To ask if you will be happy in the future to be referred to as an old dear or an old bag?

[GeorgianaDevonshire]

Or an old trout, a woman of a certain age, an old hag?

If you won't be happy with such a description then don't use it now and don't tolerate other people saying it either.

It occurs a lot on Mumsnet, it's nasty and we should report it and MNHQ delete.

YANBU, casual agism slips into our language with ease.

I don't know. I certainly don't like it and actively try to challenge it but on the other hand I find 'old gimmer' quite funny, especially when applied to me, so I suppose that makes me some kind of conflicted hypocrite!

Ach. I shall be deaf as a post, so shan't hear it in real life. And my MN age is about half my RL age (and will never increase by so much as 1 day). So reading it will never apply to me either!

There's much more happening in the world to be up in arms over.

Quite right. The way people feel entitled to speak about women who've committed no crime but having lived a certain number of years really makes me angry.

That and the "old ladies smell of wee!" hilarity. Not uncommon for women who have birth injuries, we need to have more sympathy and respect.

It depends who would be calling me by that name and the reason behind it.

If it was MiL then I'd be pissed off.

It goes two ways though. There was horrible agism (and racism and abilism) on that grumpy old person thread and anyone who dared call the posters out on their language where called humourless and chased off the threads.

I'll have no problem being called old. It's a statement of fact not a judgement.

Hag and Trout are not nice. I can't get my kickers in a twist about Dear.

I was called an old biddy once in work (school ) I didn't like it. I was 44 at the time! It is ageist I guess, to define people in this way, but do you think it depends on the context, i.e. " she's a lovely old dear". Although that sounds patronising

Completely agree OP. We are all that old dear/old bag one day, God-willing. And we will still think we are significant and relevant and will be shocked to think the world just viewed us as generic old, not very important people.

Paula - I think "lovely woman" would suffice.

I'd prefer old bag

I'm a fat old trout me

YANBU and it's easy to find it amusing when you don't think it really applies to you, might not be so funny in 40 years.

'Old' is used to patronise (old dear) or insult (old bag).

Call someone a bag, a trout, or a witch if you think they merit it but leave the 'old' part out.

It stops being funny when it starts to be used to dismiss everything you say-as most of you will discover eventually.

I call my MIL 'old bag' and she signs that in her emails to me

She calls me 'slightly younger bag'

YABU. This kind of ageism is very common on mumsnet. I didn't realise how some younger people must view to me, until I came on here.

I aspire to be a game old bird.

Laurie my mum calls me a young bag too. As she is the old bag.
I call myself a miserable old bag when the dc as whyyyyyy when I say no to something. In a because I am a... Way. And I can be sometimes.
I don't refer to other people (apart from my mum) like that but can't say it would bother me if someone described me as it because well I may just be.

I sign myself MIL on e-mails to my SIL-accompanied by my special evil grin logo

Anyone over 50 appears old to be classed as old on MN. I've seen it
on numerous threads this week.

I'm 28. My Dad is 54. I definitely wouldn't class him as old. He's fitter than me by a bloody long shot for a start. My Grandma is 70 and I only see her as "old" since her mother died aged 98 last year.

It does however stop being a joke when people use age to stereotype "cushy, baby-boomer, Tory-voting, interfering old bat" (NOT)

I'm too busy looking forward to getting away with insulting people in supermarkets to care about what I get called in response.

I'm terrified to open my mouth and refer to anybody as anything these days, other than their name.

When did we all become so offended by so many things?

rainbow you wouldn't be offended if i called you an old bag? Really?