Translation of 実に大人気無い in this video?

Question

I was watching the news -> link and I believe the narrator said

at 3:03

実に大人気無い。

The first translation that pops up in my mind is "really childlish" or "immature".

However, I'm not sure if this is what the narrator really meant??? For me, it's a pretty harsh word to describe a person, especially the one you aren't close with.

Hence I was wondering what did the narrator actually want to imply in this video? and Is there a better English translation that are more align to what she really meant?

or is it that these words just are not as harsh for Japanese?

Answer 1

Yes, the narrator said 実に大人げない.

The beanstalk in the video is obviously targeted at kids. The implication of this phrase is that the male adult should have given the child the chance to win (or at least the chance for the kid to try to win) because it's a variety show on TV. Of course it's said as a joke (so calling this corner ガチンコ勝負 was a kind of joke, after all)

未熟だ would have sounded harsher, but 大人げない is often used this way, to playfully refer to such "abuse of the power of adults". Here are some funny 大人げない examples. I'm afraid I don't know which English phrase best matches this, but maybe something like "You've tried too hard (when you're with kids)" work.

Answer 2

Yes. According to imiwa dictionary 大人気｛おとなげ｝ない translates to "immature, childish." Listening to the video, she is most certainly saying this and it fits in the context.

As for harshness, I would not know, but I assume that it's fine if this host is saying it on a television show.