# You Know You're Getting Old When... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2016, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360 "2016-01-27T12:47:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/61 "2016-01-28T13:41:43Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I’m taking a class at the local community college. I saw a poster yesterday that the school is having an event to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. I remember seeing it on TV at work, live, as it happened I said to my teacher, “I can’t believe it’s been 30 years.” She replied, “Yeah, I think I was in high school.” You _think_ you were? The babies who sit in the cubicles on either side of me weren’t even born when Challenger exploded! Fortunately the geezers across from me are much closer to my age, if slightly older… ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/62 "2016-01-28T13:48:12Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When my pubic area was being prepped for a coronary arterial stent being placed, I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from asking if there was a grownup who could shave me. It was like take your daughter to work day. [“They’re _doctors??_” “They have a basic medical training, yes.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0A5vzGMQr8) After my wife had a miscarriage about a decade back, we went to the ER, and I swear, the doctor who examined her didn’t look any older than Dr. Winston and Dr. Piglet from Castle Anthrax. ---
**Author:** ![orderfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orderfire/32/10908_2.png) [@orderfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orderfire)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/63 "2016-01-28T14:03:10Z")
You know you’re getting old when… …you decide to try waxing your moustache. And you’re a woman, not a Portland hipster. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/64 "2016-01-28T18:01:01Z")
Listening to the _Singers & Swing_ channel as I’m enjoying this thread and the 1946 Nat King Cole great [For Sentimental Reasons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnEtvtmFcgo) plays, but sung by that whippersnapper Glen Frey… ☹ and then ☹ ☹[when I think of…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx0HAiXrBMw) [and now…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHH4bo5IvGM) ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/65 "2016-01-28T18:18:09Z")
I used to think my mom’s gentlemen friends were so old, and one day I look at the handsome man I’m hanging out with and OMG, I’m with a man who reminds me of my mom’s friends, except he’s not some old guy, he’s my age. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/66 "2016-01-28T18:22:31Z")
… when you go to a concert for this awesome band you loved growing up, and **everybody else** there looks really old. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/67 "2016-01-28T19:38:34Z")
… your eyebrow and nose hair needs cutting more often than whatever’s left on the top of your head. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/68 "2016-01-28T20:11:01Z")
You linger at the local High School parking lot so you can check out the hot young moms dropping their children off. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/69 "2016-01-28T20:46:13Z")
Ok, I know I may be a generation younger than most posting here, but even us 40-somethings can feel old: For most of my life, the old vets were from The Big One, WWII. Then one day, it dawned on me that all the old vets are from Vietnam. And my dad’s one of them. ☹ Another one, I was at the store yesterday and the year on the “Must be this age to buy alcohol” is three years after I graduated high school. I also just realized I’m pretty close to having a “hair horseshoe.” Not there yet, but I’ve officially begun contemplating what I’m going to do once the stuff in the middle is completely gone. I say I should shave the whole head, but my wife isn’t sure I can carry that look. So I may just be Larry David-ing it. This is a conversation I never thought I’d have. I’m as far removed from 9/11 now as I was when I was 12. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/70 "2016-01-28T21:06:55Z")
When you lose some weight and people immediately look concerned and ask “On purpose?” When you start thinking that “Retirement Communities” don’t look all that bad. When you start shopping for long-term care insurance. You don’t care about the newest technology because you have no conceivable use for it. When younger people feel it’s necessary to carefully explain to you how something works, even though any idiot could figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/71 "2016-01-28T21:35:21Z")
> [@UberArchetype](#): > > You know you’re getting old when… **Everything Hurts!** And what doesn’t hurt, doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/72 "2016-01-28T21:50:41Z")
… you spend a week in Las Vegas, alone, and the riskiest thing you do is eat lunch at Chipotle. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/73 "2016-01-28T22:52:36Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Just discovering that as an old lady, I can say outrageous things or ask outrageous questions and people just laugh me off. Yep. You can shout any damn thing you want. Waffles! > [@Chefguy](#): > > When you lose some weight and people immediately look concerned and ask “On purpose?” Ha! I lost a lot of weight a year ago, and every medical professional I’ve encountered since then has asked me that question. But they do it without looking or sounding “concerned”; the same can’t be said about the non-medicos who ask. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/74 "2016-01-29T01:51:36Z")
I saw a relevant T-Shirt slogan the other day; “Am I getting old, or is the music in supermarkets just getting better?” ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/75 "2016-01-29T02:29:52Z")
Sometimes you don’t think you’re old, but other people do: This happened to me about five years ago. The Fella and I went to a local bar to hear a musician we liked. We walk in and I’m the second oldest person there. I know that, b/c I was with the OLDEST person there. (He’s 17 yrs older than I.) I looked around at the people there and thought–“Why are these kids here this late? Don’t they have school in the morning?” (Not even thinking that hey, you’re in a BAR. Everyone is at least 21.) So then I went ‘Oh derp!’ these people are all in their twenties, idiot. So we’re drinking and having fun waiting for the musician to play and I have to go to the restroom. I walk in and there are two of these ‘kids’ standing there at the sink (mirror facing the door) and one woman is going on about some guy that pissed her off. “So, I TOLD that goddamn mutherfucker he could fuck himself…\” I’m no stranger to having a potty mouth; I spew it with the rest of them, and especially if I’m drunk in a bar. The woman cursing catches sight of me in the mirror, whirls around, and in a totally different voice says “Oh my gosh ma’am! I am so sorry! Please pardon my language!” I’m so shocked at being called ‘ma’am’ and being apologized to for cursing, that I just kinda smiled and went into a stall. Where I hear her go, in a loud whisper to her friend, “Oh. My. God, Cindy! I think I might’ve upset that old lady!” I was 41. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/76 "2016-01-29T07:28:35Z")
When you go to a homecoming game and look at the cheerleaders and wonder what their grandmothers look like naked. (Thanks to the South Bay Easy Reader cartoon, “Making it”.) ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/77 "2016-01-29T13:44:13Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Actually, you know you are getting old when you pass your 79th birthday as I did last week. Happy belated Birthday, and many more! I passed my 69th a few days before yours… ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/78 "2016-01-29T15:52:30Z")
Mrs. Totenfeier (especially) and I are always noticing how some celebrity or another has gotten SO OLD…:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/79 "2016-01-30T01:27:59Z")
Congrats, **Hari Seldon**. I realized I was getting old when I started checking out the menu at each restaurant to see if I qualified for the Senior Discount. Another year and a half to go, at most places! ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360/80 "2016-01-30T06:39:43Z")
For me, somewhere between the first time a little kid said “thank you, sir” to me, and when I started ogling pictures of bikini-clad celebrities on the beach because of how hauntingly beautiful the water looks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-getting-old-when/744360.md?page=5)