# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/141 "2024-12-08T04:48:30Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Ms Napier, 72, just got carded yesterday. Yeah, they usually card everyone these days, where I live. I like to think that I look considerably younger than my actual age, but there’s no damn way any objective observer would think I’m too young to buy alcohol. This is in stores, by the way. I haven’t been in a bar in years, so I don’t know if they too are carding sixty year olds. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/142 "2024-12-08T05:09:37Z")
On a work trip, a group of us went to a karaoke club. While we were waiting to start, the big screen in the room was showing the music video for the Madonna song Material Girl. One of the younger staff who was born in October 2001, said out loud, “Did this blow up the internet when it was released?” A couple of us tried to gently point out that there was no internet when the song was released (forty years ago). ---
**Author:** ![john\_b\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@john\_b\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/john_b_2)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/143 "2024-12-08T06:02:07Z")
Better sir than pal or big guy, while boss, professor or something more ''distinguished" is more flattering. I do rather cherish dude moments, though, as they make me feel young. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/144 "2024-12-08T06:45:37Z")
I am in my fifties and identify as “old-curious”. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/145 "2024-12-08T15:02:29Z")
To be followed by “old-adjacent”. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/146 "2024-12-08T15:05:50Z")
This thread makes me feel young (in my early 40s). But a couple of new colleagues are young enough to be my sons (as in, younger than my relationship with my husband, not just technically based on hypothetical ability to get pregnant). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/147 "2024-12-08T15:24:55Z")
And on the Old Spice deodorant stick I’m currently using these words appear: _If your grandfather hadn’t worn it, you wouldn’t exist._ My **parents** , coincidentally only eight days apart in age, were soon to become teenagers when Old Spice came out. To be fair, I had thought the brand was much older. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/148 "2024-12-08T16:01:13Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The former is fairly close to what I’ve paid for gas recently after adjusting for inflation. This seems a circular argument to me: of course you pay the same today you used to pay way back then when you adjust for inflation, as inflation is defined as the price change that has happened since way back then up to today. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/149 "2024-12-08T18:01:11Z")
But not all segments are effected the same or rise in lockstep. Gas prices have been volatile over that time period. It is interesting if true that after decades that volatility has settled to tracking most along with overall inflation. College and housing costs have way outpaced inflation. Remembering when you could work and make enough to at least mostly pay your way through college marks you as old! That I could afford to buy a home when a resident in training, crappy fixer upper not withstanding, marks me as old. Electronic goods are much less inflation adjusted. So on. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/150 "2024-12-08T19:19:37Z")
A few years ago someone called me “young man”. I was tempted to ask her if she’s had her eyes checked lately. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/151 "2024-12-08T19:42:59Z")
My mother-in-law, when discussing the produce market she went to, always called the people working there “the young men.” When we went with her one day I found the youngest of them was about 60. Now I’m about as old as she was then, and I know what she was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/152 "2024-12-08T20:52:23Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > My 40-yr-old co-worker didn’t know who Gordon Lightfoot was, but said she’d ask her father. It seems to me that people are not only more siloed politically, but also pop culturely. When I was young, I knew all about older actors, singers, famous politicians who had mostly died before I was born. I listened to all kinds of music – differnt genres, different eras, etc. And I watched a lot of old movies. It seems younger people today only know who’s and what’s popular _right now._ Seems so limited to me. > [@PatrickLondon](#): > > And before that in some notable British films that maybe didn’t have much impact abroad, notably _Whistle Down The Wind_ and _Tiger Bay_ I’ve seen both of those, and she was great in them (her mom wrote the book _Whistle Down the Wind_ was based), and her dad cast her in _Tiger Bay_ – her first movie? I also saw her in a _Midsomer Murders_ episode a few years back. Man, did she look _old._ Mainly, she’d gotten too tan in her younger years and combined with being very thin her skin made her look 100 years old. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/153 "2024-12-08T22:09:25Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Man, did she look _old._ Mainly, she’d gotten too tan in her younger years and combined with being very thin her skin made her look 100 years old. Well, that and she’s 78 years old. And it seems as though British actresses are less likely to have had endless facelifts and fillers, and look like real people at their actual age instead of, say, Jane Fonda. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/154 "2024-12-08T22:30:17Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Well, that and she’s 78 years old. She made the episode when she was more like 70. But I have noticed a lot of English actresses who are very fair getting too tan, and tanning is one of the most aging activities you can indulge in. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2024, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/155 "2024-12-09T03:53:37Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > and look like real people at their actual age instead of, say, Jane Fonda. You are making me hurl. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2024, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/156 "2024-12-09T04:37:35Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > It seems to me that people are not only more siloed politically, but also pop culturely. When I was young, I knew all about older actors, singers, famous politicians who had mostly died before I was born. I listened to all kinds of music – differnt genres, different eras, etc. And I watched a lot of old movies. It seems younger people today only know who’s and what’s popular _right now._ Seems so limited to me. Well, to be fair, now there is just a lot **more** of all that. It’s everything you knew, _plus_ everything that came after. So it’s really not that surprising that younger people are forcing more on what is current. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2024, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/157 "2024-12-09T13:43:48Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Well, to be fair, now there is just a lot **more** of all that. It’s everything you knew, _plus_ everything that came after. So it’s really not that surprising that younger people are forcing more on what is current. Also, everything is more segmented these days. People say they knew the actors and singers from before they were born, and lament the ignorance of the young, but for the most part, they knew a small percentage of the actors, singers, etc. that were deemed worthy of remembering (music still played on oldies stations, shows or movies re-run on tv, etc.). Then they get annoyed or insult young people for not remember all the famous people of their own youths, seemingly completely unaware that there’s a lot more well-known figures of previous generations that they themselves never learned about than that they did. Also, now that old media isn’t as automatic (streaming music lets you pick and choose, far more television and movies available than 30 years ago), those who do actively choose to look at older media look at different things and may favor something that is far more obscure than what the older generation has chosen as cultural touchstones. Kinda related - I think the younger Americans of today are more likely to have seen/listened to more non-American media than in previous generations - at least, excluding the British Invasion era of music. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/158 "2024-12-15T12:14:45Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > I was tempted to ask her if she’s had her eyes checked lately And now I’m tempted to ask the same thing, the next time I get carded buying wine or beer at the grocery store. By contrast, I don’t think they ever carded me at the local state liquor store. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/159 "2024-12-15T14:29:33Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > And on the Old Spice deodorant stick I’m currently using these words appear: > > _If your grandfather hadn’t worn it, you wouldn’t exist._ 😲 My grandparents started dating after Old Spice came out, but not much later. My dad also wears Old Spice, as his dad did. When I met my husband, he also wore Old Spice. But I think many guys did at the time. I just looked it up, and Axe body spray came to the U.S. in 2002. Both hubby and I were already in our 30s, so outside the target demographic. [AXE in the U.S.](https://www.unileverusa.com/brands/personal-care/axe/#:~:text=The%20AXE%20brand%20was%20first,in%20the%20U.S.%20in%202002) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/160 "2024-12-15T14:54:02Z")
I just wonder, after reading this article [about fame in popular music](https://www.honest-broker.com/p/how-long-does-pop-culture-stardom?utm_source=publication-search) lasting 80 years before entering terminal decline, how many here recognize this man: [![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa89254c9-18eb-4b3b-8ca7-e0fef5d009b7_1532x1346.png) ](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa89254c9-18eb-4b3b-8ca7-e0fef5d009b7_1532x1346.png) Just a poll, not representative at all: _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/160))_ His name was Benny Goodman, he was very famous 90 years ago. And of course I had never heard of him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575.md?page=9)