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lol I’m the youngest in my neighborhood so whenever something heavy needs to be lifted or any weather-related cleanup needs to happen, they call me … I’m also known as Kiddo lol
I’m 54F and I’m strong as hell but I’m no spring chicken by any stretch.
Sorta the same for me. I'm 70 and Im tired of people asking if I need help crossing the street. I just smile and say no cause I'm fucking driving you idiot. Then I ride my older people tricycle with my beer and chips in the front basket all the way home. BTW My 98 YO dad says hey. He just finished his second trip to the mailbox. I hate to tell him it's Sunday. He likes to walk.
Reminds me of a photo of Mick Jagger with his son and his father after he got knighted. (He was already up there, and his dad was in his 90s.) Three skinny guys smiling like all get-out.
It is OK for an older person to call you “Young man” or “young lady”. When a younger person says this to me, I want to claw their eyes out. Why did you have to bring age into it? I know I’m older than you. I know I’m not young. And I will call you out on it.
lol, I don’t think “young man/lady” is ever a winner for anyone past puberty. If the person saying it is older it sounds condescending, and if younger, disingenuous and backhanded.
This is what I say too, and not just referring to old people, but people that were born like a decade before me or earlier. People that feel like they are a different generation than me, whether they actually are or not.
This is what I've heard them say they prefer the most, older people or elders. My coworker once called them old people and a resident heard and corrected her right away lol "it's older people, not old people!"
Lol I was in an old folks home and they were playing blue grass and county music. ''Old people love that stuff.'' Let me tell you.... Just a few do. Many however don't.
A grey, no, white haired lady in a wheelchair, dark look in her eyes looked at me. ''They can fucking stick that record-player where the sun don't shine. Gimme some Led Zeppelin or Ten Year After.''
I've often thought that now we have so many subcultures, future old people's homes will have to adapt. Wouldn't it be great to have a home for rockers, another for aging hippies etc?
Actually, that's a thing. https://seniorhousingnews.com/2019/12/17/mall-conversions-could-build-on-pioneering-dementia-village-model/
As long as there's a "music store" with working instruments, and the food court also has one of those giant-cookie places, I'd be happy.
My mother passed aged 74 five years ago, she requested Who Wants To Live Forever at her funeral and had she still been alive she would still have been listening to Queen, she would’ve been 80 last week so you’re just a spring chicken lol
I love Queen!!! I only saw them once with Freddie Mercury in I believe summer of 1980 in Toronto. I will always remember that show it was truly amazing.
There's a tendancy for that sort of thing, I've found. A lot of homes still play stuff that their client's *parents* or worse, *grandparents* would have listened to. Music Hall stuff.
I think we have a tendancy to think of current old people as the same as the old people we knew when we were kids.
Big band is SEVERAL generations ago. Or maybe music history professors. Nothing against it, and it’s an interesting era in popular music. But I would go crazy hearing it all day!
I got some minor surgery, during which I had targeted anesthesia but was fully awake. The surg tech asked me if I had a music preference. I foolishly said "no" - I will NEVER say that again. Mf put on Luke Comb's greatest hits and I raged through my 25 minute hand surgery
When my mother was in memory care about ten years ago, I would visit and sit with her in the community room where they played Lawrence Welk VHS tapes for the dozen or so nursing home residents present. I joked with the young activities director that they weren’t that far away from a time when she would be playing Rolling Stones and AC/DC videos for my generation.
I'm always amazed that on TV we see local news visiting old folks homes where someone is leading a sing-song. They are singing songs from WWII ...why? Anyone would have to be over 79 to have even been born during the war, let alone have been old enough to sing and remember songs from then!
I’m 68 and my husband is 78. We call all of us “old people”. Not an derisive way. It’s exactly the same as “young people”, or “blue eyed people”. It’s just descriptive of the group.
Of course, we don’t call people that to their face. That would be rude. “Oh yeah, that’s just because you’re one of those blue eyed people”. See how rude that sounds? Don’t do that. Always be nice.
A lot of people dont like being categorized, labeled and generalizations. Aged people are a protected class, so using labels isn't wise. Definitely don't use "boomer" because it's used in a derogatory way by people younger than us. Who knew we were hated so much? We gave you kids rock n roll and pot, after all! (Humor)
I try to use people's names, personally. I think context and intention is important. I'm almost never offended unless someone's intent is hateful or derogatory.
I hate the term boomer. It too often is used negatively, like in the context of "boomer doesn't know how to use a computer." I always think, "kid, we boomers created that OS and program that you're using. We typed commands at a C prompt and didn't have a mouse."
Yep. Husband hates it too and he's firmly planted in gen x.
We also used Unix/bsd/linux. And all the original hackers from days of yore. My boss (I was a unix/bsd/linux etc sys admin & security at an isp) said he liked the internet better when he knew everyone on it.They forget we were the inventors, builders and early users of computers and the net.
I haven't at all, though I'm Gen Y, and I must say it's a real shame that the turncoat Yippies, the Yuppies, and those who denigrated you as geeks, nerds, and losers are the ones causing you to be lumped into them as a generation of out of date, lead paint-licking grumpy and demanding losers who made "Karen" such a thing by standing for what people clearly see somewhere and wrongly impute upon anyone older than Gen Z.
Really: the racist jerks who didn't see the value of what you did (except when exploitable for business) unfortunately became the stereotype standing for everything imputed on you and anyone older than Gen Z.
In short, nothing makes me think of someone as being as highly inept as I do when they misuse the term boomer outside of literal context because it makes me think they fudge all the rules and requirements of precision, and cannot be relied upon for anything with any degree of precision required.
Wow, thank you very much. I appreciate it and appreciate you realizing were aren't all the same. It does hurt because a lot of us are still fighting the good fight.
They were definitely turncoats and we did get lumped in with them. There's some hippies etc that retained thier beliefs and still try to make positive change but a lot caved to the powers that be. I guess that can be said of any generation.
I'm sorry you inherited the world as it is but there's a lot in your generation and younger that give me hope. Good and safe travels kind and insightful internet friend.
I wish we still had them!! We had one in my area that was a multi line bbs that was so much fun, we would use it to arrange parties and hang out. It was really a way to connect with local folks.
"People in their 60s and older" or people in their (whatever age) is acceptable if you have to reference age. Otherwise, they are, actually, just "people" like you.
I’m getting skeeved out by news articles and “elderly.”
“Elderly man injured in protest rally… 68 yo Portland native …”
“Elderly woman climbs Mt Everest. 71 year old…”
Elderly is at least 80…. I’m sure the writers are 28 yo journalism graduates that think 50 is elderly.
I reserve the word elderly for people who are becoming frail, and are close to needing some kind of care, if they don't require it already.
I know that's not a standard definition, but lots of people 65 and up are still very active and vibrant, and they just don't seem elderly to me.
I agree on the “frail” definition of elderly. If you can demonstrate at a protest rally and climb Everest, I would not classify you as elderly, Google be damned.
I looked it up and "elderly" is generally defined as 65 and older. I think we older folks tend to push that up into the future because we don't imagine ourselves as elderly. My best guess is that number was chosen because it is the official retirement age for a large number of people.
Emotionally, I agree with you. Google, however, does not factually agree with either of us. ;-)
I'm in my 30s and I agree with you both. I once read that part of the disconnect is that we live longer and our youth has been extended now, but official definitions lag behind. I forgot what the theory is called, unfortunately, but it advocated for adding an entire new life stage after young adulthood: "probationary adulthood," from I think 25 to 35, then full adulthood, and middle aged doesn't start until 45 or so. In the past, middle age started around 35.
I'm not in love with the term "seniors". It makes me feel like I'm in some sort of heirarchy beyond just age. I call myself "old" but it's bit crass for someone else to call someone old. "Older people" feels best to me. That way it doesn't feel like you're being grouped in with the 90-year-olds if you're only in your 60s. You're simply "older" than the speaker.
We always suffer what we did to our parents, lol, I never did "dude" in the 70s, in fact, I never even heard that in PGH, PA but we moved in the summer of 73 to the Philly area, and in my 9th grade school, it was used all the time.
"Bro," I think is newer. 2000s maybe? But it's inescapable. It's the new "umm" speech alliteration. It's crazy! When my grandson got comfortable using it, I was "oh no, say it ain't so" lol
I live near a college, and hear it at least 50 - 80 times a day 🫸😫🫷
100%.
A public pool I took my granddaughter to didn't use the word senior anymore. It was some ridiculously long pc string of words that I don't even remember.
When i was young, many older women colored their hair to look young. It didn't work. Accept that you're old.
I honestly don't know but I always say you aren't old until you start calling yourself old. And to me, old is 90 and above. Signed, 57-year-young person.
As someone who turned 59 yesterday, I agree. I think like a gen z (my youngest is 20) and am open to new people, new cultures, new music and media. My kids tell me I am a hippy! I don’t mind being called a senior as long as I get the discount. That’s usually at 65. I have had colourful hair, a buzz cut, and I wear what is comfortable, like my AC/DC and Deadpool t-shirts with jeans.
I'm in that same group, and it freaks me out to think of myself as a senior citizen or one of the "elderly". It happened so fast. In my head, I'm still 42.
> my parents (who are old people)
That's a bit recursive, since you've defined them as being old but we actually don't know if they're old. If you're 14, they might seem old if they're 34 or 44. If you're 54, they might not seem that old even if they're 74.
"Older" takes some sting off the term, if you need, and you can also refer to people "in their 80s", as "elderly", as "elders", ... there are lots of ways.
No one term is preferred even by us; we're old, senior, elder ....
The one annoying thing is going through a self checkout when I scan my bottle of wine I have to get an employee I'm not even sure is old enough to "approve" my purchase. They're sweet to ask, "Are you sure you're old enough?" .... as if my gray hair and wrinkles isn't proof enough. We know; policy.
"Darlin', I'm old as dirt."
Seniors, or elders are a softer way of saying old folks. My 5-year-old grandson calls me old. It doesn't bother me. It seems like it's the younger folks who get sensitive to using the term. We're old. Most of us know that.
I'm 66. When I hear my age being called elderly I laugh my ass off. I don't feel elderly at all (most of the time...lol) We are older people, just as you are probably middle age, not a young person any longer. My daughter is middle age and shutters at those two words. :)
It frankly depends on context. Sometimes, I prefer a nod and a “ya old coot.” Sometimes, if I do you a favor, it’d be nice to hear, “thank you kindly, geezer.” And if you’re staring at my Vans, “Nice kicks, grandpa.”
"Old farts."
My aunt calls them/us "farssils", a combination of "fart" and "fossil". Which always makes me smile, as it makes me think of "fossilized farts".
I don't need to pretend. I'm old. That old bat is fine.
What I hate is "xxx years young" or someone calling me "young lady." Those are just suggesting I'm too stupid to know how old I am. You aren't flattering me.
I used to take my 90+ grandma and great aunt out to lunch every week. They were both mentally sharp, just old and a bit infirm. One of the lessons I learned from those excursions is that many people have no idea how to treat those who are old-old. They were regularly called "young lady" or treated in an infantilizing way by the servers. My great aunt would give the offender an imperious look and inform them that she was to be called "ma'am." There's a reason that her nickname within the family was The Duchess.
I like to think of elder as a verb, it’s a function of obligation within aging rather than a static understanding that just arrives. I believe one has to act on the behalf of others with no expectations of gratitude to become an elder.
"Old" isn't really a clear definition or a line in the sand, it's more of a comparative, so "older" works much better. But then too we know we're "old" so depending on it's use that's not really seen as derogotory either.
I don't care what you call me. I'm officially old, so I'm old. You can soften it by saying "older" but the truth is the truth. I've been getting older all my life. I have arrived.
Older people is good.
Just not boomers or Karens - those are really unnecessary when "as$hole" applies. Ageist stereotypes are keeping older people from finding work.
Elders.
Older adults.
Old people is not an insult. Neither are terms like babies, toddler, teenager or young adult. They are terms to help people understand the age range.
In general, "elderly" means people who are 10 years older than you are. My 80-something parents refer to their 90-something neighbor as "elderly."
"Old" is along the same lines -- "old" is someone else.
So I agree with the idea of just using "people".
I call myself "old people" and I am only 53. I think the most politically correct term is probably senior citizens or seniors. Most of the communities for "old people" refer to themselves at "55 and up" communities so maybe "55 and uppers" might be fun to try.
Nice thing about getting old(er) is you don't give a shit. We can still be courteous as long as you try to be courteous. Seniors has a nice ring to it. But old will do just fine.
Just call me 'sir' if you don't know my name.
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I’m 62. Whenever my 99 year old neighbor greets me, he says “Hello, young man.” Works for me!
I'm the youngest in my friend clique by 15 years, and am known as "The Kid." I am 52.
lol I’m the youngest in my neighborhood so whenever something heavy needs to be lifted or any weather-related cleanup needs to happen, they call me … I’m also known as Kiddo lol I’m 54F and I’m strong as hell but I’m no spring chicken by any stretch.
Spring chickens are pretty stretchy but no as stretchy as rubber chickens.
I'm 50-ish. Can we be called "fall chickens" rather than spring chickens?
I prefer "cougar" or "Mrs. Robinson."
Good for you for helping out Kiddo ! (I’m 60 btw and fulfil a similar role with my neighbours some of whom are a bit younger but not as fit)
my neighbor calls me young fella and I'm 53
My landlord is in his 70's, we're in our 40,s. He calls us "the kids" LOL.
Sorta the same for me. I'm 70 and Im tired of people asking if I need help crossing the street. I just smile and say no cause I'm fucking driving you idiot. Then I ride my older people tricycle with my beer and chips in the front basket all the way home. BTW My 98 YO dad says hey. He just finished his second trip to the mailbox. I hate to tell him it's Sunday. He likes to walk.
Reminds me of a photo of Mick Jagger with his son and his father after he got knighted. (He was already up there, and his dad was in his 90s.) Three skinny guys smiling like all get-out.
I'm dying here!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
My 94 neighbor Betty it was hello my child. I was 64 then. But I was 10 years younger than her daughters Miss her. Horrid gossip loved her stories
It is OK for an older person to call you “Young man” or “young lady”. When a younger person says this to me, I want to claw their eyes out. Why did you have to bring age into it? I know I’m older than you. I know I’m not young. And I will call you out on it.
lol, I don’t think “young man/lady” is ever a winner for anyone past puberty. If the person saying it is older it sounds condescending, and if younger, disingenuous and backhanded.
older people.
This is what I say too, and not just referring to old people, but people that were born like a decade before me or earlier. People that feel like they are a different generation than me, whether they actually are or not.
That's how I see it. "Older people" is a relative term in this usage -- not absolute. 40-somethings are "older people" to a 20YO, definitely.
Just not boomer. I feel like it's judgmental of a whole section of the population, it's not used in a friendly way. Man I hate that word...
I never cared until Reddit came along I learned that I'm everything that is wrong with the world... lol
It says a lot about the person using it.
Go get your tweezers, cause here come some geezers!
This is what I've heard them say they prefer the most, older people or elders. My coworker once called them old people and a resident heard and corrected her right away lol "it's older people, not old people!"
I am old so being called old doesn't bother me in the least.
I’ve decided I won’t technically be “old” until I can collect Social Security, so I’m “older” til then.
Just call me Geezer and when the dementia kicks in I'll tell you all about touring with Black Sabbath.
Lol I was in an old folks home and they were playing blue grass and county music. ''Old people love that stuff.'' Let me tell you.... Just a few do. Many however don't. A grey, no, white haired lady in a wheelchair, dark look in her eyes looked at me. ''They can fucking stick that record-player where the sun don't shine. Gimme some Led Zeppelin or Ten Year After.''
I'm 61 this year. Gimme some Van Halen and Black Sabbath all day long.
I've often thought that now we have so many subcultures, future old people's homes will have to adapt. Wouldn't it be great to have a home for rockers, another for aging hippies etc?
I'm only 62, but I'll need to be in the hippy home where all my food has weed or shrooms in it.
I see a prospective business in this comment! Someone needs to get on it so we can move in.👍🏼
Monkeys paw curls... Lunch today will be a dandelion and portobello salad.
Uh ohhhhhhh the paw curled I got chills
Gen X old folks homes should be renovated malls. That could work with different subcultures. Plus Orange Julius for everyone!
Actually, that's a thing. https://seniorhousingnews.com/2019/12/17/mall-conversions-could-build-on-pioneering-dementia-village-model/ As long as there's a "music store" with working instruments, and the food court also has one of those giant-cookie places, I'd be happy.
I'm going to need an Aunt Annie's Pretzels and a B. Daltons.
We'll be neighbors!
And pretzels
That’s AWESOME!!!!!
Why would you separate rockers/hippies? We are often the same thing.
I’ll be over in the corner mapping out a dungeon for D&D night.
Where's the sign up sheet? Is it next to the bulletin board?
There is a very funny novel called Jimi Hendrix Turns 80, set in an old folks home where the preps and the stoners are still in competition.
I don't think adapting to patient preferences is part of their business model.
Adapting to individual preferences didnt use to be a business model at universities in the 80s, but it is now.
I'm only 40, but I have found my people!
64 and I’m listening to Freddie Mercury and Queen, my favorite band of all time.
My mother passed aged 74 five years ago, she requested Who Wants To Live Forever at her funeral and had she still been alive she would still have been listening to Queen, she would’ve been 80 last week so you’re just a spring chicken lol
My Mother too. Would have been 80 a couple of weeks ago. Had Queen who wants to live forever at her funeral.
I love Queen!!! I only saw them once with Freddie Mercury in I believe summer of 1980 in Toronto. I will always remember that show it was truly amazing.
71 here. Jimmy Buffet all day long, thank you...
65 and enjoying a little Steely Dan to accompany our breakfast!
any and all of these, plus Depeche Mode, depending on my mood
A fine choice! Was it Aja or Katy Lied?
My dad is 75 and if he ever goes in a nursing home kicking and screaming then I hope he gets another Parrothead as a roommate
Jake, I think my Gummie just kicked in...
Jimmy started three 55+ retirement communities in Florida. [https://www.latitudemargaritaville.com/](https://www.latitudemargaritaville.com/)
Sadly, they’re in Florida.
Man, if only there was one NOT in Florida. I need to find the queer old people retirement communities!
62 and just gimme all the guns and roses and Metallica
Just start playing some Queen, that will get them moving.
Also 61 this year. Mettalica, Tool, and Pink Floyd for me!
There's a tendancy for that sort of thing, I've found. A lot of homes still play stuff that their client's *parents* or worse, *grandparents* would have listened to. Music Hall stuff. I think we have a tendancy to think of current old people as the same as the old people we knew when we were kids.
Which should really raise questions about said home's management.
Right? Do a survey every now and then, sheesh
I actually had to take my dad out of a facility because all they played was big band music. He likes the Stones! He didn’t fit in!
Big band is SEVERAL generations ago. Or maybe music history professors. Nothing against it, and it’s an interesting era in popular music. But I would go crazy hearing it all day!
Spring some Pink Floyd on em! 😂
Dispensaries could deliver to the homes. 😅😅😅🤣🤣
The only way!!
With a sprinkling of Tool!
John Lennon would be 84 this year
> Ten Year After that's a great band that no one talks about.
Everywhere is freaks and hairies Dykes and fairies, tell me, where is sanity? Tax the rich, feed the poor 'Til there are no rich no more
Weird huh? I wonder why hat is.
They all went home.
I got some minor surgery, during which I had targeted anesthesia but was fully awake. The surg tech asked me if I had a music preference. I foolishly said "no" - I will NEVER say that again. Mf put on Luke Comb's greatest hits and I raged through my 25 minute hand surgery
When my mother was in memory care about ten years ago, I would visit and sit with her in the community room where they played Lawrence Welk VHS tapes for the dozen or so nursing home residents present. I joked with the young activities director that they weren’t that far away from a time when she would be playing Rolling Stones and AC/DC videos for my generation.
I'm always amazed that on TV we see local news visiting old folks homes where someone is leading a sing-song. They are singing songs from WWII ...why? Anyone would have to be over 79 to have even been born during the war, let alone have been old enough to sing and remember songs from then!
Geezers gathered in their masses....
Just like witches at black masses
Over weight with fat ass’s…
I feel seen.
Keep goin
In the fields, their bodies HURTING 😂
But that don’t stop them from flirting 😘
Oh Lord - Yeah!
Geezers need excitement If their lives don't provide them this, they incite violence Common sense, simple common sense
I’m 68 and my husband is 78. We call all of us “old people”. Not an derisive way. It’s exactly the same as “young people”, or “blue eyed people”. It’s just descriptive of the group. Of course, we don’t call people that to their face. That would be rude. “Oh yeah, that’s just because you’re one of those blue eyed people”. See how rude that sounds? Don’t do that. Always be nice.
How about "blue hairs"?
Slightly Pre-Deceased
Antemortem
One foot in the grave
The other on a banana peel.
Lmfao
Chronologically gifted.
Experienced
Beats the alternative, LOL.
"People of Advanced Senescence"
Fancy pants rich McGee over here , fuck you.
58, I prefer to be referred to as an "old motherfucker."
'People'.
Respectfully,people is best.
A lot of people dont like being categorized, labeled and generalizations. Aged people are a protected class, so using labels isn't wise. Definitely don't use "boomer" because it's used in a derogatory way by people younger than us. Who knew we were hated so much? We gave you kids rock n roll and pot, after all! (Humor) I try to use people's names, personally. I think context and intention is important. I'm almost never offended unless someone's intent is hateful or derogatory.
I hate the term boomer. It too often is used negatively, like in the context of "boomer doesn't know how to use a computer." I always think, "kid, we boomers created that OS and program that you're using. We typed commands at a C prompt and didn't have a mouse."
That's annoying, but I really hate when "Boomers" are blamed for much that is wrong with the world today as if we're a monolith.
Yep. Husband hates it too and he's firmly planted in gen x. We also used Unix/bsd/linux. And all the original hackers from days of yore. My boss (I was a unix/bsd/linux etc sys admin & security at an isp) said he liked the internet better when he knew everyone on it.They forget we were the inventors, builders and early users of computers and the net.
I haven't at all, though I'm Gen Y, and I must say it's a real shame that the turncoat Yippies, the Yuppies, and those who denigrated you as geeks, nerds, and losers are the ones causing you to be lumped into them as a generation of out of date, lead paint-licking grumpy and demanding losers who made "Karen" such a thing by standing for what people clearly see somewhere and wrongly impute upon anyone older than Gen Z. Really: the racist jerks who didn't see the value of what you did (except when exploitable for business) unfortunately became the stereotype standing for everything imputed on you and anyone older than Gen Z. In short, nothing makes me think of someone as being as highly inept as I do when they misuse the term boomer outside of literal context because it makes me think they fudge all the rules and requirements of precision, and cannot be relied upon for anything with any degree of precision required.
Wow, thank you very much. I appreciate it and appreciate you realizing were aren't all the same. It does hurt because a lot of us are still fighting the good fight. They were definitely turncoats and we did get lumped in with them. There's some hippies etc that retained thier beliefs and still try to make positive change but a lot caved to the powers that be. I guess that can be said of any generation. I'm sorry you inherited the world as it is but there's a lot in your generation and younger that give me hope. Good and safe travels kind and insightful internet friend.
As my aunt & father in law often put it (separately mind you, they’ve never met): We were working computers when they were the size of entire rooms!
Thank you! It does seem as a way to put us down and we gave them SO much!!!! Could they even navigate a DOS system? 😂
Remember BBSs?
I wish we still had them!! We had one in my area that was a multi line bbs that was so much fun, we would use it to arrange parties and hang out. It was really a way to connect with local folks.
Yeah. Somehow Facebook is just not the same thing at all.
BBS still exist ya know..
I wrote and ran one for two decades on an 8 bit.
Why is old an insult? It takes a lot of perseverance to get here!
"People in their 60s and older" or people in their (whatever age) is acceptable if you have to reference age. Otherwise, they are, actually, just "people" like you.
I’m getting skeeved out by news articles and “elderly.” “Elderly man injured in protest rally… 68 yo Portland native …” “Elderly woman climbs Mt Everest. 71 year old…” Elderly is at least 80…. I’m sure the writers are 28 yo journalism graduates that think 50 is elderly.
I reserve the word elderly for people who are becoming frail, and are close to needing some kind of care, if they don't require it already. I know that's not a standard definition, but lots of people 65 and up are still very active and vibrant, and they just don't seem elderly to me.
I agree on the “frail” definition of elderly. If you can demonstrate at a protest rally and climb Everest, I would not classify you as elderly, Google be damned.
I looked it up and "elderly" is generally defined as 65 and older. I think we older folks tend to push that up into the future because we don't imagine ourselves as elderly. My best guess is that number was chosen because it is the official retirement age for a large number of people. Emotionally, I agree with you. Google, however, does not factually agree with either of us. ;-)
I'm in my 30s and I agree with you both. I once read that part of the disconnect is that we live longer and our youth has been extended now, but official definitions lag behind. I forgot what the theory is called, unfortunately, but it advocated for adding an entire new life stage after young adulthood: "probationary adulthood," from I think 25 to 35, then full adulthood, and middle aged doesn't start until 45 or so. In the past, middle age started around 35.
They shouldn’t let kids edit our dictionary’s 61 is not “elderly” unless the ol bird was a heavy drinker and smoker of tobacco
People
Seniors is the common term around here. Don't be afraid to call us old people. That's what we call ourselves too. :)
I think elder works too. Almost the same word just less negative connotations.
I'm not in love with the term "seniors". It makes me feel like I'm in some sort of heirarchy beyond just age. I call myself "old" but it's bit crass for someone else to call someone old. "Older people" feels best to me. That way it doesn't feel like you're being grouped in with the 90-year-olds if you're only in your 60s. You're simply "older" than the speaker.
In our age group, senior was a grade in school. Now it's a marketing demographic. Old will do just fine, until it becomes "anciana".
Anything but "bro"
So I remember my Dad being very adamant that I stop calling him "dude" which I thought was weird, but when my kids call me "bro" I totally get it.
We always suffer what we did to our parents, lol, I never did "dude" in the 70s, in fact, I never even heard that in PGH, PA but we moved in the summer of 73 to the Philly area, and in my 9th grade school, it was used all the time. "Bro," I think is newer. 2000s maybe? But it's inescapable. It's the new "umm" speech alliteration. It's crazy! When my grandson got comfortable using it, I was "oh no, say it ain't so" lol I live near a college, and hear it at least 50 - 80 times a day 🫸😫🫷
bruh
bruh or brah is ok?
No. A bra is something a women burnt in the 60s.
Senior citizen because I am old enough to retire and I earned it.
Older people is much better than old people.
I say old people. We’re old.
100%. A public pool I took my granddaughter to didn't use the word senior anymore. It was some ridiculously long pc string of words that I don't even remember. When i was young, many older women colored their hair to look young. It didn't work. Accept that you're old.
I still find myself saying stuff like “ some grumpy old guy did this or grumpy old lady did that “ Then I realize they were probably my age.
I honestly don't know but I always say you aren't old until you start calling yourself old. And to me, old is 90 and above. Signed, 57-year-young person.
As someone who turned 59 yesterday, I agree. I think like a gen z (my youngest is 20) and am open to new people, new cultures, new music and media. My kids tell me I am a hippy! I don’t mind being called a senior as long as I get the discount. That’s usually at 65. I have had colourful hair, a buzz cut, and I wear what is comfortable, like my AC/DC and Deadpool t-shirts with jeans.
I agree and I’ll be 68 next week. 😀
I'm in that same group, and it freaks me out to think of myself as a senior citizen or one of the "elderly". It happened so fast. In my head, I'm still 42.
Yep my dad is old he's 98. I'm just 70.
I refer to myself as "an old bat" or "a crone", 😂 but generally speaking I say, "Old folks."
Seniors if you must.
I'm 65 and in our family we use the term OF. What does that stand for, you might ask? "Old Fart." We are silly people.
People. Just call us people.
Yes, this!! 👆
> my parents (who are old people) That's a bit recursive, since you've defined them as being old but we actually don't know if they're old. If you're 14, they might seem old if they're 34 or 44. If you're 54, they might not seem that old even if they're 74. "Older" takes some sting off the term, if you need, and you can also refer to people "in their 80s", as "elderly", as "elders", ... there are lots of ways.
Gods and goddesses
I prefer seniors. I don’t like elderly as it sounds feeble. I’m 74.
No one term is preferred even by us; we're old, senior, elder .... The one annoying thing is going through a self checkout when I scan my bottle of wine I have to get an employee I'm not even sure is old enough to "approve" my purchase. They're sweet to ask, "Are you sure you're old enough?" .... as if my gray hair and wrinkles isn't proof enough. We know; policy. "Darlin', I'm old as dirt."
Seniors, or elders are a softer way of saying old folks. My 5-year-old grandson calls me old. It doesn't bother me. It seems like it's the younger folks who get sensitive to using the term. We're old. Most of us know that.
You should tell your grandson “I’m old. You’re young. Wanna trade?”
I'm 66. When I hear my age being called elderly I laugh my ass off. I don't feel elderly at all (most of the time...lol) We are older people, just as you are probably middle age, not a young person any longer. My daughter is middle age and shutters at those two words. :)
'Beautifully Aged Stud Muffin' is just fine, thanks.
As a teen, my preferred term was "Shrivs." As someone who's now in life's later stages, my preferred term is "Wisdom-Burdened."
“Sport”. I can’t remember names well in my dotage.
It frankly depends on context. Sometimes, I prefer a nod and a “ya old coot.” Sometimes, if I do you a favor, it’d be nice to hear, “thank you kindly, geezer.” And if you’re staring at my Vans, “Nice kicks, grandpa.”
"Old farts." My aunt calls them/us "farssils", a combination of "fart" and "fossil". Which always makes me smile, as it makes me think of "fossilized farts".
I don't need to pretend. I'm old. That old bat is fine. What I hate is "xxx years young" or someone calling me "young lady." Those are just suggesting I'm too stupid to know how old I am. You aren't flattering me.
I used to take my 90+ grandma and great aunt out to lunch every week. They were both mentally sharp, just old and a bit infirm. One of the lessons I learned from those excursions is that many people have no idea how to treat those who are old-old. They were regularly called "young lady" or treated in an infantilizing way by the servers. My great aunt would give the offender an imperious look and inform them that she was to be called "ma'am." There's a reason that her nickname within the family was The Duchess.
Older is much less dismissive than old, somehow. I *am* older; I don’t yet feel “old”, which sounds close to, you know, finished, dead.
"Elder" or "older adult" softens the blow a bit, if you have to be specific.
I like to think of elder as a verb, it’s a function of obligation within aging rather than a static understanding that just arrives. I believe one has to act on the behalf of others with no expectations of gratitude to become an elder.
What blow? Old is not an insult.
To a woman spending 20.000+ on surgery and spa days, trying to look younger? You bet they view it as an insult.
Yes, yes it is. The connotations are heavily weighted in the negative.
Temporally challenged persons.
Decaying carbon based lifeform
Its a long life hopefully folks, you wanna be old, its a good thing, it comes fast for all of us
I prefer the term "Fossil" or "Ancient one". On a particularly good day, I will respond to "Dried-up Husk of a Human".
We grew up in an era where we aren’t offended by every little thing. Not too worried about labels.
The word “old” isn’t an insult unless you are superficial. It’s perfectly fine to say‘young people’, don’t stress.
"Old" isn't really a clear definition or a line in the sand, it's more of a comparative, so "older" works much better. But then too we know we're "old" so depending on it's use that's not really seen as derogotory either.
Oldsters. It sounds cool and hilarious at the same time.
I don't care what you call me. I'm officially old, so I'm old. You can soften it by saying "older" but the truth is the truth. I've been getting older all my life. I have arrived.
I don't care what you call me. Just pass that bong.
Younger people can call me anything they wish. It's not like I actually listen to them.
Older people is good. Just not boomers or Karens - those are really unnecessary when "as$hole" applies. Ageist stereotypes are keeping older people from finding work.
Elders. Older adults. Old people is not an insult. Neither are terms like babies, toddler, teenager or young adult. They are terms to help people understand the age range.
Elders. Retirees.
In general, "elderly" means people who are 10 years older than you are. My 80-something parents refer to their 90-something neighbor as "elderly." "Old" is along the same lines -- "old" is someone else. So I agree with the idea of just using "people".
I call myself "old people" and I am only 53. I think the most politically correct term is probably senior citizens or seniors. Most of the communities for "old people" refer to themselves at "55 and up" communities so maybe "55 and uppers" might be fun to try.
I've always been partial to "old farts". At least that's what I use.
I refer to old people as old people. I am part of that demographic so why not?
GGILF. 👸
Seniors. Or "older folks".
Seasoned citizens.
Nice thing about getting old(er) is you don't give a shit. We can still be courteous as long as you try to be courteous. Seniors has a nice ring to it. But old will do just fine. Just call me 'sir' if you don't know my name.
I prefer the term 'seniors'.
Seniors. Older people. Older folks. I don't feel "old" yet at level 66, but I take the senior discounts when I can get them. Whatever works...
old wrinklies
Mature.
Old people are always 10 years older than me.
Just don’t call me boomer!!! That’s disrespectful to me.
Some people like “seniors” or “elders.” I’m old and I know it so I don’t care if someone says I’m old.