Do you call yourself old?

I think it was the bloke ?Rett

What's the legal alternative, then? Old?

No, antique or of archeological interest

Yes, jeni, I sometimes feel as if I'd been dug up.

Greatnan this is spot-on "you don't stop being young because you have grown old - you grow old when you stop being young."
By that definition I will never be old It really is all in the mind.

I accept that definitions have their place, and I rather like the definition of the 'Third age' Can we be third-agers please?

Ooh, no! Sounds too much like Close Encounters.....

Well I don't know about against the law but in Social Care it is certainly frowned upon to refer to people as 'elderly' we have to call them (us?) 'older people'. But then again we are not allowed to refer to people as 'clients' or 'service users' any more either. We have to call people who use our services (or have them foisted upon them) 'citizens'. It's all bonkers to me. And I would definitely be sacked, hung, drawn and quartered for using that term. Bring on retirement!!

At least with 'elderly' you've still got 'old' to get to. With 'third agers', well, is there a fourth?!

I got ticked off [gently] in a meeting when I said the word 'elderly' and was told it was now 'older people'! It's not against the law - yet

I'm 'old' when it's convenient eg when the GC want me to do something I don't want to and I have no compunction about waving my senior railcard at the railway station. It can be beneficial to be 'old'.

How about "senior" as an alternative to elderly or old?

wotsamashedupjingl hence the term melderly

A lot of you said mixing with young people is good and I agree - I work 2 afternoons a week on the Internet Shopping section [my retirement job] and everyone is really young in that department. I love it and we get on really well, keeps me in the loop as they say. Whereas a friend of mine who is fully retired and seems to mix with very old people - she is becoming older then she needs to .

"Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional"! This is exactly the way I feel, I certainly don't feel or want to be called old, perhaps "Older woman"....?

Yes, BlueSky! I think that's perfectly acceptable - sounds rather sexy!

I'm 57 but in my head I'm 37 (in my dreams!)

Last year when my mother (84) was in hospital she referred to the lady (91) in the next bed as 'the old lady'

I dont think any of us on here as old...... anyway old is dead

I think that should be 'too old', glass!

I'm not old or middle-aged. I'm ME and I just happen to be 62!

Hello dorsetpennt, I'm 67 too and I don't consider myself old. My daughter tells me I'm a young 67 and I agree with her. My granddaughter's school friend told me I didn't look old enough to be my granddaughter's grandma. I'm sure that's not true but it was nice anyway.

I'm another 67 year old!

I take two of my GC to school and when the eldest started nursery they thought he was mine

I'm not surprised looking at your photo!

Aw thank you jeni

I always consider myself as 29 plus VAT (Various Ages Today) or a recycled teenager, and whenever I have a 'problem' it is down to teenage hormones

I quite happily refer to myself as old. Average life expectancy for our generation in the UK according to UN figures is just under 80 - that gives me just over 18 years to go. In terms of a lifetime, by anyone's reckoning, that's old. I think we should reclaim the word rather than let the media and others use it as a pejorative term.