It's rude to ask a ladies age?

[OKbutwhyplease]

Oh I couldn't ask a ladies age.
It's rude to ask a ladies age.

Please help a non Brit understand?

I've never understood why it's rude to ask a ladies age but seemingly not a man? Not that I particularly care about age but it's a statement I hear fairly often particularly around birthdays.

Why would it be rude to ask a age anyhow?

People will always find things to be offended by, lying about my age doesn't change my age, pretending I am 20 years younger doesn't change the fact I am late 40's

@continentallentil oh the irony of your comment. Please do not patronise me. You realise that telling a full grown adult woman that they are too young to have experienced any ageism proves the point entirely don't you?

Sod off with you 'with respect'. I see none in your patronising comment.

What are you on about? No I've never called anyone a boomer or a Karen. No I've never said someone won't be applying for a job because they are close to retirement. No I've never rolled my eyes at an older colleague for some random thing they did a decade ago. Not sure what your point is with any of those things to be honest.

I've been dying my hair since I was 11 and I've not had an Botox yet because I'm too poor for any cosmetic procedures like that. Not sure what any of this has to do with asking women their age though.

Just to add I don't ask age but I've noticed a few others (usually men tbh) saying it to colleagues/friends

@VisionsOfSplendour Did you read what I wrote? I ask both men and women. As part of my job. I will continue to ask both men and women I don't know when it is relevant. I didn't say I just go about asking random women how old they are.

I never said Ageism wasn't alive and well. Me asking a woman their age during a medical examination isn't going to stop that.

Obviously this thread isn't about situations where your job requires you to ask a person's age, no one would say that was rude. I think we can assune the OPs not stupid.

Probably best not to.

And, at the risk of being rude, it's "a lady's age" if there's one lady.

Ive asked men and women but I always say, if you don’t mind me asking how old are you. They can refuse, no issues. If they ask me to guess, I won’t. Personally I have no issue with people knowing my age (52) and I think every birthday should be celebrated.

Surely you understand that the OP is asking about social, not medical, situations?

Yes, this.
In fact, the only time anything like this might come up would be if you were invited to their birthday party, and asked if it was a 'special' birthday.

I have a number of friends whose age I don't know. It isn't relevant.

I used to get told I looked good for my age, then 'something' happened and it stopped

I'm 35. Sometimes if I'm in the right mischievous mood and someone asks my age I just say I'm 42 and I get the whole 'wow you look younger than that'.

I'll take it, even though they probably mean I look 39

@user76541055773 the OP isn't asking about just social situations. No where in any of their posts have the mentioned social situations only. They've said they've heard colleagues saying it so presumably not just in a social context there either. There's nothing wrong with helping a non native English person understand the nuances between questions that are/aren't acceptable in social or work situations.

What a strange response. Of course there is nothing wrong with helping a non-native English speaker understand nuances. Did anyone say there was something wrong with it?

You’ve just dropped this in there out of no where, and OP hasn’t mentioned being a non-native English speaker, so I presume you mean yourself? You haven’t asked any questions though, to enable people to help you.

Sometimes to compare experiences. Especially because I'm getting close to 60 myself. "Do you remember when..." conversations. Or "I get the impression you lived in a lot of places.." and the conversation naturally leads to their reference starting point, the opportunities they had or didn't have because of when they were born.

If there is no shame in aging then there should be zero shame in asking. Older age is an achievement.

Surely it depends on the context.

At work I was only once asked my age and that was when I said I was retiring.

I have asked a couple of people their age in social discussions recently. Both times it was relevant to the conversation: once because we talking about finances and pensions (I knew she was retired, was a little older than me, and had an occupational pension but didn't know if she was getting a state pension yet) and once while waiting for a gym class to start when a few of us we were talking about our various hip and knee problems!

I think it's much less rude to ask someone their age when you know you are a similar age yourself, but I did preface my questions with something like "do you mind if I ask..."

Get a grip

It's an outdated view in my opinion. I'm mid 30's. Happy to be asked my age

Let's see in 10-15 years if you still feel the same.

It's rude - outside of the UK too.

It's pretty rude to ask anyone's age tbh - male or female. Just no need for it.

@Thatsmorethanhalf how insightful.

It’s only rude to ask people’s age if you buy into the ridiculous concept that getting old is bad. I’m very happy to tell people how old I am and if the conversation required it would happily ask others. It’s mental how squeamish people are about it.