OMG, am mortified/horrified and shocked...........

Well, 3 score years and 10 was probably an average. People realised that many children died before the age of five, and that women died in childbirth frequently. So if you made it through that (and war and pestilence) you had a good chance of reaching 70 or older. The Spitalfields excavation was an eye-opener on how we see longevity in the past. Named individuals, whose ages were known as they were buried in the church crypt, had their bones carbon dated, and the results were way out e.g. someone who had lived to 80+ was carbon dated as having lived to c. 35. I think - this was the 80s - carbon dating has much improved (witness the ID of Richard III) but the findings put a coach and horse through the idea that most people died before they were 40 in the past.

I always think of elderly being the stage before old.

I did my family tree and they were mostly living I to their 80s in Late 19th century/ early 20th century.

Well indeed…. Using the approach you’ve quoted, 20 to 55 must be young, then 13 to 19 teenager and 0 to 12 child. So the first 20 years of life are covered by two descriptions. Then the next 35 are covered by one. Before a series of 10 year stages after that. Which is completely nonsensical 😂

Middle age could reasonably cover 45 to 64
Old could cover 65 to 84
anything over 85 is elderly.

Which leaves 25 to 44 as young
and 0 to 24 as child/teenager/young adult 😅

I absolutely love, love, love your cat. Cats will one day take over the world they are so clever. Thousands of years ago they were revered as gods and they have never forgotten this.

Back to ages, I saw an article in the paper about a Grandma who was mugged and assaulted on her way home from town one night. I immediately thought of my friend's Nan in her late 70s coming home from bingo on the bus, but no, this woman was 43 coming home from a night club in the wee small hours. It just shows how perceptions differ.

People are getting older. Its not that long ago that 3 score year and 10 was accepted as your life span, now you can add another 10 years at least whereas a couple of hundred years ago you would have been lucky to live to 60.

Judging by the replies to this post there are wildly different views as to what constitutes old age which proves it is a state of mind.

😂

There are some interesting characters there, from character sets not normally used in the same language, such as the Polish "w" sound (crossed L) and C cedilla which is more Portuguese and French (and therefore surely unlikely to be on the same keyboard). Maybe your cat is cleverer than you realised.

Easily. My bloke became a grandpa when he was 43.

Their grandpas could be in their 40s.

Don't bet against it. My Nan lived to be 103 (4 months off 104). She lived for most of the last 40ish years of her life with my Aunt, Uncle and 2 male cousins. This kept her young at heart. She wore tweed skirts and twin set and pearls (age appropriate), but when cousins' mates visited she would be included in conversations and wasn't treated like a doddery little old lady. Age is a state of mind. As for gardening, watch Chelsea Flower Show in a couple of weeks and a good proportion of the top designers are 20 or 30 somethings.

You could drop dead at 40, but would you have considered yourself middle aged at 20 - I think not. Don't be defined by society's norms. When it comes to old age Sunak wants to put pension age up to 75 so you won't be old till then.

It is grandparent age, so not young.

63 is not old, don't be ridiculous.

I am late thirties and feel very old. Mainly because I work in nurseries. Worked out a lot of the staff could actually be my own children which is horrifying.

I am 52. I was (optimistically) middle aged 10 years ago. It’s fairly unlikely I’ll live to be 104, even though I’ve not yet had any health issues.

I don’t think of myself as old quite yet. I am fit and nimble and still working ft.

Enough of this! 60 is not old. You may be an older person but then, we're all going to be older than something or someone. I'm 62. I have aches and pains but I don't feel old and I don't think old. I still work because I don't qualify for an old-age pension (the clue is in the name). Some amongst us need to stop this ageism and find something more worthy to test their teeth on - BTW, in addition, I still have my own teeth.

In addition, I've just bought another hydrangea and some Busy Lizzies and the cats and I have many meaningful conversations. They tend to have more sense than most of the people I deal with.

By what logic is 55-65 middle aged? Are you planning to live to 130 years old?

Oh my, you have so hit a nerve OP, I'm 53 and every time I look in a mirror I see my mum, she's 80!!

I'm 67 and like to think I'm getting on a bit but good for my age. Still working!

You sound absolutely ace OP, I wish you were my friend, we could sit in the garden on a nice afternoon, chatting gardening tips, maybe even thinking about whether you could put a nice trellis in 🤣

Your thread is great timing.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit I've got caught up in the 'what happened to my youth/looks' shock and awe recently.

I've got pretty caught up in it, The 'ooh, age, doesn't it creep up on you so fast'?! 😆

It's only about ten minutes ago (ok a year ago) I was having weekends away with a thirty five year old, and here I am referred to the continence nurse, thinking I don't miss going to gigs as much as I used to, going to chair yoga today! & getting intimidated when I have to walk past the local yoof, thinking they're bound to shout out 'Oy old lady fecker' or similar.

Oh and im referring myself to sheltered housing (I can't afford the rents, well, anywhere, so it seems the only option I've got, but when I used to Manage retired housing schemes , it seemed quite an advanced elderly lifestyle to me).

Ageing. It can be a shit business...for hip trendy things like most of us on here!

But grab it with both hands and give it a shaking, let's not take this lying down, etc etc etc

and to the poster in care, I hope you growl or find some way of turning that on its head- the patronising gits!

Many of your comments suggest you have the outlook of an older person but at the end if the day if you are happy why worry too much about what people think.

In my first job there were people older than me. I got engaged at 18, married one month after 20th birthday and thought the ‘girls’ of 34 had missed the boat! My cousin says ‘old’ is 20 years older than she is…

Ps - I did an online "guess how old you are" based on your responses to questions and according to that I am 30 (actually 62). I'm just glad the didn't ask for a photo!

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