My doctor called me 'An elderly Lady.'

Elderly is quite OK if it’s used as a Generic description, how else would you describe an old person.

A Doctor should use the factual age ie “an 83 yr old lady” or not mention age at all, in a report to another medic. I’d do remember mum being described as a “pleasant lady”, then listing all her ailments

A few years ago a doctor wrote about me
"this 83 year old lady is self caring and active" so managed to avoid the ekderly or old description.

I’m 70, I have long (well kept, not Mary Beard style bless her) hair, wear light makeup every day and jeans. I drive a sports car. In the queue for my flu jab yesterday I saw a lot of elderly people, some of whom may well have been younger than me. Elderly I am not. However I do recognise that bad health, poverty and a hard life trying to manage on very little can be very ageing so I don’t judge. I’m very fortunate to be able to not look elderly.

I think elderly describes someone of at least 70 or really 75. This is because many people are much more young at heart these days until much longer. People wear normal clothes (don’t go into a uniform of all black clothes, or even worse a uniform of Mrs Brown of Mrs Brown’s Boys, type of cardigans.) I have of friend of 78 who doesn’t seem elderly, although obviously she is elderly. With many more people living into their 90s these days, I think the term elderly needs to apply to much older people. I don’t think people in their 60s can be described as elderly nowadays.

I really see nothing wrong with the word 'elderly! No, I don't think that the word is loaded or pejorative. It's a statement of fact.
Personally, I certainly don't like any of the alternative expressions (senior citizen!) any better.

No, none of us like getting older, and, especially if we still feel fit and active, would rather that we were still classified as middl-aged, but we are not - that ship has sailed.

Are those ofyou who are adamant that the word 'elderly doesn't /shouldn't apply to you are going to put of claiming your state pension until you do think you are elderly?

I just tell myself that no single cell in my body is over five. Of course I might exaggerate.

Is it the word “elderly “ that’s objected to, or being acknowledged as an older person? If it’s the word, well yes it’s a bit dated, perhaps pejorative, but hardly intentionally rude. Perhaps a gentle comment that it’s a dated term might be possible if anyone is really offended by it? If the second, then perhaps an honest reflection about how we feel about ageing is helpful?

I’m 62, still working (for Age UK as it happens, so very conscious of ageism), proudly wear my natural hair colour (so many lovely shades of silver!) which allows me to wear gorgeous colours that never looked right with my mousey brown hair, and am enjoying entering my later years. As I’d like to think I might live till, say, 90, I’m conscious of transitioning into the Third Age. Looking forward to retirement, though it will be on a very modest budget, to my bus pass, to joining groups - including university of the third age no doubt! - and to whatever it brings. However, I’m also aware of the passage of time and its effect on my body, and I know I’ve reached that particular age for medical attention. I’ll possibly be labelled elderly when I finally get an appointment about my increasingly painful knees. Whatevs.

As several other grans have noted, it feels a privilege to have lived long enough to earn the status, my dear dad having died at the age of 53, and I hope to live as well as I can for as long as I can. And hopefully not use equally ageist terms, like “young enough to be a schoolgirl”, which is surely demeaning about a professional person we’re entrusting with our care? ?

Bring on the positive ageing!!

This is plain daft, Venus! Of course you're an elderly lady in your mid seventies!

I remember having my last baby I was described as a geriatric pregnancy.... First time I get called elderly might finish me off!

I embraced being an old lady once I reached 60. It’s just a statement of fact, really. My sister, who’s a few years younger, is forever telling me she ‘refuses to get old’, but however young an outlook on life you keep, the years will affect your body eventually!

I’ve been told to lose weight by doctors so often, that I’ve started saying I suffer from FOLS - Fat Old Lady Syndrome!

It reminds me of when my mum, aged 70, confronted a mugger who was trying to rob an 'elderly' gentleman. She wacked him with her brolly (not the elderly gentleman!) She was described as a very brave 'elderly' lady - she was so upset!

At 21, my boss dressed like a middle aged, although only 15 years older than me.
Sadly, he lived only a short time after retirement.
But he seemed to think"old"
There was a time when I thought that 60 was elderly or old.
then it was 70; and then 80,
Now I tend to refer to ladies in their 90s as "elderly".

Age tends to be an attitude of mind.
Thinking and living as a a Young at Heart tends to extend the lifespan, in many cases.

Don’t mind baby boomer, don’t even mind old fart (hopefully in a jokey sense), but elderly - don’t you dare!

Franbern

Sorry - am I missing something. What on earth is wrong with being called 'elderly'? Surely, it is purely a term for people who have lived something like 65 plus years. Nothing to do with your medical condition, how you look, colour of hair, of clothes being worn.

Of course, I am elderly (80 yrs old in a couple of months), what difference does that make to anything I can or, indeed, cannot do, etc.

Oh come off it
“Elderly” is a loaded term.
You may not think it, but it is.

Connotations of frail, dithering, past it

When I was 32 and having my second child, my notes said "Elderly Gravidae" so the medical profession see 'elderly' in quite a different light.

I'm 74 and proud of being elderly, in whatever sense it's meant.
My hair is snow white (or green occasionally) but I don't pretend to be anything other than what I am.
A daft old bat in the last decade of her life.

I feel my age now I’ve been stricken down with inflammatory arthritis as I’ve noticed a change in the way shop assistants etc respond to you as you try to fiddle the cards out of your purse with fingers that don’t work as they used to do. BUT, I believe I now have inklings about the routine discrimination disabled people, people of colour, and ethnic minorities have to put up with on a daily basis. It’s made me more sympathetic towards them, and the really old and decrepit!

"When does someone become elderly?"

When they stop falling and start 'having a fall'

Franbern I totally agree. I think a lot of people confuse how the feel for the facts of the situation. It happens a lot.

Being a bit of a nerd and liking to stick to the facts. I sometimes find this irritating.

Sorry - am I missing something. What on earth is wrong with being called 'elderly'? Surely, it is purely a term for people who have lived something like 65 plus years. Nothing to do with your medical condition, how you look, colour of hair, of clothes being worn.

Of course, I am elderly (80 yrs old in a couple of months), what difference does that make to anything I can or, indeed, cannot do, etc.

>>Lizbethann55
What I REALLY REALLY HATE is when young people, especially teens or twenties call us cute. Or say things like " ahh, bless!"<<

Lizbethann, I say things like that I'm afraid - about my children!
I agree though that it is outrageous how older people are seen as sexless. Maybe some are happy to 'put all that behind us' (I have come across one or two of them), but a lot of us enjoy having sex!

My ex-husband's aunt used to refer to the other residents of her nursing home as 'old dears' . She was pushing ninety!

In her 90s my grandmother would do the shopping for “the old lady next door” - who was in her 80s. It’s all a state of mind!

Mine said I was "well preserved". I didn't know whether to feel flattered or insulted. I'm 69.

I was watching a US television show a couple of weeks ago and they referred to a woman, 58, as elderly! I almost fell out of my chair!

Littleannie I can understand your annoyance. It's one thing calling someone "elderly". I think it's quite another to automatically categorise an elderly person as "moderately frail".