# Are you old? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561 "2012-09-23T02:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/41 "2012-09-24T15:12:23Z")
Interesting that there are people 13-25 who consider themselves old, and others old enough to be their grandparents, who don’t. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/42 "2012-09-24T16:08:52Z")
In some ways I’m older than I should be, in others I’m younger. But in no way am I actually old. I wouldn’t call myself young anymore, but I definitely am not old. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/43 "2012-09-24T16:12:39Z")
I am older than I once was, and younger than I’ll be, that’s not unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/44 "2012-09-24T16:44:38Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I’m still trying to come to terms that I’m turning 40 next month and a quarter of my life is over. > > Feeling “old” is relative. If you are the 27 year old super-senior still hanging around the freshmen dorms, yeah, you should feel “old”. OTOH, you probably won’t feel old as the 27 year old associate at your law firm. A quarter? Wouldn’t that be more like half your life? As for feeling old, it should be relative to normal life expectancy (~80 years) and what society perceives as being old, which is of course gradually rising (well, except for some groups); by this standard, you might call 40 old since half of your life has passed, unless you are really lucky and live to be 100+. Or divide your life into thirds; young, middle-aged and old, which would be about 26.7 years for each period (jeeze, then I’m already middle-aged, but being old isn’t until 53). I’m surprised though that no fewer than 3 people aged 13-25 - and a third of the votes for that age range - have since said they are “old”, almost as if my post was responsible for those (there were no votes until I mentioned it). ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/45 "2012-09-24T16:48:49Z")
I’m 72 and I know I am old because my spirit says “Go for it” but my body says “Just a damn minute.” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/46 "2012-09-24T16:51:23Z")
One of my employees came in this am complaining of a hangover. She is 25, and said, “guess I’m getting old.” I replied that I was wearing underwear older than that. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/47 "2012-09-24T16:57:25Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > A quarter? Wouldn’t that be more like half your life? No.😉 ---
**Author:** ![destineal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@destineal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/destineal)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/48 "2012-09-24T17:14:20Z")
I’m 44 and only my knees and ankles are old. I’m not overweight, but my work requires lots of kneeling and lifting and it’s taken its toll. The most poignant thing my mother ever told me: My band was playing in a bar and she was totally caught up in the music (She was in her early 60s at the time and hearing me play was her favorite thing-heavy metal, rockabilly or anything in between.) She looked to her right and thought “What’s that old lady doing here…oh wait, that’s a mirror. That’s me.” She never felt old until cancer. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/49 "2012-09-24T18:25:19Z")
No, but everybody else my age is. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/50 "2012-09-24T19:14:24Z")
Nope - I’m middle-aged (assuming I live to 90). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/51 "2012-09-24T20:01:18Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > I’m amazed that anybody my age (27) considers themselves to be old; that is only “old” to a child (I have also been told that I look 18 or so). If anybody picks “yes” for 13-25, they are either lying or have [progeria](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progeria) (very rapid aging; you are lucky to survive to 13, much less 25). I’m 29. I can’t be old by definition, but it amazes me how old I _feel_. Things in my body just hurt for no apparent reason at all, and I start to fall asleep at 9:30pm every night. Shoot, last Saturday night I went to bed at 8:30pm. What is that if not old? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/52 "2012-09-25T01:51:45Z")
I wish _I_ could sleep, period. Dozing off in front of Wheel of Fortune doesn’t count. Us oldsters have trouble sleeping, we sit up all night watching informercials. That’s why we have all that junk cluttering up our houses. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/53 "2012-09-25T03:24:42Z")
Not old yet. I still can’t get my head wrapped around turning 44 – and that was three years ago. I still dream and aspire to greatness and still play softball three days a week and the only step I’ve lost is due to weight gain. (Although I do need more downtime between some games.) And I still dance naked around the house from time to time. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/54 "2012-09-25T10:47:42Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I wish _I_ could sleep, period. Dozing off in front of Wheel of Fortune doesn’t count. Us oldsters have trouble sleeping, we sit up all night watching informercials. That’s why we have all that junk cluttering up our houses. That’s funny, because I used to have severe insomnia in my early 20s. I still occasionally have sleep disruptions, but for the most part I just get tired early and go to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/55 "2012-09-25T11:25:51Z")
Since I think people get older from the time they are born, I think of myself as older. I know I am a day older than yesterday. I can still do most of the things I did at 40, it just takes a little longer! To me Age is mind over matter, and years don’t matter, it is if one is in good health (like my doctor tells me) that is a good thing, I would rather reach 100 if I feel good and am not a burden to others, than die at 24! He with the most years win. My husband’s cousin just celebrated his 100th birthday with a golf outing! ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561/56 "2012-09-25T11:47:33Z")
I am just over fifty, and I have been a cranky old fart for a good twenty-five of those years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-old/635561.md?page=2)