Neohelpless?

Question

I know that the word above isn't in dictionaries. There is a Finnish word, uusavuton, which is an adjective and is usually used to refer to young people who, unlike their parents and grandparents, don't seem to know how to cope in some ordinary everyday situations. They don't seem to have some skills that were a piece of cake for their parents. For example, some youngsters don't know how to cook food.

I wonder if such an adjective or noun exists in English? Thank you for your reply.

CB

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Hi, CB.
Of course we have many "helpless as a ___" expressions for neophytes, but they're sometimes applied to adults.

Does "uusavuton" actually break down into parts for "neo", "help", and "less"??

Is the sun over the yardarm yet in your neck of the woods?

Best, - A.

Cool Breeze · Answer

AvangiDoes "uusavuton" actually break down into parts for "neo", "help", and "less"??

More or less, yes. Uus is the same as neo and avuton means helpless even though it doesn't break down into two parts as clearly as the English word. Help is apu in Finnish but the p changes to v when the suffix tonis added. I know enough about language to realize that not every word has an equivalent in another language. The Finnish word isn't very old because this phenomenon "neohelplessness"

is something new. I suppose in Finnish our prefixuus can be more freely added to old words than the etymologically Greek neo. Uusavuton is a vogue word now used by elderly people who complain about the helplessness and inability of the young to manage in life situations that posed no problems for previous genarations.
The sun is indeed climbing higher and higher in the sky every day. In six or seven weeks it will shine 24 hours a day in northern Finland. We have a short semi-dark night even at the height of summer in Helsinki. [D] (I'll have one of these:

)
CB

Anonymous · Answer

Greetings, everyone! I, another Finn, came across this old thread while also googling for an English expression for this "uusavuton", which is, for real, a much-used and well-understood concept "at these latitudes". It's closely related to the concept of "pullamössösukupolvi", literally "the generation that wants their cinnamon rolls mushed up for them (with coffee or milk)", i.e. life must be so easy that nothing requires chewing, or any other effort for that matter.

Yes, uus-avu-ton is exactly neo-help-less, tha "avu-" part being the weak grade root of "apu", 'help'. I was wondering, could FLAT-FOOTED mean about the same?

Neohelpless?

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