Marcelo González Oct 14, 2012:

@Altogringo All excellent points (and a bit a humor as well). :-)

Altogringo Oct 14, 2012:

Could someone please tell me... ...when it was decided that hyperactive is exclusively used in association with the disorder?
I remember it as being a perfectly useful descriptive term long before they decided to attach it to a disorder.
Just go with hyper then...unless they've invented some new syndrome or disorder to take that out of circulation. LOL
@Marcelo, I brought up the speed connection originally but it's not exclusively that. How many times you been wired on caffeine? Would the world be able to function if we weren't? LOL again
@Patsy, I don't see any reason why you can't call that person hyperactive. It seems pretty accurate from you rcontext and I don't think the word automatically has as much of a negative connotation as other people do. Why, I don't know.

Marcelo González Oct 14, 2012:

Let's be clear: none of these is a compliment. Nor should they be, given the context. That is, "acelerada" is not a compliment either. As for "wired," it's often used in the context of illegal drug use (in the US).

Yvonne Gallagher Oct 14, 2012:

I've already expressed my doubts so won't go down the road again. Just think it could be offensive and it certainly wouldn't be PC to use it if they DID have any disorder (unless it was being used in a medical setting).

Marcelo González Oct 14, 2012:

Yes, without a doubt! My point was to underscore that the word is used for both children and adults; it's really quite common. Since "acelerada" is a very standard word, I think it pairs-up rather nicely with "hyperactive" (in terms of register).

Patsy Florit (asker) Oct 14, 2012:

I have a doubt. The person I´m talking about is not an ADHD, she hasn´t got this disorder, can I use hyperactive as a characteristic of her personality all the same? This word is so connected to these disorders!

Marcelo González Oct 14, 2012:

@gallegy2 I agree that in the past tense you'll hear people say "She was...," but that is indeed evidence that its range of use is rather limited. As for "hyper" being used only with respect to kids, those adults who have ADHD (Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) realize first-hand that it doesn't afflict just kids. I think both hyper and hyperactive would be fine in this context. As Altogringo mentioned, it depends on "how formal you want/need to be."

Yvonne Gallagher Oct 14, 2012:

"frantic" imo is used more for temporary emotions "She was frantic as she's lost her keys" etc. with adv: "she was frantically looking for her keys".
"Hyper"immediately brings "hyperactive" to mind with images of kids who can't sit down and I think it's used mostly for them (kids) in this way. I haven't heard it used for adults other than with hyper-sensitive etc. She was "hyper" for an adult to me could also imply they have a fear of something so that's why they can't relax. "Wired" however, can be used in a gently humorous way to describe family/friends as in "My sister is just wired to the Moon! She is always running around and speaks so fast she trips over her words"/"My pal John is wired. He just never sits down". "Wired", in a negative sense ="speeded up on drugs" would need to have an explicit drugs context which is not present here.

Altogringo Oct 14, 2012:

Depending on phrasing... I don't see why not. Something like "She was a particularly frantic person..." would work w/some description like the context you gave but I think you'd have to be careful about where and how much you use it as an adjective.
But I think hyper or hyperactive, depending on how formal you want/need to be, get the job done best.

Marcelo González Oct 13, 2012:

an adjective not normally used to describe people ---- "There was a frantic rush for the door"

Michael torhan (X) Oct 13, 2012:

Maybe then, a perpetually frantic person?

Patsy Florit (asker) Oct 13, 2012:

Can I define a person as frantic? Or is it more an emotion?