# "I know I'm showing my age." **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 2, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775 "2008-11-02T22:25:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [November 2, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/1 "2008-11-02T22:25:38Z")
I just heard a bimbo news reporter mention that she remembers Clinton’s first inauguration, followed by “I know I’m showing my age.” _ **You’re showing your AGE??? What are you, in your fucking TWENTIES???** _ I’m old enough to remember _Eisenhower_’s first inauguration, in 1953. I was 7, and my mother let me stay home from school to watch it on our new tv with a 12" round screen. It was the first televised inauguration, and she said I will always remember it. I also watched Elizabeth II’s coronation the same year. Yeah, I know I’m showing my age. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/2 "2008-11-02T22:38:23Z")
They believe that ignorance, naivete, and hormonal derangement are to be envied. They’ll get over it. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/3 "2008-11-02T22:55:54Z")
Think about it this way: there are people out there who know of Arnold Schwarzenegger as that funny talking governor rather than that funny talking cyborg from the Terminator movies, the same way that my generation knows of Regan as a president as opposed to an actor. We’re all getting older and on occasion we all find ourselves dating ourselves. In short, suck it up, Granny. You don’t have the monopoly on aging. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/4 "2008-11-02T23:15:29Z")
I was going to agree with the OP until I stopped and thought about it: there are people who are voting in this election who may very well have been fresh out of diapers in 1993. Since there’s such a surge of young voters this cycle, we’re talking about a whole bunch of potential voters who were _three years old_ when Bill Clinton played the sax on the Arsenio Hall Show. And here I am twenty-seven and voting for president for the third time. I might as well be stuck out on an ice flow to save my family from having to care for me in my doddering old age. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/5 "2008-11-02T23:56:24Z")
A few months after Frank Sinatra died, a friend of mine asked a young woman he met (a nineteen-year-old bride-to-be he met at a photo studio) if anyone ever told her that she looked like Nancy Sinatra. The girl looked perplexed for a moment and then said, “Oh, is she, like, related to that Frank guy?” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/6 "2008-11-03T00:11:12Z")
I don’t get it. That was sixteen years ago, which is a not-small amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/7 "2008-11-03T00:12:31Z")
“Showing her age” in the OP’s example demonstrates what approximate age group she’s in, it doesn’t imply that her age is advanced. At least that’s how I have always interpreted such statements. ---
**Author:** ![Jaglavak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jaglavak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaglavak)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/8 "2008-11-03T00:17:49Z")
Yeah, but we don’t have to be adrift in time. I’m no historian, but I do use some of the time I have on this planet to study what has come before me. One reason is to try and understand how we got ourselves in this fustercluck in the first place. Also I see a lot of the same scams that people are still trying to sell me today. And every once in awhile I strike pay dirt. The other day I ran across this little gem: King Floyed - Groove Me I gotta say, that kicks the crap out of anything Kid Rock ever did. And for some light reading: SunTzu - Art of War Scarier than a platoon of Freddy Kreugers. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/9 "2008-11-03T00:26:38Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > I don’t get it. That was sixteen years ago, which is a not-small amount of time. Heh. Now YOU’RE showing your age. Sixteen years ago? That was yesterday. Now get off my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/10 "2008-11-03T00:33:29Z")
> [@CaerieD](#): > > I was going to agree with the OP until I stopped and thought about it: there are people who are voting in this election who may very well have been fresh out of diapers in 1993. Since there’s such a surge of young voters this cycle, we’re talking about a whole bunch of potential voters who were _three years old_ when Bill Clinton played the sax on the Arsenio Hall Show. > > And here I am twenty-seven and voting for president for the third time. I might as well be stuck out on an ice flow to save my family from having to care for me in my doddering old age. And there are voters in this election who don’t remember the Cold War. Maybe that’s why the charge of “socialism” doesn’t seem so potent anymore. I’m about to turn 48; I keep finding that things still in the “Recent” file in my memory are in fact over ten years ago. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/11 "2008-11-03T00:35:24Z")
**Jaglavak** , I’ve got a copy of _The Art of War_ in the bookcase to my left. I’ve found it very productive reading. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/12 "2008-11-03T01:07:44Z")
> [@Jaglavak](#): > > And every once in awhile I strike pay dirt. The other day I ran across this little gem: > > King Floyed - Groove Me I don’t get it. You’ve found a song from when we (those of us of the appropriate age) were in college linked to a bunch of photos from decades earlier. Is this supposed to be a sign of long ago? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/13 "2008-11-03T01:08:05Z")
> [@Jaglavak](#): > > I gotta say, that kicks the crap out of anything Kid Rock ever did. Six monkeys farting in an enclosed room would kick the crap out of anything Kid Rock ever did, listenability wise. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/14 "2008-11-03T01:26:26Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > And there are voters in this election who don’t remember the Cold War. Maybe that’s why the charge of “socialism” doesn’t seem so potent anymore. Indeed. I find it odd that the girl in the video of McCain in a debate before the 2000 primaries was so concerned about it, because nobody my age particularly gives a crap. As far as I’m concerned, what it’s called, especially by its detractors, doesn’t matter; what’s important is what it _is_, and having higher taxes on people who make a shitload of money seems perfectly fair to me. Then again, maybe ‘socialism!’ was more potent among college students 8 years ago, when many of them were aware of the collapse of the Soviet Union; I was three when that happened. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/15 "2008-11-03T01:35:29Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > I don’t get it. That was sixteen years ago, which is a not-small amount of time. Yes it is. It’s a tiny, insignificant, piddling amount of time. If you can remember something that happened in 1993, it means you’re around 20 years or older. It is NOT a long enough period of time to say that remembering it “shows my age.” Only a prattling retard would say that. It is possible to be able to remember Clinton’s first inauguration and still not even be old enough to drink ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/16 "2008-11-03T01:36:26Z")
> [@CaerieD](#): > > I was going to agree with the OP until I stopped and thought about it: there are people who are voting in this election who may very well have been fresh out of diapers in 1993. Since there’s such a surge of young voters this cycle, we’re talking about a whole bunch of potential voters who were _three years old_ when Bill Clinton played the sax on the Arsenio Hall Show. Like my youngest sister. Who dutifully voted last week. Clinton’s presidency is as distant to her as Regan’s presidency is to me. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/17 "2008-11-03T01:56:20Z")
I still meet plenty of hot young chiquitas. But now they call me “sir”. ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/18 "2008-11-03T02:23:29Z")
Wanna feel old when you’re not? Teach elementary school. My fifth graders didn’t really remember September 11th. When I told them I had an original game boy they said, in tones of awe, “You mean game boy _advance!?_” Elvis might as well have been Bach for all they could relate to him. Of course if I ever feel old I can just talk to my grandfather. He’s 92. He remembers when his family got their first radio and how big a deal that was. Now he has a cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/19 "2008-11-03T03:48:28Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Heh. Now YOU’RE showing your age. > > Sixteen years ago? That was yesterday. Now get off my lawn. Seriously, I’m not even 30 and I have shoes that are more than 16 years old. My _dog_ is 16 years old; he’s starting to show his age. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775/20 "2008-11-03T03:56:46Z")
“…having higher taxes on people who make a shitload of money seems perfectly fair to me.” Captain Carrot, people who make more money already pay higher taxes. If you mean paying a higher percentage in taxes, how is that “fair”? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-im-showing-my-age/470775.md?page=2)