Your personal thoughts about the word Elderly

Kayelle

Kayelle

Member
Location
California, southern central coast
For me, I don't mind at all being called a Senior, but the word ELDERLY gives me the heebie jebbie jitters.
With the life span these days, ELDERLY to me wouldn't be until the age of 90 or so. If I live another 14 yrs. I'll be ok with the nasty sounding word for me, but I think "Super Senior" sounds a lot better. :cool:

What say you?
 

I heard on the news recently a report on a woman being run over.. they described her as ''an elderly 60 year old woman''... whaaaat??? :eek: I"m 5 years older at 65.. and this is me.. I don't think of myself as being anywhere near elderly

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Kayelle said:
For me, I don't mind at all being called a Senior, but the word ELDERLY gives me the heebie jebbie jitters.
With the life span these days, ELDERLY to me wouldn't be until the age of 90 or so. If I live another 14 yrs. I'll be ok with the nasty sounding word for me, but I think "Super Senior" sounds a lot better. :cool:

What say you?
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I'll just refer to a creation from my taproom thread;

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When I hear the word elderly it brings a smile to my face and reminds me of my mother-in-law. She spent the last years of her life in an assisted living facility and one day when my wife was having lunch with her in the dining room, she was speaking of one of the other residents and pointed to a man who appeared to be in his '80's, and said "That elderly gentleman over there". What is so charming about the story was she was well into her '90's at the time.

As for me, there are days I feel I'm on the eve of elderly, and others, I'm anxiously awaiting to hit puberty.
 
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Oris'es story reminded me of MY Grandmother. She was left with 5 young children on the plains of Montana when her husband suddenly died. She had a horse ranch to care for and switched it to a wheat farm, but she had to marry again to handle all the work. So she married 15 years younger than herself and told everyone she was 10 years younger. She kept this up her whole life. When she died at 90, they found her birth certificate and she was really 100.
 
Kayelle said:
For me, I don't mind at all being called a Senior, but the word ELDERLY gives me the heebie jebbie jitters.
With the life span these days, ELDERLY to me wouldn't be until the age of 90 or so. If I live another 14 yrs. I'll be ok with the nasty sounding word for me, but I think "Super Senior" sounds a lot better. :cool:

What say you?
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I love referring to it as the "mature years".
 
I remember being referred as 'elderly' by a physician's assistant when I was around 55 years old. You have no idea how depressed I felt. These people should know what age is considered, 'elderly'.
 
Reminds me of something that my middle sister told me the other day. She still works at age 68 at the public library; her boss referred her as the senior employee. My sis was so mad and said they employees should not be referred to as that. She even told her boss how she felt.
 
Aunt Bea said:
IMO elderly should be used to describe a segment of society and never used when referring to an individual.
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Yet again I hear those Beawordsofwisdom. 💑You are a keeper my friend.

I couldn't agree more. Labels for any groups of people are never a good thing, and certainly not for individuals.

Unlike several lucky people here, I'm sure I look my age of 76. While I was in the hospital some of the staff spoke to me in a condescending (but respectful) manner and it really bothered me. My feeling was that because of my age, they wrongfully assumed that my sharp brain was in some way diminished.

I feel my brain is no less sharp than it was when I was much younger, so I was slightly insulted by the automatic assumption. By the time I left the hospital after a week of non stop questions from me about my condition, everyone knew I was sharper than many people decades younger.

Sadly I know far too much about dementia, as I cared for my own father who didn't know who I was, or thought I was my Mom. "The lights are on but nobody's home." Tragic, to be sure.

My family assures me that I have no sign of any kind of dementia and I pray it stays that way.

My point is I resent anyone assuming I must have lost a marble or two because of my age. :rolleyes:
 
I guess the word Elderly bothers some but not me. It depends on what associations you have with the word Elderly. I just think of Elderly as older folks who may be more frail now.
 
a few years ago it was my grandsons birthday and i had forgotten... so i dashed out to a local store that also sold cards, and i selected a 21st birthday card, when i took it to the counter the lady smiled at me, she was in her forties, she said "this is a really nice card, is it for your son?" "no" i replied "my grandson" i have never seen a redder face, it was an amazing blush, i reached out and patted her hand "an easy mistake, i was a child bride" erm i should add here i am a male
 
Kayelle said:
Yet again I hear those Beawordsofwisdom. 💑You are a keeper my friend.

I couldn't agree more. Labels for any groups of people are never a good thing, and certainly not for individuals.

Unlike several lucky people here, I'm sure I look my age of 76. While I was in the hospital some of the staff spoke to me in a condescending (but respectful) manner and it really bothered me. My feeling was that because of my age, they wrongfully assumed that my sharp brain was in some way diminished.

I feel my brain is no less sharp than it was when I was much younger, so I was slightly insulted by the automatic assumption. By the time I left the hospital after a week of non stop questions from me about my condition, everyone knew I was sharper than many people decades younger.

Sadly I know far too much about dementia, as I cared for my own father who didn't know who I was, or thought I was my Mom. "The lights are on but nobody's home." Tragic, to be sure.

My family assures me that I have no sign of any kind of dementia and I pray it stays that way.

My point is I resent anyone assuming I must have lost a marble or two because of my age. :rolleyes:
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And after a certain age, people don't regard your words as worth a lot anymore. Especially when your children are the grandparents, you are the elderly!
 


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