Does the word "elderly" have a negative connotation to you?

Lord Elpus said:
I'm a tottering,wobbly,absent-minded,loose-bowelled,toothless,grumpy,short-sighted,deaf,forgetful,absent-minded [did I mention that yet?] miserable,lumbago-cursed,arthritic,doddering,slow,annoying,Werthers-sucking,elderly,walking-stick waving,absent-minded,slipper-shuffling,creaking old relic....

....so how come I drive a low-loader of 125 tons,that has a twin-splitter 'crash-box' and an extendable trailer? Oh,Yes-it's because the 'auto-box' Snowflake generation CAN'T!

[ps...I think I just wet myself....again. That's the third time today....#sigh#...]
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Lord help us, indeed. You are one strange person.
 
Lord Elpus said:
I'm a tottering,wobbly,absent-minded,loose-bowelled,toothless,grumpy,short-sighted,deaf,forgetful,absent-minded [did I mention that yet?] miserable,lumbago-cursed,arthritic,doddering,slow,annoying,Werthers-sucking,elderly,walking-stick waving,absent-minded,slipper-shuffling,creaking old relic....

....so how come I drive a low-loader of 125 tons,that has a twin-splitter 'crash-box' and an extendable trailer? Oh,Yes-it's because the 'auto-box' Snowflake generation CAN'T!

[ps...I think I just wet myself....again. That's the third time today....#sigh#...]
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:giggle:
 

On a recent visit to the hospital because of a fall I was listed as a 'fragile senior'; on asking why the fragile the
nurse said that all patients over 85 are considered as fragile. So that's what I am!
 
tortiecat said:
On a recent visit to the hospital because of a fall I was listed as a 'fragile senior'; on asking why the fragile the
nurse said that all patients over 85 are considered as fragile. So that's what I am!
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Better to be safe than sorry I suppose lol, saves them being sued for not being careful with the elderly with brittle bones ...

reminds me in a roundabout way that my daughter's friend at age 38 giving birth for the first time, was classed as a ''geriatric mother''...
 
Nobody's ever called me either, so I'll put off worrying about this one until I have to. :sentimental:
 
Aunt Bea said:
I agree words like geriatric, elderly, senior, should be used to describe groups, services, facilities, etc... and not used to describe individuals.

Just use my name and please when I get older don't talk about me like I'm a dog at the veterinarian's office talk to me like I'm still a human being.
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YES! I may be older now, but I am still just me.
 
Knight said:
be called elderly or senior beats being called pre dead.
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Yes, but my point is, why lump us all into a monolithic group? People over a certain age don't all look or think or vote alike, or have or do not have disabilities, or whatever else. I do not like labels which make assumptions, like we are all doddering on the brink (which we are not). It is like lumping all teenagers, white people, black people, brown people, Catholics or truck drivers into one big group and making assumptions about what their opinions are, how they think or feel or live. It simply is not valid.
 
CeeCee said:
I am a senior but don’t think I’m elderly yet and have never really been called either unless it was behind my back, lol.

I have been offered the senior discount recently at Walgreens without being asked if I was a senior but they have all my info so maybe it just pops up for them on their computer.
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People say stuff to me ..in front of me..cause my hearing is bad.. just smile and say..se mf..:cool:
 
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Well, what do you call someone, who is advanced in age? A late teen-very late? I don't think "elderly" is a derogatory term. I'm almost 73, got grey hair (what's left of it), and I'm in a wheelchair. And nobody has asked to see the birthday on my drivers license in 40 years. So "elderly" is OK with me. Besides with my hearing, I probably wouldn't have heard them call me that, anyway.
 
I consider elderly,senior,old all as badges of courage. Those years all brought not only happiness and sadness but were the vehicles of growth. When you call me by those descriptions my chest swells with the knowledge that I survived the trials you have yet to face.
 
If anyone had the nerve to call me elderly, I would seriously want to slap them. Sorry, that's just me.

An Age-Old Problem: Who Is 'Elderly'?

When exactly does someone become elderly?

A recent New York Times story calls a 69-year-old woman elderly. Philadelphia Metro considers 70 to be elderly. When NPR ran a story recently about a 71-year-old midwife, some readers objected to the word "elderly" in the original headline.

Another wrote: "I was 70 in Feb and I certainly do not feel elderly ... Elderly is at least over 80 and as someone else suggested maybe 95."

Editors decided to change the headline. And eventually, NPR's ombudsman weighed in on the "elderly" issue.

In the same way other words have morphed in widespread acceptability — handicapped to disabled; Oriental to Asian; retarded to mentally challenged, and even those words are still in flux — elderly is becoming politically (and politely) incorrect. Certain terms apparently have term limits.

Past Middle Age
"Nobody likes to think of themselves as old, let alone very old," says Michael Vuolo, co-host of Slate's Lexicon Valley podcast. " 'Elderly' often carries the connotation of feeble and dependent. Which is offensive if you're not and condescendingly euphemistic if you are."

https://www.npr.org/2013/03/12/174124992/an-age-old-problem-who-is-elderly
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