"boys will be boys" meaning in All languages combined

See boys will be boys on Wiktionary

Proverb [English]

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-boys will be boys.wav
Head templates: {{head|en|proverb|head=boys will be boys}} boys will be boys
  1. It is hard, often fruitless, to attempt to curb the natural playfulness and tendency to mischief of most growing boys.
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  2. Even grown men usually remain somewhat boyish at heart. Translations (men remain boyish at heart): pojat ovat poikia (Finnish), мальчи́шки есть мальчи́шки (malʹčíški jestʹ malʹčíški) (Russian)
    Sense id: en-boys_will_be_boys-en-proverb-kPPTucL0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 11 12 26 19 32 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 18 11 16 27 29 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 13 13 21 26 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 13 20 12 27 28 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 16 14 15 28 28 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 17 14 15 28 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 12 20 12 27 29 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 16 14 15 28 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations: 12 21 11 26 29 Disambiguation of 'men remain boyish at heart': 1 81 11 3 3
  3. (informal, offensive) Predatory behavior of suitors should be viewed as excusable because it comes naturally to many boys and men. Tags: informal, offensive
    Sense id: en-boys_will_be_boys-en-proverb-3hg~gP0B Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 11 12 26 19 32 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 18 11 16 27 29 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 12 10 24 26 29 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 13 13 21 26 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 13 20 12 27 28 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 16 14 15 28 28 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 17 14 15 28 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 12 20 12 27 29 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 16 14 15 28 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations: 12 21 11 26 29
  4. 2018 September 27, Mary Kilpatrick, “Why the 'boys will be boys' justification of sexual violence doesn't fly: Comparing Kavanaugh to Steubenville”, in Shatter on Cleveland.com, published 2019 January 29, retrieved 2021-03-19:
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  5. 2018 September 27, Mary Kilpatrick, “Why the 'boys will be boys' justification of sexual violence doesn't fly: Comparing Kavanaugh to Steubenville”, in Shatter on Cleveland.com, published 2019 January 29, retrieved 2021-03-19: Categories (topical): Children, Male
    Sense id: en-boys_will_be_boys-en-proverb-5Af1sk15 Disambiguation of Children: 3 11 3 20 63 Disambiguation of Male: 12 12 16 26 34 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English proverbs, English tautophrases, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 11 12 26 19 32 Disambiguation of English proverbs: 8 14 11 15 52 Disambiguation of English tautophrases: 13 14 18 23 33 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 18 11 16 27 29 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 12 10 24 26 29 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 13 13 21 26 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 13 20 12 27 28 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 16 14 15 28 28 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 17 14 15 28 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 12 20 12 27 29 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 16 14 15 28 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations: 12 21 11 26 29
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Translations (boys are mischievous by nature): pojat ovat poikia (Finnish), il faut que jeunesse se passe (French), Jungen sind nun einmal so (German), chłopcy zawsze będą chłopcami (Polish), мальчи́шки есть мальчи́шки (malʹčíški jestʹ malʹčíški) (Russian), Dečki će biti dečki (Serbo-Croatian)
Disambiguation of 'boys are mischievous by nature': 15 8 24 24 29
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      "links": [
        [
          "men",
          "men"
        ],
        [
          "boyish",
          "boyish"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English offensive terms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Predatory behavior of suitors should be viewed as excusable because it comes naturally to many boys and men."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, offensive) Predatory behavior of suitors should be viewed as excusable because it comes naturally to many boys and men."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "offensive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "2018 September 27, Mary Kilpatrick, “Why the 'boys will be boys' justification of sexual violence doesn't fly: Comparing Kavanaugh to Steubenville”, in Shatter on Cleveland.com, published 2019 January 29, retrieved 2021-03-19"
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "2018 September 27, Mary Kilpatrick, “Why the 'boys will be boys' justification of sexual violence doesn't fly: Comparing Kavanaugh to Steubenville”, in Shatter on Cleveland.com, published 2019 January 29, retrieved 2021-03-19:"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "2018 September 27, Mary Kilpatrick, “Why the 'boys will be boys' justification of sexual violence doesn't fly: Comparing Kavanaugh to Steubenville”, in Shatter on Cleveland.com, published 2019 January 29, retrieved 2021-03-19:\nIt's not hard to see the parallels between the sexual assault accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the 2012 Steubenville rape case. Three decades apart, there is one central difference: Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, and has never been criminally charged. In the Steubenville case, two star football players were convicted of raping a girl, and sentenced to prison. But amid the outrage in both cases, there has been a chorus of \"boys will be boys,\" the excuse of youth, of teenage brains that can't control themselves and the victim shaming that accompanies that perception.",
        "It's not hard to see the parallels between the sexual assault accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the 2012 Steubenville rape case. Three decades apart, there is one central difference: Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, and has never been criminally charged. In the Steubenville case, two star football players were convicted of raping a girl, and sentenced to prison. But amid the outrage in both cases, there has been a chorus of \"boys will be boys,\" the excuse of youth, of teenage brains that can't control themselves and the victim shaming that accompanies that perception."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "2018 September 27, Mary Kilpatrick, “Why the 'boys will be boys' justification of sexual violence doesn't fly: Comparing Kavanaugh to Steubenville”, in Shatter on Cleveland.com, published 2019 January 29, retrieved 2021-03-19:"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-boys will be boys.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/82/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-boys_will_be_boys.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-boys_will_be_boys.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/82/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-boys_will_be_boys.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-boys_will_be_boys.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "boys are mischievous by nature",
      "word": "pojat ovat poikia"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "boys are mischievous by nature",
      "word": "il faut que jeunesse se passe"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "boys are mischievous by nature",
      "word": "Jungen sind nun einmal so"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "boys are mischievous by nature",
      "word": "chłopcy zawsze będą chłopcami"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "malʹčíški jestʹ malʹčíški",
      "sense": "boys are mischievous by nature",
      "word": "мальчи́шки есть мальчи́шки"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "boys are mischievous by nature",
      "word": "Dečki će biti dečki"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "men remain boyish at heart",
      "word": "pojat ovat poikia"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "malʹčíški jestʹ malʹčíški",
      "sense": "men remain boyish at heart",
      "word": "мальчи́шки есть мальчи́шки"
    }
  ],
  "word": "boys will be boys"
}

Download raw JSONL data for boys will be boys meaning in All languages combined (5.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.