# You know you're getting old(er) when **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2022, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091 "2022-04-20T01:13:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/41 "2022-04-20T20:43:59Z")
You have a pill minder with compartments labelled morning/noon/bedtime - but need another for the dose at 4 PM. And at each meal, the number of pills \> the number of dishes making up the meal. The speed dial on your telephone is 1 doctor, 2 pharmacy, 3 specialist, 4 clinic… You see a TV ad for Pizza and the first thought is “heartburn”. All the typical sitcom jokes about older people aren’t funny anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/42 "2022-04-20T20:49:03Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > When you start enjoying the music playing in grocery stores. True story. When I was a kid, restaurants, such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, would routinely play what I called “old fogey” music. Like Lawrence Welk, that kind. Easy listening. I’d always bitch to myself, “:can’t you play any modern music? Not everyone is old and likes that stuff.” Fast forward to the 21st century. I was at a now-KFC, and they were playing 80s alternative, and I’m like, “it’s about time!” Then I realized that, in the year 2010, 80’s alternative WAS “old fogey” music. > [@BobLibDem](#): > > When you start getting mailers from cemeteries. As long as you don’t get mailers from the people IN the cemeteries! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/43 "2022-04-20T21:20:05Z")
Realizing some of the people you once knew and liked are now gone is a real downer. Almost as bad is running into one who’s still alive and seeing how they’ve deteriorated: “My God, do _I_ look that bad?” ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/44 "2022-04-20T21:22:01Z")
For me, an example very similar to the OP’s was about a year ago. I saw an advertisement for arthritis relief cream featuring Paula Abdul. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/45 "2022-04-20T21:35:53Z")
> [@bump](#): > > > [@DKW](#): > > > > You remember a time when Star Wars was almost universally popular and nobody you knew saw it as anything but an exciting action-packed sci-fi adventure. > > I’m not sure I get this one. What else is it, other than an exciting, action packed sci-fi adventure, with a bunch of sequels, prequels and spin-offs? It’s now become a “saga” that’s “studied” and subject to all kinds of “interpretation.” I’m sure PhD dissertations have been written about it in a number of disciplines. The same thing happened with _ **Star Trek** _ fifty years ago. Both are now part of our cultural consciousness, despite their many flaws. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/46 "2022-04-20T21:50:52Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AKWTLfvhaNo/hqdefault.jpg "The Punch & Judy Man ----- The Dublin City Ramblers + Lyrics Underneath") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKWTLfvhaNo) _Punchinello, Punchinello,_ _where have you and Judy gone?_ _Gone to join the swelling ranks_ _of things that they look back upon._ _Memories can conjure up_ _those dreams of yesterday,_ _but the Punch and Judy Man is gone forever._ _Mr.Punch and Judy Man,_ _please bring back my childhood land of summer!_ ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/47 "2022-04-20T22:02:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > It’s now become a “saga” that’s “studied” and subject to all kinds of “interpretation.” I’m sure PhD dissertations have been written about it in a number of disciplines. I remember having this discussion with my high school English teacher actually. Not about Star Wars or Star Trek, but about when a work goes from being something with no actual authorial intent for anything other than entertainment to being “literature” with motifs and symbolism and all that jazz, and whether or not the authors even intended any of that stuff to be there in the first place. I never got much of an answer out of him; he seemed to say that if people were finding it there, it was there, regardless of whatever the author had written. I mean, I seriously doubt that Lucas wrote the first Star Wars trilogy as any sort of literary anything- it was just three movies that told an extended story that he wanted to make money on. But now it’s treated with academic seriousness, which is kind of ridiculous to me. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/48 "2022-04-20T22:10:03Z")
It’s kind of like going to the dentist. He may not intend to hit that nerve as he probes, but you sure do react when he does! ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/49 "2022-04-20T22:11:05Z")
I saw a meme not long ago that went something like this: Teens: This radio station is playing my jam! Twenties: This club is playing my jam! Thirties: This grocery store is playing my jam! ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/50 "2022-04-20T22:13:55Z")
When you play a song from a well known group and a passenger says: “Oh yeah, that is group my mom liked.” The song can’t be that old, can it? `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/51 "2022-04-20T22:31:32Z")
Depends on the station! 20 years ago, when I was working at the grocery store pharmacy, one of my elderly customers, now deceased, said, “What is with this overhead music?” I replied, “This is one of the channels the overnight crew likes, and that said, this song was popular when I graduated from high school, and I’ve seen this band in concert 4 times.” The song? “Tom Sawyer” by Rush. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/52 "2022-04-20T22:33:45Z")
It actually would have made sense when she was at the height of her fame, because she’s also a dancer. I’m no longer bothered when kids in my apartment complex ask me if I have any GRANDchildren they can play with when they come over. Since I don’t even have any kids, that’s a bit difficult, but at 58, some people I knew growing up are actually GREAT-grandparents. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/53 "2022-04-20T22:44:23Z")
When people you have habitually regarded as “old” all your life now offer to help you get on the bus. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/54 "2022-04-20T23:34:08Z")
bump - Regarding pop music, it’s the realization that it’s empty-calories fluff, always has been, and always will be, so there’s no point in making a big deal about any of it. I remember all the continuous screamfests about Justin Bieber, and from beginning to end my only thought was “Not _one bit_ of this is out of the ordinary! What are you people _on_ about?” terentii - Uh, yeah, that too. I was thinking more of the, ahem, debates over the later movies, particularly 7-9. Particularly 8-9. Let’s just say that the creators of Buck Rogers never had to deal with those kind of headaches. One more that I forgot: The classic rock station now plays songs you liked in college. Routinely. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/55 "2022-04-21T00:03:14Z")
When I was a kid, I would routinely hear my grandmother remark on an actor, when they appeared in an older movie or show, “they used to look so young.” Yeah, I do that now. Also, and I’m not entirely sure, but I think I’m starting to see age spots on my hands - I’m 44! ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/56 "2022-04-21T00:14:40Z")
Just remembered something that happened at work the other day. I took a construction job after leaving a previous, almost 20-year career. So I’m the age of job leads and our project manager. Only the boss is older than me. As a result, most of my “peers” are quite a bit younger. One guy, who just turned 21 this year (I could be his father and then some) listens to a lot of podcasts. One morning he took out his earbud and said “Guys! Did you know that Mark Wahlberg was Marky Mark??” I was like yeah, dude…I remember that. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/57 "2022-04-21T01:04:25Z")
There’s that urban legend about a kid finding out that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings. However, I’m sure there have been plenty of young people in recent years who learned that Dave Grohl was in another drastically different band before the Foo Fighters, and that Darius Rucker was in a pop band before he made country music. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/58 "2022-04-21T01:18:21Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’m starting to think that not wanting to sit through some hyperactive doofus blathering for 15 minutes reviewing something and just wanting a review article with a summary paragraph must mark me as old. My kids agree with you. I was texting them, and a household problem came up. One of them said “Guess I’m off to check YouTube.” My comment was: If a video starts off with a kid in a basement saying anything like this… > Hey, what’s up, guys? I’m just chillin’ in my studio with my homie Loofer, say hi, Loofer, eh, he never says hi, but we be preparin’ to get some _household appliance repair knowledge_ comin’ atcha! You having a good day? Hit me up in the comments and let me know how good… and don’t forget that Subscribe button! … just skip ahead 60 seconds and see if there’s anything helpful going on. They agreed with me and said they’d only watch 10 seconds of _that shi’_ before they’d move on _“to something made by older peeps.”_ ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/59 "2022-04-21T01:35:16Z")
Rock stars are dying of natural causes. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/60 "2022-04-21T03:05:08Z")
And at ages older than 27. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091.md?page=4)