# What made you first think, "Man, I'm old"? What makes you still feel young(ish)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 30, 2024, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353 "2024-12-30T19:47:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/61 "2025-01-02T18:58:49Z")
When the doc told me my prostate was “age appropriate”. Gee… thanks. Maybe I’ll get that put on a cake to celebrate. Feeling young, I’d go with putting in earbuds, cranking up some rock and roll, then getting some work done. I did it all the time in college, studying with loud music, drowns out the distractions. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/62 "2025-01-02T19:15:39Z")
I am 49 and osteo arthritis in my knees and hips is kicking my ass. ☹ ---
**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:** [January 2, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/63 "2025-01-02T19:18:14Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > was “age appropriate”. > > Gee… thanks. Maybe I’ll get that put on a cake to celebrate. Ouch. Same here. Whatever it is, when it’s “age appropriate” that’s code for “geezer”. I like the cake idea though. We should all have an “age appropriate” cake now and again to draw the sting. 🙂 Just don’t act “age appropriately” during the party. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/64 "2025-01-02T19:45:10Z")
At the last concert I went to, this 51 year old was in the mosh pit. I tell myself I’m going to mosh until I injure myself doing so. There were a couple other people almost my age in the pit as well (while not being entirely confined to a not-young-person’s activity). What made me feel old at that concert was that I couldn’t read the receipt for my drink in order to do the math for the tip, since I went without glasses due to planning for the pit. That’s the first time it’s happened to me with a receipt. Previously it was confined to fine print or very low lighting. Thankfully, I was forced to bring my smart phone to the concert with my ticket on it. I had wanted to leave it behind so it wouldn’t get broken. I was able to use the camera as a magnifying glass in order to read my receipt. ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/65 "2025-01-02T21:31:11Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > But I feel the same way about people who purposely refuse to be aware of anything in modern times (and some people here wear it like a badge of honor). Certainly. If one is _au courant_ then one is as curious about the present as the past. And perhaps one even participates in the newer artists’ creations. Not required, but engagement and curiosity is. > [@Anaamika](#): > > I am 49 and osteo arthritis in my knees Yeah. It’s difficult to ignore when one hears crepitus not only in one knee but now both. I wouldn’t know if it’s osteoarthritis in my case or bog-standard MCL cartilage having been worn away. Puts a bit of a damper on one’s social life. But, almost certainly indicates one is old as ~~shit~~ the hills…let’s say that! ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/66 "2025-01-02T21:44:31Z")
" What made you first think, “Man, I’m old”? " One day a young engineer came into my office, starred at my bragging wall for a moment and announced “all of those patents were awarded before I was born”. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/67 "2025-01-02T22:03:11Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > We spend a lot of time with my wife’s parents and aunts and they are OLD (late 70s to mid 80s). They all live in and around this small town where my wife grew up. They never go anywhere or do anything and my wife’s parents are in terrible physical and mental health. And all of them are bitter and out of touch with pretty much everything. That’s old in the most pathetic way. My next-farm-over neighbor, idealist young guy looking to get into sheep farming, mentioned this one time. He said “You and Mr. Ulfrieda are the same age as my parents but they seem so _ **old** _ – they’re in bad shape and don’t seem interested in anything except watching tv. I can’t even get them to go for a walk. You guys are curious about everything, you’re doing physical work, you hike, you don’t seem old at all.” This was a nice thing to hear. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/68 "2025-01-02T22:24:22Z")
You go Girl! And hubs. I get similar feedback semi-regularly. “You’re _how_ old?” says some 30yo. Not that I could keep up w them one on one, but they still act surprised I’m 60-something not 50ish. Mostly IMO it’s being not-fat. The old advice to keep the moving parts moving applies to the mental as well as the physical. As @msmith537’s in-laws so sadly demonstrate. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/69 "2025-01-03T01:28:16Z")
It would be sad if they weren’t so annoying and my wife didn’t spend so much time with them. I mean I know they are getting on in years and she wants to spend as much time as possible with them. But I can only have so many stupid conversations about traffic on I-80, the price of produce, or some half-understood political talking point they saw on Fox News. I think one of the main things that leads to “oldness” is an unwillingness to entertain the idea of anything new. I’m not a psychologist, but there’s something else going on there as well as they all seem like they are afraid of the world. They have like a negative story about everything you can think of from like 40 years ago. In contrast, my dad who is an 80 year old widower could have spent his days just sitting around the house watching TV when my Mom passed away ten years ago. But apparently he “accidently” ended up taking his (age appropriate) girlfriend to a local SantaCon pub crawl. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/70 "2025-01-03T04:55:01Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I’m not a psychologist, but there’s something else going on there as well as they all seem like they are afraid of the world. They have like a negative story about everything you can think of from like 40 years ago. My 91 year old mother-in-law is like that. It’s bizarre. We were going to NYC, and she was afraid we’d be attacked by “foreigners.” I really can’t talk to her about anything other than the grandkids and sports ---
**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:** [January 3, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/71 "2025-01-03T13:59:17Z")
Faux will turn anyone into a paranoid. In a 30yo man, that leads to carrying a pistol & wanting an armored car. In the 60+ set that leads to fear of leaving the house. Add in the normal lifelong small town low tolerance for variety or change and the outcome is a very small personality living a very small life in a very small space. Such a waste of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/72 "2025-01-03T14:14:28Z")
I first saw myself through the eyes of others and felt old on public transit. It was a shuttle bus traveling from the train station to downtown San Jose, a trip of about seven minutes or so. I boarded and stood up like I usually do, because the bus is crowded and also, I like to stand. A girl stood up and offered me her seat. Speechless, I sat down, and managed to stammer “thank you.” I whispered to the older man in the next seat, “I just aged twenty years in five seconds.” I guess I was about 63 when that happened. What makes me feel young? Hiking on a nature trail and seeing the flora and fauna of California, particularly in the redwoods. My family had frequent camping vacations in redwood forests, and when I walk in them, “the beloved ghosts walk by my side”, to quote Marcel Pagnol. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/73 "2025-01-03T14:19:38Z")
Great thread. When I am filling out an online form on my phone and have to scroll down the Year of Birth menu, my finger gets tired. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/74 "2025-01-03T16:12:06Z")
Having always been more tuned into Pop and Rock music than most people my age, I felt old a few days ago when I watched a Rick Beato YouTube video about 2024’s top 10 songs on Spotify. I didn’t recognize most of the performers, had never heard most of the songs, and didn’t like most of what I heard. On the other hand, when I hear contemporary music that I do like, that mooses me, I feel like I’m not yet over the hill and get excited about it. For example, I’d never heard of Shaboozey before I saw him on SNL a few weeks ago. He’s very original, a genre-bender, and so impressed me that I began listening to his other songs. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/75 "2025-01-03T21:06:49Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Faux will turn anyone into a paranoid. > > In a 30yo man, that leads to carrying a pistol & wanting an armored car. In the 60+ set that leads to fear of leaving the house. > > Add in the normal lifelong small town low tolerance for variety or change and the outcome is a very small personality living a very small life in a very small space. > > Such a waste of humanity. Yeah, they’ve been trying to put a Dunkin Donuts in this town for years and for the fuss people make you would think it’s a second Panama Canal. I may start a whole thread on the weirdness of small towns so as not to hijack this one. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/76 "2025-01-03T21:15:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Faux will turn anyone into a paranoid. What is a “Faux” in this context? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/77 "2025-01-03T22:07:21Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > What is a “Faux” in this context? Fox (“Faux”) News ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/78 "2025-01-03T22:12:38Z")
Oh, of course 🤦‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/79 "2025-01-04T01:00:44Z")
_“Man, I’m old”_ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353/80 "2025-01-05T01:29:07Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > Having always been more tuned into Pop and Rock music than most people my age, I felt old a few days ago when I watched a Rick Beato YouTube video about 2024’s top 10 songs on Spotify. Well, here’s a dumb joke: “How do you know you’re old? When you watch a Rick Beato video and he’s more hip than you!” 😅 Not intended to be at your expense, but Rick Beato and some of his legendary rants tend to be one of the standard bearers of “cranky old man.” (FTR, he’s not actually that old, and while I don’t often agree with his interpretations of various tunes, nor think he’s all that impressive a musician, compared with any number of others, he certainly earned his reputation as a “cranky “old” dude.”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-first-think-man-im-old-what-makes-you-still-feel-young-ish/1012353.md?page=5)