# I'm an old geezer **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 22, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186 "2004-11-22T23:05:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/21 "2004-11-23T17:43:44Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > I have apparently passed the transitional phase where I needed reading glasses but even weak 1.5s were too strong, now they’re just right. I may as well get yellow pants, hitch them up to my armpits and sit on the front stoop, yelling at kids to get off my lawn. I got bi-focals back in early '03, and now I think I need stronger ones. I’m only 45, too! I haven’t gotten use to reading with 'em, either. _sigh_ I’m already on Zantac (for the GERD)… there’s the stiffness in the joints, too. Luckily my partner is progressing about the same with me. It’s amusing when we got our respective pair of glasses mixed up and couldn’t figure out why our vision was so bad that day. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/22 "2004-11-23T17:59:32Z")
Hah! Why, I remember when I was a boy, people knew how to be old! My neighbour had thick glasses and used a cane for years, and he was only 17! The kid across the street was _born_ bald! Kids these days! Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble… ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/23 "2004-11-23T18:02:49Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Thus speaketh the AARP’s newest member. > > twicks, who got the dreaded envelope yesterday… I got a letter encouraging me to join the AARP when I was in graduate school! Last week, I got a letter from some place that sells hearing aids. I’m not even 30 yet… ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/24 "2004-11-23T18:17:05Z")
Computer manufacturers need to use fonts larger than Flyspeck 3 for serial numbers and activation key stickers. Even if your eyes are still youthful and verdent, getting around the back of the machine to read the goddamned label can be nearly impossible, so you wind up trying to read it from three feet away, at an 80 degree angle. One day, the computer industry is going to get his with an age-discrimination lawsuit that will make the tobacco settlement look like peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/25 "2004-11-23T18:23:52Z")
that should be “get **hit** with an age-discrimination…” ---
**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 23, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/26 "2004-11-23T18:30:49Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > I remember them, but I’m not telling **him**. I think it starts with a “J”, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/27 "2004-11-24T01:28:20Z")
Well I’m already an AARP member becaue Cindy’s age qualifies us. That I won’t complain about as I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance. Yeah, screw you gecko! ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/28 "2004-11-24T01:55:05Z")
> [@Freyr](#): > > … there’s the stiffness in the joints, too. Luckily my partner is progressing about the same with me. I don’t have stiffness in the joints…yet. However, when I walk out of a room, my knee pops so loud it sounds like a rifle shot. No kidding…my boss will gasp and say, "What was _that_? It was my damn knee popping is what it was. He should know that sound. He’s over sixty! I’m still _young_ (44 dammit!) compared to him! He shouldn’t even hear it! Oh and for you young’uns: I started getting AARP letters before I turned thirty. I don’t know what their hurry is. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/29 "2004-11-24T02:00:56Z")
It’s one of my pet peeves. It’s just bad design. I’ve seen several Motorola products, among others, that use insanely small fonts for the product’s serial number, which is needed to activate the device. Other companies often use typefaces that make it difficult to distinguish between similar characters, like B and 8. This is entertaining when you have to type in a 50-character activation code to install a piece of software. It isn’t that difficult to use a reasonable font size, a legible typeface, and a restricted character set that doesn’t contain characters that are easily misread. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/30 "2004-11-24T02:09:45Z")
Boy, I hated that. Used to be able to read the microscopic print on the back of an integrated circuit chip. Now I need the magnifiers. I’m still not officially old though as I don’t have bigtime ear hair. When the Doper walker races are scheduled, lemme know-I’m ready! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Keapon\_Laffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Keapon\_Laffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keapon_Laffin)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/31 "2004-11-24T02:14:14Z")
Wow. I haven’t heard the word “geezer” before. None of my friends seem to know it either. My grandma seems to recall it being used a long time ago… before the war. The first one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/32 "2004-11-24T04:11:18Z")
Did I tell you how when I was camping last year I couldn’t see the registration card? Yes, terrible, it was. Not the camping, but the registration card. I couldn’t see the damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/33 "2004-11-24T04:27:41Z")
Yeah, they say the memory is the second thing to go. The first is the uh …, some other thing that um, you know, goes before the, um, first thing that goes. Was I going somewhere? Hey! get the hell off my lawn! (rotten kids, grumble, mumble, grumble) (46 next month and almost ready for reading glasses) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186/34 "2004-11-24T07:44:23Z")
A geezer, huh? If you learn a little falconry, you can be a codger! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-geezer/276186.md?page=1)