head - *boy* ?

[Jim Flanagan]

Yael --

Although the terms "head boy" and "head girl" are not often used here 
in the U.S., they are readily understandable here and seem 
appropriate through secondary school (age 17). The most common 
alternatives in the U.S. are terms like validictorian, head of the 
student council, Top Student, etc. I suspect that these terms could 
be used in British schools as well.

"Prefect" is somewhat less well-understood in the U.S.  We would 
typically use terms such as "monitor" or "student assistant." Note 
that most of the substitutions listed above are age- and gender-
neutral, so the boy/girl-man/woman question doesn't arise.  

General terms for the 12-17 age group include "adolescent" 
and "youth." However, these are typically found only in formal names 
such as "Youth Bowling League" or "Adolescent Psychiatric Clinic."  
Terms analogous to "head boy/girl" can be formed from these words, 
but they are not commonly used and sound strangely formal to me. For 
example, "Head Youth" sounds like something from the books "1984" 
or "Brave New World."  "Head Adolescent" would *never* be used, 
except as a joke.

One common term for the age group 17-21 is "young adult," which is 
found in organizational names such as "Young Adult Bible School." 
This term might be used in the name of an honorary award such 
as "Leading Young Adult," or "Top Young Adult." However, "Head Young 
Adult" doesn't sound right to me.

There are also a number of slang terms for these age groups, most of 
which are humorous, impolite, or vulgar.  Let me know if you need any 
of these for your fanfic, Yael.

-Jim Flanagan



--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "yael oren" <yael_pou at h...> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have a little question about the terms head-boy and head-girl:
> 
> I always considered 'boy'/'girl' to be equivalent to 'child' (age 4-
12). The Hogwarts seventh-year students are 17-18. Does the 
term 'boy'/'girl' still apply to them? Isn't there a more appropriate 
word in English? In Hebrew there's a different word for 12-17 age 
group, and then another one for the 17-21 age group. Is there 
anything similar?
> 
> Thanks, yael
>