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The things said from a squishy-cheeked face with the most innocent toothless smile can hurt surprisingly bad.

Things like "you're 18, how come you're unmarried, what's wrong with you?" Oh, the toothless things I was talking about are children, not talking frogs from the cursed forest–this is real life and real adults' egos get bruised when kids try guessing their age.

Twitter user @msdanifernandez helped to collect many of these Shakespearean (and not so sophisticated ones, let's be honest here) insults into one place, and we selected the best/worst for you to laugh at.

More info: msdanifernandez

While these tweets mainly focus on kids making adults feel older than they are, some people do suffer from the opposite problem of living with so-called babyfaces. In their case, their looks just don't catch up to their age. Of course, this is subjective–they won't be asked for I.D. in every bar. These people are in the company of celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, with several childlike facial features, such as short nose and plump cheeks. Those features are called neotenous. Scientists are investigating the relationships between neoteny and perceived attraction in different sexes.

Speaking of relativity and years, there is a well-known phenomenon that people feel time flowing faster as they age. One of the hypotheses is that shorter and more reliably working paths between neurons allow young people to process more information during the same time frame, leaving them with the impression that more things have happened, therefore more time has passed. (Kind of like watching a modern movie with 24 frames per second versus an early with 16-18 fps.) Imagine watching the melodrama Santa Barbara for 9 years and thinking that each episode was shorter than the last. However, this is just one of the hypotheses–there is no consensus yet.

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#4

raschvegas Report

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Vicky Z
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We still wait for the first woman president ever so it wasn't strange that the kid asked that

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#6

Carly__Dana Report

There are several scientific studies on kids' comprehension of age, such as "Now I’m 3: Young Children’s Concepts of Age, Aging, and Birthdays," which you can read in full here. One of the focuses of the study is Western children's ability to understand the relationship between having a birthday party and actual aging (Western, because birthdays are treated with great importance here).

#8

FutureZipsMom Report

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Kookamunga
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me too - lots of kids experienced this. When I saw Wizard of Oz, my head nearly exploded.

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#10

staceybea Report

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Vicky Z
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Isn't the big one (the great one) the first one though? Didn't want to make it worse😅😅😅

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#11

TheBaltimoreSon Report

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Vicky Z
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You are not a boomer! You are part of the generation that is ruining the scooter industry of course!! (Always millennials fault!)😅😅

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Different cultures not only have different birthday celebration traditions, but age calculating systems as well. In Korea, your age would be different—it would not matter what day you were born, you would be the same Korean age all year. You can calculate it here.

#12

sarayublue Report

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Zophra
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sad that kids thsi young have already been socialized to think that marriage is a given.

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#13

mmmadison_ Report

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Katie Lutesinger
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would probably have said "Actually you can die at any age! Some people even die while they're still babies!", but then I have a history of saying things to children I probably shouldn't. :p

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Understandably, senescence is a hard thing for adults to cope with: the feeling of having not achieved enough, losing smoothness in skin and motion. Some works of fiction play on this fear of aging by exaggerating how fast it happens, such as Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle from 2004, or M. Night Shyamalan's 2021 film Old. However, there are real-life conditions causing premature aging. Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, sometimes nicknamed Benjamin Button disease, is one of them. Hopefully, medicine will soon be able to help people who have it more effectively.

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#16

ThisIsKateL Report

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Ryan Deschanel
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because we all know that every woman's purpose in life is to get married as soon as possible. /s

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#19

marcusthetoken Report

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Kookamunga
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We had SO MUCH FUN without phones or internet. Probably more fun then you are having right now.

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#22

dollybeads7 Report

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notdrem
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, I didn't got to school I spent too much time running from dinosaurs.

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Understandably, senescence is a hard thing to cope with, especially after puberty. Some works of fiction sharpen the emotional effect by portraying sudden aging as the main event, such as Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, or M. Night Shyamalan's 2021 film Old. However, there are real-life conditions causing premature aging. Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, sometimes nicknamed Benjamin Button disease, is one of them.

#24

LauraKRivera Report

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Monday
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"You, my little darlings, have cured me of any and all desire to have kids".

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#26

nickyg373 Report

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Vicky Z
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OK i imagined a pack of chocolate brownies😅😅😅 (am not so familiar with the scouts)

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#29

EmmyLou__92 Report

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RandomBeing
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i misread this initially as "helping bring back their 7 year old" like as in bring back to life. Needless to say i was momentarily confused.

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#31

ohannaxo Report

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Vicky Z
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Seriously the fact that we have passed these beliefs to the children is sick! And don't tell me there are no adults that believe that!

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Note: this post originally had 36 images. It’s been shortened to the top 31 images based on user votes.