)

I will say however, that while it may not be grammatical, it does match common usage in my area of the world. Calling an adult infantile typically connotes not that they are childish so much as that they are self centered, obstinate, and cantankerous.

I'm in the Northeast US, born and raised in the great state of Maine.

He is already cursing us in another chat room. Dude has a mega chip on his shoulder.

I was just typing the inquriy. :)

You know I left ELU once before for the same kind of behavior we have seen on display by our moderators the last couple days.

I guess I had enough time away in better stacks that I forgot how frustrating it is to try and contribute here.

I have a theory about that: I speculate that some of the folks in this community have been marginalized by society in their normal lives. They take great pleasure from bullying people here, because it makes them feel powerful. They have developed a power structure here that they can exploit as a form of personal empowerment.

Even though the format of your question has been considerably cleaned up, it's still unclear what's going to be right for you, except for if we list off some candidate words until you say 'Yes! That's it!'.

So instead of doing that in the comments on the question,or in possible answers, how about here?

'impertinently'?

Oooh! That is a good one Mitch.

"Why are you acting disrespectfully?”

"Why are you acting so immaturely?”

"Why are you acting childishly?”

"Don't talk back to me”

"Don't give me no sass!"

"I'm gonna whup you!"

I feel like somehow I've veered off.

But some of those words were things you used in your question.

Is this a tip of the tongue problem? Like you feel like there's gotta be a word for it and you can almost taste it, and none of the others feel just right?

"kneebiter"

"anklebiter"

google for 'thesaurus [word]' and look at the whole page not just the part that fits in at the top. It's really a good site. It gives lots of stuff thats good for writing advice, your eyes can scan so many words, discovering just the right one at a glance.

It's not perfect, in the sense that I feel like there are lots of suggestions that could be made that aren't in there.

I've been using it to ... um... 'help' with.. um ... doing crosswords! Augh! I know ... uncool man.

@TheWordsmith I can remember the day in middle school when some teacher was using it.

Surely about someone else.

also 'pejorative'

and 'germane'

He had a lot of good ones for a bunch of impertinent brats.

as in "That's not germane to our current discussion"

@TheWordsmith But you are composing something, right?

And you really really want a single word because it would just be great?

more than one word is not a failure

the difference between lightning bug and lightning

You should be very particular about your criteria, especially since you say 'no' so quickly to suggested words. You have to describe by multiple words for the full description, rather than just say yes/no to each candidate word. The last task is just a guessing game.

@TheWordsmith I'm rereading the most recently edited version and all I see are a list of words that it is not:

> I do not want any words that have connotations of annoying, whiny, irritating, etc. This includes “brat,” “rascal,” etc.

disrespectful impertinent child connote (to me) all those things

synonyms of impudent

also, since you are composing you have a lot of leeway, all the leeway in the world, for how you construct the sentence. there are adjectives, adverbs, nouns that could all work but not necessarily in the same or transformed structure (like your (or is it Mari-Lou's) given example sentences)

insolent, contumelious

@TheWordsmith I'm just saying that maybe you don't want to be so stuck on exactly the wording. Just like poetry, you may have one word that you really like, you'll have to move other things around to get the rhyme and meter to fit.

don't use contumelious, I don't know what that means at all. it sounds like a medical condition that involves mustard packs and eating thin gruel.

Oooh I like both of those a lot! If those were answers I would upvote!

@Lumberjack we have no idea if @TheWordsmith likes them or not because he hasn't given enough for us to go on.

sounds like a squirrel but ain't

I'm not trying to criticize people. That is far too popular a past time around here.

Insolent is my favorite so far. it has an adverb form. Insolently oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/insolently

I was definitely not calling anyone a squirrel

There may well be no nouns that fit all the unspoken criteria

@TheWordsmith ??

Did I say something?

From where I'm sitting I would say your tone has been pretty standoffish.

Wait... I apologize if you are in fact a squirrel.

clever if a little skittish

@TheWordsmith You may have noticed I'm trying to help

Maybe it is my innate cynicism, but I sense a back-handedness to your "help" Mitch. Maybe that is just me.

@TheWordsmith Whew. Not a squirrel. Those guys are crazy.

I've been bullied so much in my life, that sometimes I sense hostility from people who don't mean to be hostile. Maybe that is what is going on here. Probably I'm just oversensitive.

@Lumberjack I apologize if I come across as brusque. a bit of ASD (aren't we all nowadays).

I thought I was trying to help.

@TheWordsmith autistic spectrum disorder. It's easy in text to misunderstand or miss cues in others (because no face or gestures), or easy to leave out important cues so that other misunderstand

@TheWordsmith Then what good is SE for then?

Actually, I've heard that people with ASD have a little better time in text than face-to-face

but that's another conversation.

I would love to have a conversation about ASD and its seeming rise in modern society. I very much agree that it seems to be happening.

@TheWordsmith So none of the words that I've suggested stand out to you as more likely candidates?

I have speculated to myself about the root causes. It must be related to our interactions with technology don't you think?

@Lumberjack iphoneitis

stilted conversations because everybody is looking down at their hands

I know a lot of coders that have slowly shifted towards the spectrum. I wondered if maybe the manner of thinking that we use when writing code shifts our brain patterns towards ASD.

@TheWordsmith People are starting to give 'long list' answers, which is exactly the problem with underspecified criteria. (it doesn't help that those two current answers are suggesting words that aren't even associated with disrespectful or impertinent.

I think I understand. You are looking for "disrespectful and spiteful" both in one word.

But also not in an adjective but in a noun

Malicious and impudent

@TheWordsmith You want to help people help you. Don't assume it's their fault. Act as though you're trying to help them.

People are applying their connotations to your question, and so missing the target.

Gotcha m8.

Much like I did when I said infantile.

Because you haven't specified al the connotations that you have in your head that you're not telling us.

Its all specified there. It is us, who are reading more into it.

The best part is how we can come to an understanding without tearing each-others throats out. :) It is a skill that seems lacking in our day and age.

@TheWordsmith You two seem to understand each other very well. But I still don't know what word you mean.

He is looking for a noun or adverb that means "malicious and impudent."

impudent is great, but it is only half way there.

The closest word that comes to mind for me right now isn't a fit either, but it sheds some light: "sociopath" or "sociopathically."

A sociopath isn't "disrespectful" per se, which is why I say it isn't quite right. But you get the gist of the idea.

sociopath sounds way off in another direction

unconsciously machiavellian

Maybe I'm way off, but I feel like it strikes to the heart of the thing. A sociopath doesn't consider other people as people. So they won't respect them, and are often malicious.

Well said. I hadn't heard it put that way before.

'brat' fits al the criteria so far (noun, disrespectful/impertinent) except for the one criterion not repeated which is ... shoot ... fancy? a fancy word? a sesquipedalian word? haha I need to ask an ELU question for it.

From webster: a disparaging : child; specifically : an ill-mannered annoying child a spoiled brat Source - merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brat

I don't think that hits the target Mitch. It is our connotation of his request, not the description of his request.

@Lumberjack the heart of the thing is about a child not knowing rules of respect. a sociopath seems way off the mark. But again, that's you and me, TheWordsmith may have other ideas that we just don't know about yet

a sociopath is often very respectful, especially in the circumstances of talking to a superior.

But he must also be malicious. He isn't merely impudent or ignorant. He is spiteful and disrespectful.

Good point. RE: Sociopath.

@TheWordsmith OK so those are all things you do not want your sought after word to be, correct?

(I still have problems with that, because I think they overlap a lot)

@TheWordsmith so the criteria so far are:

noun

(or adverb: but frankly that means adjective too because you can drop the -ly)

@TheWordsmith all the things mentioned under the definition of 'brat'

which you linked to

to tell me that that is not what you want

Is that a correct assessment?

I'm off to my son's football practice. Pleasure chatting with you both. Take care!

so. list of criteria. a word for a person, noun/adverb, young (not adult), impertinent and disrespectful, but not whiny or annoying

impertinent is pretty bratty

I likewise have to move on for the moment.

later all. I hope you find your word. But, writer's advice, leave a blank and continue on with the rest of the paragraph, you don't want to get stuck on that one thing.

@TheWordsmith a dictionary gives the shortest possible statement that is not wrong. it doesn't give every word you think it might be like or not like. also, note the thesaurus isn't changing parts of speech, so all these excellent adjectives aren't giving hints to nouns.

ok bye!