# You know you're old when... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 3, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611 "2017-11-03T17:49:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/21 "2017-11-04T00:06:24Z")
I’ve gotten used to having students whose parents were students of mine. But it’s getting near the point when I could have a _grandparent_ of a current student in my history. The first time that happens I quit. Bad enough that a good half-dozen of my fellow teachers are former students. Not to mention the Athletic Director. And the Principal! :eek: ---
**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:** [November 4, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/22 "2017-11-04T00:24:40Z")
I’ve shared this one before on the board. A couple of years ago, I was eating dinner at a fast-food restaurant, when a group of teenaged kids came in. They were probably age 15 or so, and in the group was a couple, who were walking hand in hand – the girl was wearing a Bob Marley t-shirt, and the boy was wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt. My first thought was “That’s cool, they like old-school music.” And, then, I thought about it. They were both wearing t-shirts for acts which had had their heyday about 35 years earlier (i.e., the late 1970s), and acts which I had been listening to at their age. But, the real kick in the gut was realizing that, if, in 1980, when I was their age, I had been wearing a t-shirt for a music act that had been popular 35 years earlier, I would have been wearing a Benny Goodman or Glenn Miller t-shirt. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/23 "2017-11-04T00:39:01Z")
For females: You know you’re getting old when people stop saying you’re good looking, and start saying you’re looking good. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/24 "2017-11-04T00:40:03Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > …not only is “Classic Rock” radio playing songs from when you were in high school, but you actually don’t recognize all of the songs because some of them are from _after_ you stopped paying attention to new music. > > . When the classic rock station you listen to starts running ads for reverse mortgages. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/25 "2017-11-04T00:43:13Z")
I realized how old I was when we buried a dog who was 23 yrs old when she died. I got that dog when my middle child started kindergarten. I am in the dead parents club as well as the dead in-laws club. My Daddy always said he knew he was old when he turned to the obits first in the newspaper every morning. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/26 "2017-11-04T02:35:53Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > The original _Star Wars_ is older now than _The Wizard of Oz_ was when I was born. Realizing that makes me feel old. > > Also, I’m in the Dead Parents Club now. Both my parents are dead. It doesn’t matter that my father died when I was only 30, which is kinda young to lose a parent, and 50 is still younger than some people-- my mother herself only lost her own mother a year and a half ago-- it still makes me feel old. - shakes fist at RivkahChaya\* this I also true for me and I saw Star Wars as a newlywed teenager. I am also in the Dead Parents Club, one at my age 37, one at my age 53. It makes you feel alone, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/27 "2017-11-04T03:18:27Z")
My mother died at the young age of 39. When I turned 40, I realized I had outlived her whole life. It made me sad. I was a youngish 40, possibly because I had a young toddler at the time. But it does something to you to lose a parent so young! ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/28 "2017-11-04T04:01:48Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > In a similar effect, I hated the Stray Cats when they were new. They were updating rockabilly, something that was about 20-25 years old. But I hated how they did it. Like they missed the point. I thought it was like the difference between an authentic 50’s diner, and a 50’s Themed dined. Style without substance. > > Nowadays, I like the Stray Cats, and I realize it has been longer from their first US album to now then it was between their first album and the music they were reviving. > > Maybe it’s time for an 80s music revival! [Behold synthwave.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trh4C4Nivtg) ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/29 "2017-11-04T06:08:28Z")
When you hear about the new [Prime Minister of New Zealand](http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/asia/new-zealand-election/index.html) and you realize she is too young for you to date her. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/30 "2017-11-04T07:53:55Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’ve shared this one before on the board. > > A couple of years ago, I was eating dinner at a fast-food restaurant, when a group of teenaged kids came in. They were probably age 15 or so, and in the group was a couple, who were walking hand in hand – the girl was wearing a Bob Marley t-shirt, and the boy was wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt. > > My first thought was “That’s cool, they like old-school music.” And, then, I thought about it. They were both wearing t-shirts for acts which had had their heyday about 35 years earlier (i.e., the late 1970s), and acts which I had been listening to at their age. > > But, the real kick in the gut was realizing that, if, in 1980, when I was their age, I had been wearing a t-shirt for a music act that had been popular 35 years earlier, I would have been wearing a Benny Goodman or Glenn Miller t-shirt. :eek: 1. I walked into a Home Depot wearing a Green Day t-shirt, which I had purchased from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (should have been my first clue), and the young cashier looked at me and said, ''Greeeen Day? I haven’t heard of them. Is that like some new European band?" Ooof. 2. I went to an adult Halloween party with a bounce house. Want to feel old? Climb into a bounce house. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/31 "2017-11-04T11:48:18Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > 1. I walked into a Home Depot wearing a Green Day t-shirt, which I had purchased from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (should have been my first clue), and the young cashier looked at me and said, ''Greeeen Day? I haven’t heard of them. Is that like some new European band?" Ooof. You should have replied, “Dookie.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/32 "2017-11-04T16:19:09Z")
When you have grandchildren who can legally pose for porn, but the “half your age plus seven” rule prohibits you from dating some people who are themselves grandmothers. And it’s all meaningless conjecture, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/33 "2017-11-04T17:51:40Z")
When you are attracted to adult women who are young enough to be your daughter. When your country’s leader is younger than you. When your friend’s little sister who you remember playing with dolls, having braces, beads in her pony tails, and a boy-band backpack is now a physician with her own practice and employees. When events that seem to have occurred “a few years ago” actually occurred 20 years previous. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/34 "2017-11-04T17:54:09Z")
When you remember phones had busy signals. And if nobody answered, you had to wait and call back. When you can do simple math in your head. A couple of young customers wanted to split the bill, and I told them the correct answer before the calculator did. They looked at me like I had just lit up green. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/35 "2017-11-04T17:55:25Z")
When you not only have lost hair where you want it, but you keep growing new hair where you don’t want it. Seems like every time I go to the barber these days, he spends less time on my head, and more time on “those other areas like inside my ears”. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/36 "2017-11-04T19:16:08Z")
Pretty much all of today’s traditional-age college students were born in the 2000s. That exciting new grunge era was 20 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/37 "2017-11-04T19:23:50Z")
When people who have been in your office a few years were born after you started to work. When people who had early IBM PCs consider themselves computer pioneers. When you realize that Ronald Reagan’s presidency is further in the past now than WW I was when I was born. When the mothers of the students at the school across the street look like jail bait. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/38 "2017-11-04T19:48:55Z")
When a company proudly says it’s been in business since some date and you think “what’s the big deal” until, like **Annie-Xmas** , you do the math in your head and realize that it really was a quite a while ago that you were in college (or HS, or whatever that date reminds you of). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/39 "2017-11-04T20:34:17Z")
When you find yourself watching fewer new TV shows in favor of old reruns on MeTV and Antenna TV. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611/40 "2017-11-04T22:37:39Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > When you not only have lost hair where you want it, but you keep growing new hair where you don’t want it. > > Seems like every time I go to the barber these days, he spends less time on my head, and more time on “those other areas like inside my ears”. Yeah. For me it was when the barber offered to trim my eyebrows :(. The other is when AM radio starts playing music from your teen years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-old-when/800611.md?page=3)