# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Nyvaak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nyvaak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nyvaak)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/81 "2022-04-21T22:45:00Z")
Seemingly overnight it went from the man at the counter saying, “here’s your change sonny,” to the kid at the counter saying, “here’s your change, mister.” But it really hits me when I’m in the car, listening to the radio, thinking that these new, modern groups just don’t have it. Then I remember I’m listening to the oldies station. Sigh! ---
**Author:** ![EastUmpqua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eastumpqua/32/6025_2.png) [@EastUmpqua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastUmpqua)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/82 "2022-04-21T23:25:30Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Most people eventually outgrow the idea that they have attained wisdom. Give it time, kid. Yep. It’s only when you give up that there’s a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/83 "2022-04-21T23:28:09Z")
Now that you mention it, I do remember the very first time that I felt old. And it was a traumatic experience, believe it or not. Nirvana’s song ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ just came out. And for some reason it reminded me that I wasn’t a teen anymore. I was in my twenties by then. Now I envy those days 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/84 "2022-04-22T00:10:05Z")
Good lord, I thought it was bad when Luke Perry started doing ads for AARP. Now Debbie Gibson? That’s not fair! I worked at a local grocery store when I was in high school, and every Friday and Saturday nights, us teenagers would change the station to the alternative (this was back in the 90s). It was usually on soft rock, but since the boss was off on those nights, the managers usually didn’t mind. Until people started complaining. THEN the boss put it on easy listening. 🤢 ---
**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:** [April 22, 2022, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/85 "2022-04-22T01:28:34Z")
Store clerks have started calling me “young lady” again. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/86 "2022-04-22T01:47:42Z")
What did you mean by easy listening? Was it soft rock, or that dreaded Muzak? ---
**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 22, 2022, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/87 "2022-04-22T02:15:57Z")
Music recordings, video, comics and the internet are preserving things from long ago enough that an average human lifetime isn’t enough for things to be forgotten anymore. We need to live in relative youth and health to 120 or so just to match the longevity of media. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/88 "2022-04-22T02:31:35Z")
> [@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? Well, I for one remember when Boba Fett was the most feared and ruthless bounty hunter in the Galaxy and not the “Daimyo” of Mos Espa (which appears to be some sort of town alderman or something). ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/89 "2022-04-22T04:36:09Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Your knees hurt and you’re not even using them. In my case, it’s my shoulders – and all I do to them is sleep on my side. ---
**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:** [April 22, 2022, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/90 "2022-04-22T04:55:26Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Not Biden, if I’m estimating your age correctly. Oops, you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/91 "2022-04-22T14:31:32Z")
I think it’s more like dictatorial mayor, but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/92 "2022-04-22T14:42:46Z")
You know you are getting older when nobody cares what you did when you were younger. Doesn’t matter what you did in 1991. That’s ages ago, as long ago as when I was 12 and my mom was 48. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/93 "2022-04-22T23:09:32Z")
You know you’re getting old(er) when: You watch a movie whose main character leads a routine, boring life, like _Falling Down_, or _Paterson_ and realize their lives are much more exciting than yours. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/94 "2022-04-22T23:15:37Z")
Well, in a movie like Falling Down, they really couldn’t show a guy like me slacking around as usually for the first 30 minutes, or everybody would have left the theater. So cut Hollywood some slack for exaggerating a “normal” life, and console yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/95 "2022-04-23T17:56:20Z")
Muzak. _shudder_ And there was a big note on the radio saying, “DO NOT CHANGE THE STATION!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/96 "2022-04-23T18:35:58Z")
Au contraire. I consider myself to be a pretty hep cat and I listen to muzak all the time!—snapping my arthritic fingers, swinging my degenerative hips and wheezing, _“that’s smooth, man”_ all the while. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2022, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/97 "2022-07-16T03:33:30Z")
I was sitting in a wheelchair at the airport in Warsaw a few weeks ago when a twenty-something guy came up to me and said “Hi! I remember seeing you at the airport in Toronto last week!” Turned out he was an independent filmmaker, and we spent the next hour talking about movies, TV, radio, and some of the stuff I’ve done over the last thirty years. You could have knocked me over with a feather. The last person with whom I had a conversation like that was my nephew-by-marriage, who’s also in his 20s. But that doesn’t really count, since we’re family. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2022, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/98 "2022-07-16T07:49:55Z")
You know you’re getting older when your kids start looking middle-aged. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2022, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/99 "2022-07-16T11:13:02Z")
You know you’re getting older when you start negotiating with yourself for whether or not you should make the effort to get up from your comfortable chair and walk into the kitchen. _Hmm, should I get up and make some healthy vegetables to eat? [pondering…] Naw, it ain’t worth the effort._ _Hmm, should I get up and make a cheese-steak sandwich and fries? [pondering…] Yeah, that’s a good return on investment._ _Hmm, there’s smoke coming from the kitchen, should I get up and check that out? [pondering…] Naw, homeowners insurance covers fire damage…but, then again, I could grab a jelly doughnut while I check out the smoke. Mmmm—jelly doughnut._ ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091/100 "2022-07-16T15:49:07Z")
Don’t know if it’s old age … but i often find myself reaching for a light switch where there isn’t - and never has been - a light switch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-er-when/963091.md?page=6)