# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/81 "2024-11-08T15:05:19Z")
> [@solost](#): > > It’s probably 10 or more years ago that I got a haircut, and the cashier, a pretty young woman easily young enough to be my daughter, was acting really friendly toward me. I initially took it to be flirting, and though I didn’t flirt back (I’m not a creep, honest) for a second I smugly thought to myself “yep, still got it 🕶”. > > Then the cold hard reality hit- she much more likely was being so nice because thought of me as a kindly, harmless old man. I probably reminded her of her dad or uncle or (God forbid) her grandpa. Pretty much exactly this.It’s the shock of realization that’s so very disconcerting. One other memory which still makes me wince. A decade and a half ago, driving Trep jr to University for the first time and then, along with every other parent, carrying his belongings into the halls of residence. I found myself thinking, “_Look at that poor old, fat, bald guy struggling up the stairs_…” - and realized that, most likely, he was thinking precisely the same about me. j ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/82 "2024-11-08T15:27:15Z")
I recently met someone at a conference and realized that he had the same name as someone I went to high school with decades ago. But he looked too old to be my classmate. I decided to check and asked if he had gone to the school, and he said he had. When I asked what years, they were the same as mine! “I was there then, too!” I said. He replied, “Really? What did you teach?” (This is a joke I heard on an episode of _Car Talk_ I listened to a few days ago.) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/83 "2024-11-08T16:14:19Z")
> [@solost](#): > > It’s probably 10 or more years ago that I got a haircut Longer than that for me …. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/84 "2024-11-09T04:46:53Z")
I go to a fair number of punk and adjacent shows and it’s often a mix crowd of young people having fun who may or may not be fans, and older people who stand in the back but are definitely fans. Saw Pulley a couple of years ago, as part of a 4 band line up. The crowd left a nice space for a pit, but one wasn’t really manifesting. The singer calls us out, telling us to close that gap and get closer…“we’re all 51 years old, our backs all hurt, we don’t want to mosh, just come closer so I’m not singing to a hardwood floor”. In my defense, I was a decade or so younger than that! Though I do still occasionally mosh… ---
**Author:** ![FS65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea666f/32.png) [@FS65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FS65)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/85 "2024-11-12T17:36:31Z")
Yeah 59 here. Played catch with my 14 yo nephew with a football. Bent back my index finger and I have something called Mallet Finger now, which needs 6 weeks of a splint. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/86 "2024-11-12T17:52:01Z")
Getting old is a balance between doing things you want to do with your kids while at the same time avoiding getting hurt in the process. It’s a fine line that I often cross and live to regret later. Now I know why my grandfather never wanted to play with me when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/87 "2024-11-14T08:09:14Z")
Lately, what I have found disturbing are the jokes about the Generation Xers getting old. So what does that make me given that I’m from the end of the boomer era? ---
**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 14, 2024, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/88 "2024-11-14T08:14:26Z")
Retired? ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/89 "2024-11-14T08:34:13Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Retired? Besides that. ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/90 "2024-11-14T08:58:07Z")
The cutting edge songs I remember topping the charts are now on the classic rock station. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/91 "2024-11-14T10:00:20Z")
I found an old, worn coin in my change. I took a moment to try to make out the date. It was from 1982. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/92 "2024-11-14T13:00:59Z")
I started feeling old when I found myself locked in intense negotiations…with myself…about whether a snack was worth the effort of prying out of my Lazy-Boy and shuffling to the kitchen. And if it’s worth the effort to bend over to pick up a dropped snack from the floor, or just leave it for the cats. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/93 "2024-11-14T13:55:27Z")
I have sometimes mentioned to younger people that I went to many “first US tours” of big-name groups, including Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, and Yes. Increasingly, they don’t recognize Jethro Tull or Yes. I suspect that this is because there are many continuing references to Led Zeppelin in pop culture, but very few to Tull and Yes. Whatever the reason, I’m old. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/94 "2024-11-14T14:54:16Z")
> [@X.L.Lent](#): > > I’m from the end of the boomer era? I was born in 1961 and never felt like I should be classified as a Baby Boomer, but also not quite an Xer. I just saw somewhere that they have made a new category - The Jones Generation, as in keeping up with the Joneses. This is made up of those born in 1955-1964. So I am no longer a Boomer! ---
**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 14, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/95 "2024-11-14T17:04:09Z")
'58 birth and always felt likewise: the youngest Boomers were always several years older than I. ---
**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 15, 2024, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/96 "2024-11-15T01:19:20Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > I suspect that this is because there are many continuing references to Led Zeppelin in pop culture, but very few to Tull and Yes. Whatever the reason, I’m old. And how many people who know Tull know their pre-Aqualung albums? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/97 "2024-11-15T01:26:57Z")
I’m not old enough… ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/98 "2024-11-15T04:34:46Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > And how many people who know Tull know their pre-Aqualung albums? Me 😆 ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/99 "2024-11-15T05:15:18Z")
“Sossity” is a frequent earworm for me. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/100 "2024-11-15T05:28:59Z")
> [@Dogginit](#): > > > [@Voyager](#): > > > > And how many people who know Tull know their pre-Aqualung albums? > > Me 😆 Or think Benefit was their peak? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575.md?page=6)