To be surprised that 65+ is deemed ‘elderly’

Society might hate old people.

That's doesn't mean you have to internalise that bollocks and start hating your age or being in denial of it.

All the way through this thread, with all the factual explanations given, and you still don't seem to have grasped the meaning of the term middle-aged.

Nope, it's where you lose the protective effect of relative youth, from a medical standpoint.

Middle age is where morbidity starts to creep in, its never been a median of the lifespan.

I meant, just adults. As in not young adults and not middle aged adults.
As teenagers we thought anyone over 25 was old, 45 was considered ancient. I remember being shocked to find out that my niece (16 years younger than me) was taught by the same science teacher in year 7 that I had during GCSEs as everyone thought he was ancient, so I looked him up and worked out that he was late 40s when teaching us - oops. In our defence, he talked about his grandchildren in class and anyone old enough to have grandchildren seemed ancient to us at 15/16.

You can get an 82-year-old who has good health, is physically active, has a social life - they might not seem 'elderly'

So you're old/elderly if you're unwell? Age is irrelevant?

Oh let me think, maybe because society hates older people? You only have to read the threads on here, It’s used as a derogatory descriptor all the time, old bat, old cow, stupid old woman. Do you ever compliment a person and say Sandra, you look so old and fabulous? I doubt it.

She was surprised that so many were still working. To not be aware of this is out of touch, in my view. The percentages are by the by - governments of most countries view people as a whole of being capable of holding down full time jobs at an age when historically they were automatically given state pensions.

At my previous work place I sometimes had to describe the customers to the service providers. I introduced terms pre-middle aged, post-middle aged and pre-elderly. My colleagues were not thrilled. It was really hard to distinguish between working aged adult and old when you're 22 😅

I'm 57, and I considered myself to be middle aged rather than old.
I work full time in a physically demanding job, play 2 sports, and have an energetic breed dog. I don't act old.
and refuse to grow up 😅

I think definitions have not kept up with the times.... but at the same time I sometimes feel that 'elderly' is a state of being/mind rather than a specific age. People age so differently now that people are living longer.

You can get a 68 year old who has poor health, isn't very mobile, is losing their hearing but doesn't want to wear hearing aids so is isolated and unhappy, doesn't leave the house much - they would seem 'elderly'.

You can get an 82-year-old who has good health, is physically active, has a social life - they might not seem 'elderly'

You sound absolutely marvellous but you're chronologically old.

You're probably what I like to refer to as 'old, but gold'

I remember as a late teen reading in the newspaper about an elderly man ...he was iirc 57 which was a similar age to my dad at the time. We all thought it was hilarious!

I know a lot of people in physical jobs who are still working well into their sixties. I have a cousin of 97 who would be furious to be called old. My paternal grandfather lived to 98. 40 is middle age. I wonder if the posters might change their mind, because people on here seem to have babies later.

Quite- you can be old and like rock music/ run marathons. MN is like “schrodingers old person”. 65 isn’t old at all unless the government wants to raise the pension age in which case it’s all “ ooh noo. Can’t be expected to work till 70” 🤣🤣

Surely middle age is middle of your life and not many people are living 130.

As a teenager I considered everyone over the age of 25 'old'... now in my early 30's.. don't ask! 😆

I think it only depends from a policy/marketing segmentation perspective.

Socially.. well, I don't know. I'm not great with ages but looking at my IL's, relatives, colleagues etc none of them look like an 'elderly person' I'd offer my seat to until about mid-70's. So I wouldn't consider 65 elderly!

@SleepyRich medical terms are another thing I mean they still have 'geriatric mother' written on forms for women in their early 30's. May be true medically but who would ever call someone that outside of the hospital..?

I find it interesting that so many put down different meaning to 'old'. Like if at certain age you still do something you can't be old.
I've never considered old to mean you can't do something. It is just a word to describe age like teenager.

Medically you're considered frail after 65years. There are several tools used to predict the likelihood of series illness or injury and they generally use age >65yr as a marker for frailty. Two common ones are Curb-65, more likely to need hospital admission with pneumonia, Canadian c-spine: more likely to pick up a spinal fracture in simple low mechanism fall..

I'm 66 and look old but wouldn't describe myself as frail, my mum didn't get frail until she was about 80

My maternal grandmother is 103, maternal great grandmother died at 96, paternal grandmother died at 90 so I'm guessing at 56 a just over middle aged?

I agree with a lot of PPs that age is really just a number and that PLUS your physical state of wellness is probably what should more correctly be considered when describing you as elderly/old etc.

I'm still out dancing from 8 - 2am on the weekends!

I’m 51 and would describe myself as an old person.