[General] puberty love

[Ashiuhto]

What phrase to describe a juvenile's love for his/her sweetheart?

1. Is "puberty love" aacceptable? or

2. The boy has a crush on his teacher, Miss Dong.

 

[Barb_D]

No, it's "puppy" love in the US for two young people. Your use of "crush" for an unrequited feeling for someone out of reach, like a teacher, is a good choice.

 

[CarloSsS]

Not a teacher
As far as I know, "puberty love" is not idiomatic. I'm sure you could use "puppy love" or "teenage love". The phrase "to have a crush on somebody" doesn't necessarily mean that either of the people involved is young or teenage.

 

[emsr2d2]

"Puberty love" is not used. It actually sounds like someone who "loves puberty"! I don't think that's true of anyone.

"Puppy love" is used in BrE too, for the kind of immature feelings which young people feel for each other and sometimes for inappropriate people (like teachers). They frequently mistake those feelings for love.

I agree with CarloSsS that you can have a crush on anyone at any age. It is more often used when referring to the younger generation but anyone can have a crush on someone.

 

[tzfujimino]

Hi, everyone!:-D
I'm sorry to butt in...
While I was reading these posts, I remembered a song called "Don't stand so close to me."(by The Police)
Don't Stand So Close to Me - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Please forgive me if it's irrelevant.

 

[emsr2d2]

It might help if you could tell us why you think it is relevant.

 

[CarloSsS]

The song is about a young schoolgirl who has a crush on her teacher, so it's what you could call "puppy love". I guess that's why tzfujimino thinks it's relevant.

 

[tzfujimino]

It might help if you could tell us why you think it is relevant.

If I understand the song(lyrics) correctly...it is about a schoolgirl having a crush on a young teacher.
Therefore I feel it is relevant to the second example sentence Ashiuhto gave.

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, that just goes to show how much I listen to song lyrics. That song is from the 80s, the period when I listened to a lot of music. I own the album that has that track on and I have listened to it many, many times. Somehow, I had never actually taken any notice of the content or the story! I just sang along with it, seemingly unconsciously. ;-)

 

[Barb_D]

Actually, I think the teacher -- completely improperly -- returns some of those feelings so it's not quite an innocent puppy love situation, but a bit creepier than that. (I'm sure as a high-schooler when the song came out, I thought the idea of a teacher returning a student's affection was super cool. Now I"m the mother of a high-school girl and I'm horrified!)

 

[CarloSsS]

In some developed countries, this is actually legal. The teacher needs to notify the school staff, or the director and the student must be over 17.

 

[emsr2d2]

When I was at secondary school, a 16-year-old girl in the year above me was having a relationship with one of our teachers. Most of the other students knew about it but the two of them were so happy together that no-one said anything. Once she had left the school, they moved in together, had three children and are, I believe, still together. I believe that the police could have got involved even if no-one "officially" complained but as far as I'm aware, that never happened.