Spouse and I had a heated (but friendly) argument last night over a very simple question. What say Dopers?
Here ya go:
Alan was born on August 20, 1956.
Barbara was born on September 20, 1958.
They got married on June 20, 1982.
THE QUESTION: How old was Alan, and how old was Barbara, when they got married?
25 & 23 respectively. They’ll turn 26 & 24 respectively 2 & 3 months respectively after the wedding. At least by the US cultural standard for how we reckon birthdays and ages.
But …
Some countries / cultures describe ages by saying someone “Is in their first year” from their birth through the first anniversary of their birth. And then are “In their second year” until the second anniversary of their birth, etc.
By that standard the newlyweds are in their 26th and 24th year on the wedding day.
Good bet Carol & Mr. Carol are talking past each other on this basis.
Alan was 25, Barbara was 23. Seems strange that this would be a debate or argument.
Alan is 25 years and 10 months old.
Barbara is 23 years and 9 months old.
The only time I can see this being at all controversial is if you’re giving the age of a child who’s less than two years old - and even then, no one calls a 22-month-old toddler “one year old” except to be willfully perverse.
Are you saying that your answer is 24 and 26?
Probably that’s true in all English-speaking countries, but there are different traditions in different countries. For instance in China, a child that’s been alive for less than one year is a first-year child, and then at the Lunar New Year (not their birthday) they become a second-year, and so on.
But for your case, “Alan” and “Barbara” most likely aren’t Chinese, so most likely they ought to use the same sensible reasoning others have already laid out in previous responses.
No, 25 and 23. One rounds down to the nearest year after age 2.
(ETA: in English-speaking countries, at least. And you do meet the occasional parent who gives their child’s age as “28 months”…)
With questions like these, I’m always more fascinated by what prompted the argument than I am in the answer.
I’ll give a little more time in case there are a few more unbiased answers, then explain. (It’s not that exciting, though.)
I’d probably say ‘nearly two’ if years had to be the unit, but this seems like an edge case; rounding down by 10 months for a 22 month old child is rounding down by 45% of the total, whereas rounding down Alan’s age to 25 is is 3% of the total - this seems more acceptable to me.
Moderator Note
Thread title modified to more clearly indicate the topic. Please use descriptive titles, even if you are settling an argument.
23 and 25. How is this even a debate?
I always get asked my age when filling out forms and I always give it as my current age. Not what I will be a few months from now. 
I suppose you could say “25 going on 26”…
Yes. Before around age 5, it’s somewhat important if you’re approaching a birthday. Approaching a growing-up milestone like becoming a teenager or turning 18 or 21, you might say “I’m almost 18!”
Otherwise, the only reason to describe it as close to age +1 is if you’re trying to highlight when your birthday is. It would be kind of weird for either Barbara or Alan to round up in the example given.
From Problem Child:
Bow Tie Killer: I drove over a thousand miles to hang out with a seven-year-old?
Junior: I’m gonna be eight in two weeks!
Bow Tie Killer: Don’t count on it.
Alan was 9,435 days old as of their marriage. Barbara was 8,674 days old.
I really don’t understand what the issue might have been.
If you’re one of the Tea Totallers in the cartoon “Baseball Bugs,” you might say “I’m only 93 and a half years old!”
A few months ago there was a “debate” on social media among people confused by someone saying “I’m 19 now; I won’t be 21 until next year” which of course makes perfect sense. All it implies is that his birthday this year hasn’t happened yet.
In my late 70s and I do sometimes now think in terms of half years, or more precisely, in how far I am from my last birthday and how close I am to the next. Differently from the way children think, my thinking is more in terms of “Wow, I’ve lasted this long, I wonder if I’ll last that long.”