# Does everybody still feel like a young'un? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977 "2018-06-12T16:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/21 "2018-06-12T19:23:36Z")
It was bad enough when high school girls started calling me “sir”. Now M.D.s are starting to do it. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/22 "2018-06-12T19:33:57Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > It was bad enough when high school girls started calling me “sir”. > > Now M.D.s are starting to do it. From “Car Talk”: > [@](#): > > While waiting for my first appointment in the reception room of a new dentist, I noticed his certificate, which bore his full name. Suddenly, I remembered that a tall boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 40 years ago. Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought. > > This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was too old to have been my classmate. > > After he had examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended the local high school. > > “Yes,” he replied. > > “When did you graduate?” I asked. > > He answered, “In 1957.” > > “Why, you were in my class!” I exclaimed. > > He looked at me closely and then asked, “What did you teach?” ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/23 "2018-06-12T19:40:13Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Oh yes, definitely, but my mindset is much more pathetic. > > I always feel like I’m younger than I already am because I feel like I’m so behind in life that I am living the life of a mid-twentysomething, but I’m in my early thirties. I’ll be trucking around life all fine and dandy, then I’ll realize that I’m not as young as I think I am and it causes a mild panic attack. > > Granted, that’s more of a me thing than anything else, but I do feel younger than I am. Seriously, you are what, eight years behind? Just wait, sonny. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/24 "2018-06-12T19:41:07Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I just feel like my dad was Don Draper-like, and most days I still feel like a clueless college-age dude. I don’t know your dad but I’m not sure he really was though, deep down. I just think there was more pressure to conform in earlier generations - more pressure to wear a suit and tie, a hat. More pressure to only do “adult” activities. Generation gaps as social phenomena are often real, I think. But I wonder how much of the age gap is artificial in a biological sense. I mean we obviously mature in some respects. With experience we hopefully gain more perspective, more self-control. But after the brain fully matures in our twenties, I’m not sure we change much fundamentally. The desire to play for example never seems to disappear. Different generations may channel that desire differently, but as social pressure to rigidly differentiate child from adult breaks down a bit( which in English-speaking culture may be a Victorian era holdover ), we just aren’t as likely to prefer golf to video games. Or our kids are really into golf, while we prefer video games :D. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/25 "2018-06-12T19:54:43Z")
Satchel Paige once remarked “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?” I’m 25 and sticking with it, despite my chronological age of 63. The only difference I’ve ever seen between children and adults is adults _pay_. If you pay for everything, you are an adult. If not, you are a child, regardless of your age. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/26 "2018-06-12T19:55:47Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I’m like the OP - 39, homeowner, no kids but dogs, retirement account, been at the same company since I was 19. > > I still feel like a child all the time. My house is looking more like Pee Wee’s Playhouse every year, as as I’ve found I have zero interest in traditional decorating and much interest in hanging up concert posters, Super Mario decals and baseball pennants. > > For a while I resisted and was kind of \*ashamed \*of my kid-ness (it goes beyond the home decor) but I guess now I’m OLD enough that I don’t give a fuck anymore. I am what I am 🙂 I bought my 1st house 5 years ago; I was 46 years old at the time. Blue Elk came to visit about 4 months after I moved and brought his then-12-year old son with him. Moe hadn’t been over since the house was empty, so I asked him what he thought now that I was moved in. He looked around at the band posters, the roomful of instruments, the snowboard on the wall with the guitars, the shelves full of science fiction books and toys and gewgaws and tchotchkes and weird movies that nobody else ever heard of… “It looks like a 17 year old lives here,” he scolded. I high-fived Blue Elk. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/27 "2018-06-12T20:17:11Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I don’t know your dad but I’m not sure he really was though, deep down. I just think there was more pressure to conform in earlier generations - more pressure to wear a suit and tie, a hat. More pressure to only do “adult” activities. Generation gaps as social phenomena are often real, I think. Maybe. I think men were more manly back in the day. > [@Hermitian](#): > > Raising children can make you feel more like an adult, because you have to be the “the adult” all the time. But it also gives me a chance to play with Legos and Fisher Price Little People.😃 But children can also make you feel old because you have something to mark the passage of time against. It’s one thing to live in the same apartment or work the same job for 10 years. It’s quite another to see a child grow up in it. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/28 "2018-06-12T20:22:43Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I bought my 1st house 5 years ago; I was 46 years old at the time. Blue Elk came to visit about 4 months after I moved and brought his then-12-year old son with him. Moe hadn’t been over since the house was empty, so I asked him what he thought now that I was moved in. He looked around at the band posters, the roomful of instruments, the snowboard on the wall with the guitars, the shelves full of science fiction books and toys and gewgaws and tchotchkes and weird movies that nobody else ever heard of… “It looks like a 17 year old lives here,” he scolded. > > I high-fived Blue Elk. I’ve gotten these comments from people as well. Guitars, concert shirts, hardtail frame in the dinning room, cinderblock shelves etc. I’ll be 50 in a few seconds.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/29 "2018-06-12T20:24:05Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > But children can also make you feel old because you have something to mark the passage of time against. It’s one thing to live in the same apartment or work the same job for 10 years. It’s quite another to see a child grow up in it. The biggest mystery in my life is how children grown up when I don’t get any older. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/30 "2018-06-12T20:25:18Z")
30, inwardly feel 24. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/31 "2018-06-12T20:25:48Z")
I do when it comes to money. After I pay all my bills, whatever is left over, I think to myself: “What stupid thing can I spend this money on?” I mean, I do have a fixed amount that automatically gets deposited into my savings account, but the thought of taking that left over money and adding it to that never occurs to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/32 "2018-06-12T20:29:33Z")
One of the disappointments of my life is that I assumed grown-ups had figured things out, and knew what they were doing. Now I are one, and I still have no idea. I’m 62, for heaven’s sake - I should know what I want to be when I grow up. I have that Imposter’s Syndrome thing - on some level, I am worried that suddenly everyone will realize I have no clue. Especially at work - when will they figure out that most of the stuff I do is pretty obvious? Why does my wife stick around for 35 years? She could do a hell of a lot better, and she seems to like me. What if she wises up? OTOH I don’t care any more about what other people think about my tastes than I did when I was in high school. So either I was mature in high school, or I am immature now. And I’ve seen pictures of myself in high school - no one with that hairstyle is mature. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/33 "2018-06-12T20:43:50Z")
(Whispers) I stopped maturing like 25 years ago and have been pretending ever since. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/34 "2018-06-12T20:48:22Z")
30 here and feel as if I am 18. I feel like a kid who is playing the part of an adult. I have no kids, single and unmarried (though seeing someone) and I work on my car, hang out at a friends auto shop, play videogames (Star Wars BF2 currently), I still watch cartoons and think military toys are amazing. On the other hand I do work a bit, have bills and high cholesterol, I \* do not\* gamble on farts, my back gets sore… Stark reminders of aging. I am feeling pressure to get a ‘real job’ (I.E. stop freelancing), get married and have kids and dedicate all of my time to other peoples problems to complicate everything 😛 You really are just as old as you feel though. I’m sure I’ll feel 30 when I am 50. ‘Adult’ life is just bills and paperwork IMO. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/35 "2018-06-12T21:15:11Z")
Last December I turned 29. Again. I have had more 29th birthdays than all the ones before I first turned 29 put together. Which is my inner 12-year-old talking. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/36 "2018-06-12T21:40:58Z")
My gut feeling is that figures of authority - like cops who are 30 years younger than me are going to treat me like I was still in college. My kids grew up fine, so I guess I was adult enough for them. But now I have a grandkid and I can totally be a kid for him (he’s just 2) and it is okay. And he loves it. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/37 "2018-06-12T22:15:02Z")
I’m 50, married, one kid (he’s 19); we’ve owned our house for 24 years, and I’ve been at the same job for almost 20. I still feel pretty mush the same as I did 20 or 30 years ago…except on the day after I’ve been working in the garden; on those days I feel every one of those 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/38 "2018-06-13T06:24:23Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I’m the world’s wrinkliest ten year old. Hey, I’ve been mentally ten for decades too! Curious as to your reasons. Mine are: Two years away from becoming a teen and having to change schools. Old enough to want to do grown-up things, but young enough to really love kid things! We moved just prior to my 13th birthday and because of that I gave away all my toys and kiddie books. In hindsight, my childhood ended then and I’ve tried my best to regain it since! ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/39 "2018-06-13T07:36:00Z")
No I don’t feel young! -----And you kids get off my lawn! I’ll be 52 soon. I have a spouse, and a house (no mortgage), and three cats. I also have an incurable but not terminal disease. I can either be in pain, or drunk, or on pain meds----non-narcotic, but prescription----probably have to taper if I want to come off of. I had to go to my best girlfriend’s stepson’s funeral last month. That was an “away” event. It cost me $700 —well spent. The boy’s dad is a last-man-standing in his family. The funeral was in the mom’s hometown. So it was me, stepmom, stepmom’s sis, deceased’s half-sis, a cousin-and-her-husband there for the dad. The mom had a packed house. Still, it was $700 well spent to support my friends. Why do young people have to die over senseless, bad decisions? Of course the sky is beautiful as the clouds perform ballet! But life decisions are wearing. And much of the fun decisions are in the past. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977/40 "2018-06-13T12:17:44Z")
> [@fervour](#): > > I also have an incurable but not terminal disease. I can either be in pain, or drunk, or on pain meds I’d go with “drunk”! > [@fervour](#): > > Why do young people have to die over senseless, bad decisions? I suppose that’s what makes them bad and senseless. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everybody-still-feel-like-a-youngun/815977.md?page=3)