# I just realised I am old **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 2, 2024, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575 "2024-11-02T12:50:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/21 "2024-11-02T16:09:56Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I don’t recommend looking for photos of actors/musicians you remember fondly from when you were 30. I remember the last time I looked at my high school year book, marveling at how young everyone looked. And I was looking at the teachers. I’m at the point in my life where I see a rerun of The Golden Girls and think to myself, “Betty White is looking good.” ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/22 "2024-11-02T16:12:20Z")
> [@susan](#): > > When Patti Smith complained as she put on reading glasses to see her new lyrics in concert. We saw Pat Benatar just before the pandemic at a small venue. She’s still got it, even as a grandma. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/23 "2024-11-02T16:33:04Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > Went to a Greta Van Fleet concert about 5 years ago. The lead singer commented about all the gray hair in the audience, said it was like playing in an old folks home. Someone from the audience hollered back “We are the only people that can afford the concert tickets”. Not to mention the faux-Zeppelin type of music GVF plays sounds exactly like what those gray hairs were listening to when they were GVFs’ age. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2024, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/24 "2024-11-02T17:42:21Z")
When I graduated from college, the 50th reunion class, who gets to walk before the graduates do, seemed very, very old. I went back for my 50th a year and a half ago. We seemed a lot younger. Plus, our class listing in the alumni magazine keeps moving closer and closer to the front of the book. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/25 "2024-11-02T17:56:11Z")
One piece of advice: when you Google some young up and coming player to see what their deal is, don’t look at their date of birth. Nothing will make you feel older than than discovering kids born in 2004 are actually grown adults being professional footballers. 2004 was like 10 years ago, tops. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/26 "2024-11-02T18:09:31Z")
I"m realizing the Millenials and Gen Z-ers are starting to really populate my company, while a small set of Baby Boomers hang on until the last minute. There’s a handful of us Gen X-ers bridging the gap, but it’s not much. I learned that 60% of the branch in my company is within their first 5 years of their career. This sorta points our my chronological age (47), but I don’t _feel_ old. Is there a socially-ackowledged age at which one does, in fact, “become old” or is it up to the individual to ‘self nominate’? Tripler When does “old” officially begin? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/27 "2024-11-02T18:26:00Z")
At now 66 I’m sorta middlin’ for a Doper. I’ve said this before, but years ago I first realized I was getting old(er) when I saw a pair of women chatting and noted it was a college-aged woman and someone obviously her Mom. And the thought that popped unbidden into my head was “Mom is hot; I’d like to meet _her_”. Not the other one. Fast forward 20 years and now I live in coastal Florida; home of many retirees and also a tourist attraction. Now I commonly encounter 3 generations of related women out together for lunch or shopping or whatever. I gotta say, Mom in that case is starting to look kinda young and Grandma, if she’s in good shape, is the one who catches my unconscious eye first. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/28 "2024-11-02T18:29:36Z")
At 77+, I know I’m old(er). But when I look at most of the people in this building, I feel pretty good. A lot of them have serious ailments or are using walkers to get around, and they have to rely on relatives or special transport to go anywhere. I’m still mobile and still drive. It will be a serious blow when or if I have to give up my freedom to move. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/29 "2024-11-02T18:57:32Z")
I spent the last few days with a former co-worker about age 60 and his father. Dad’s 87 and I’ve known both of them for 35+years now. Dad walks more slowly than we do, and loses his train of thought more easily. But he’s still out and about and active & traveling on his own. I don’t think he drives, but he lives urban center and can walk to most places he’s interested in and uber the rest. I don’t feel at all old when comparing myself to him. He’s certainly an example to aspire to. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/30 "2024-11-02T21:59:49Z")
Not only are all the baseball players that I watched as a kid retired, they are nearly all dead. When I look at the list of people in my old department, I realize I have met only 4 or 5 (out of 40+) of them. Virtually all came after I retired. And the department chair I know only because I was a good friend of his father’s (also a former chair). I also noticed that, ignoring inflation, I have been paid more dollars in pension than I had been in salary. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/31 "2024-11-02T23:28:37Z")
When a cop, while booking me for speeding, addressed me as “sir.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/32 "2024-11-03T08:36:19Z")
The other week someone offered up their seat for me on the train. I didn’t take it, even though I would’ve liked to. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/33 "2024-11-03T08:46:00Z")
I’m 73. I’m writing a memoir in which I mention Hayley Mills. A reader had never heard of her. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/34 "2024-11-03T10:03:29Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > When a cop, while booking me for speeding, addressed me as “sir.” I always say, it’s not when the cops look as though they’re barely grown up, and it’s not when they call you “sir” - it’s when you think they damn _should_ call you “sir”. BTW, try speeding in the West of England, and whatever age or sex you are, the cop who pulls you over may well call you “[my lover](https://mgmasoncreative.com/2015/11/22/west-country-regional-slang/)”. And another marker of age is when you no longer “trip up” or “take a tumble” - you “have a fall”. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/35 "2024-11-03T11:19:12Z")
Coincidentally, just catching up on a long interview with Alan Bennett in yesterday’s Guardian (still writing at 90!), in which he says “Samuel Beckett makes out old age is a kind of drying up, going to dust. In fact, getting old is more _liquid_ than that. You’re always being taken short.” ---
**Author:** ![GailForce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@GailForce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GailForce)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/36 "2024-11-03T16:45:46Z")
The first time you finally feel fully comfortable describing yourself as “middle-aged,” that’s the day you turn “old.” ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/37 "2024-11-03T17:19:59Z")
The only thing worse than getting older is not getting older. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/38 "2024-11-03T19:19:17Z")
I wish i had said that ! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/39 "2024-11-03T19:22:11Z")
> [@Newtosite](#): > > I’m writing a memoir in which I mention Hayley Mills. A reader had never heard of her. That’s the trouble with ~~angels~~ kids nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/40 "2024-11-04T00:22:10Z")
I’m 66. Who is Hayley Mills? That’s a rhetorical question; I can certainly google it if I care (hint: I don’t), so no explanation is necessary here. But seriously I have zero idea who this person might be. No idea of age, gender, reason for assumed celebrity, etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575.md?page=3)