My doctor called me 'An elderly Lady.'

Whoops! Lost the end - "and I am less mobile than she was at 92".

And this old thread from way back in 2021, when Methuselah was nowt but a lad and dinosaurs roamed the Earth is still perfectly valid and worth contributing to, because nothing has changed except the date!

A few years ago my Aunt (aka Aged Aunt) broke her wrist and was admitted to a Nursing home while she recovered its use. 6 weeks later she ran to the car to return home. "It's full of old people" she said, "and most of them are ga-ga. If I stay any longer I will be ga-ga too!" She was 92. Her broken wrist was caused by a fall. The "Social" had insisted she wore non-slip slippers (!) because of her age and they no longer slipped over her carpet - so she fell.

I am 77 and

I totally agree with MerylStreep - you absolutely can’t fool nature . That’s why Botox , cosmetic surgery and expensive
creams are vain and useless . Enjoy what you can , for as long as you can and remember that life consists of one generation following another.

Medically speaking someone over 70 is elderly . Outward appearances are only part of the picture and however much one colours one hair and makes similar adjustments, the body clock still says elderly . In these days of political correctness and accusations of lack of respect I think a doctor should be able to speak plainly without pussyfooting around a subject and looking for euphemisms.

I'm considered very old at 80 years but I have just come back from a 14 night cruise and I managed to stay up dancing until 1.30 in the morning. Live life, age is a number.

petra

When these old threads are resurrected it’s nearly always by a member who has never posted before.
I know I’m not the only one who has a theory on this.

So?

At 70 I regard myself as "an old lady" and it suits me fine.
The word "old" is generally avoided like the plague, especially in relation to human beings but I really believe it's time we stopped being so squeamish and prim about it and started owning it again in a positive way.

The term I absolutely loathe is "Senior Citizen". It's ever so delicately twee and makes me think I shouldn't ever leave the house without my smelling salts......

Geez 2021? I got duped

janeainsworth

I think once someone stops being middle- aged they progress to being ‘older’ or ‘elderly’. It’s just a chronological description.
If you’re in your seventies, as I am, then you’re kidding yourself if you think of yourself as middle-aged.
If you think ‘elderly’ is in some way a derogatory term with negative connotations, then you’re being a bit ageist yourself.

Agree! Elderly just means you're not in the middle of an average lifespan which would be 45 or 50. Get over it and stop feeling ashamed that you have reached elderly years in life. So many would be jealous of such good health.

Agree with janeinsworth above. It's just a description 🤣. If you are old it fits. Not anything negative. In many places older folks are respected for their wisdom. Sadly in the western nations, no longer true.

trisher

I was an "elderly prima gravida" when I had my first child. As was anybody who gave birth after 30 for the first time. I've had 40 years to get used to the word elderly it doesn't bother me now!

I was an ‘elderly’ primigravida too, at 28!

Last year after I had a nasty dose of pneumonia there was some correspondence between the hospital consultant and my GP, so I was glad the consultant didn’t refer to me as ‘elderly’ - he just stated my age, then 74. I don’t know whether it helps that I’ve never gone grey.

It’s genetic - my mother - formerly what they used to call a ‘strawberry blonde’ - still wasn’t properly grey when she died at 97. At 80 her hair was still a somewhat faded ‘golden’ - there was a serious falling out with a neighbour who refused to believe that she didn’t dye it!

When these old threads are resurrected it’s nearly always by a member who has never posted before.
I know I’m not the only one who has a theory on this.

And ??

THIS THREAD IS FROM 2021.

I am 79 and what matters to me is to live in my own place, run my own life and make my own choices without anyone telling me what to do or when I should get up or go to bed or whatever., as I have done for many many years I have made a lot of effort to do this and used my common sense and have chosen to move to a ground floor flat etc and I loved my life with my husband and family. I still drive and so forth and help others where I can. So whether other people see me as middle aged, elderly, old or ancient I dont really care so long as I can keep going as long as possible.

I'm 57 yrs, considered, employable age. I hope to retire at 62. Start baking cakes, grow pansies, make my garden beautiful, paint my walls, do some canal walks, do yoga. Staying active is the key 🔐.

Venus My neighbour's children & friend were playing on their new trampoline with balloons, one popped over the fence into my garden. I was up the back dealing with some garden rubbish, so they must have known I was there. I heard the little boy friend calling out ^ old lady, old lady^ clearly for the return of their balloon.

Walking back down the garden, I saw their balloon and popped it back over, but if the little boy had called out for the old lady again, I would have replied ^ Oh there's no old lady here^

The very nice respiratory consultant who wrote to my GP about me some time after I was discharged from hospital (pneumonia) evidently saw no need to describe me as ‘elderly’ - he just referred to me as a 74 year old woman.

To be fair I am probably lucky to be rather fitter and more mobile than many of my age, which he had probably gathered at my follow up appt., when I was more or less back to normal.

annodomini

To be called an 'elder' in many cultures is an honourable description. Why is it that when the suffix -ly is added, it seems to be derogatory?

Because in English, it just sounds doddery! As if you’re a bent old person with a stick, like in the warning road signs - ‘watch out, elderly people about’.

If my GP didn't refer to me as 'elderly', what other description would apply? 'Old lady' suggests decrepitude. What about a 'woman of a certain age'? Too vague? An 82-year-old-woman[? Precise, but then 'elderly' is convenient shorthand, if not to the OP's liking. At least the person with whom the GP is communicating knows what they mean.

trisher

I was an "elderly prima gravida" when I had my first child. As was anybody who gave birth after 30 for the first time. I've had 40 years to get used to the word elderly it doesn't bother me now!

I was called the same when I had my first DD at 28. It's only a word I mostly ignore.
I vowed at 40 that I was not going to grow old gracefully and try my best not to.
It's what you feel and act like that counts not what is on a G.P.'s chart.
If you say no when asked if they can call you by your first name at the Dr's , Dentist and hairdressers you are labelling yourself.
I try to go with the flow. It doesn't bother me either.

When does one become elderly?

When one makes observations such as

I would add she looked like she had just come out of school. !

I didn’t realise I was elderly until I went into hospital last year and realised how the young doctors and nurses saw me. My own DC certainly don’t think of me as elderly. I’m still 35 inside, so who is that old lady in the mirror and why am I trapped in this body?

If mid-70’s isn’t elderly - what is?
I may not feel elderly at 75, but there’s no denying my age!
How about thinking of yourself as “spry” - I always fancied that!

annodomini

To be called an 'elder' in many cultures is an honourable description. Why is it that when the suffix -ly is added, it seems to be derogatory?

a wise elder is something to be proud of..