At what age do you stop "falling over" and instead "have a fall"?

[FleetwoodRaincoat]

A colleague of mine at work the other day tripped over and landed in a heap on the floor. The person who was telling what had happened described it as "she had a fall". It got me thinking about how we tend to say this about people of a certain age - but what age do think? Just interested in opinions.

Colleague was fine BTW, just her ego that was bruised!

Yes I think it’s related to the reason behind the fall. If you fall over something, you’ve fallen over; if it’s related to being unsteady on your feet or blood pressure you’ve had a fall. Mind you, children seem to fall over all the time for no good reason and they’ve never ‘had a fall’…

I don’t know why but this made me laugh out loud not something I’ve ever thought about but good point.

Having fallen while dusting, a few years ago, I have given this some thought.

It is what others ascribe to the fall, according to how old you are.

In MN terms this would be 35 +

I'm 63 and "had a fall yesterday" whilst walking across a mile long expanse of seaweed covered rocks to reach a remote and magical tidal pool in which I swam.

I slipped on some wet seaweed

Any age. To me tripping or having tripped, is just that - you’ve tripped over something but managed to stay upright probably with much flailing of arms. Having a fall is where you actually face plant the ground.
Both can happen at any age.

To fall over likely incorporates a trio which turned into a fall via not managing to recover one’s balance.

Trip not trio. Fell over my fingers.

Since my 50s I have fallen over several times - a combination of uneven paving stones and shoes which, once I lost my balance would roll me over.

Kind people have rushed over to get me to my feet. Not leaving me time to recover fom being winded, or to check myself for damage. I am in a university town so they were young, and I suspect would have thought of me "having a fall."

Last time I fell over I tried to expain to my rescuer that I needed a moment to recover myself. He seemed offended

I now pay attention to the shoes I buy. And have got rid of the trainers which used to roll my feet...

I still remember my 87 year old DGM saying to the (very nice) doctor in A&E "well, it was more of a fall off really" when he asked if she could describe her fall — had she just stood up, did she catch her foot etc.

I don't think he'd expected her to be up a ladder! She'd been re-hanging curtains.