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. It's a put down and unpleasant. But some people will realise this only when they are old, frail and possibly vulnerable themselves. Can't be fun living one's life with all it's ups and downs and towards the end loosing most of your value as happens in our society.

Some people love to put others down. This is not my cup of tea.

I think to refer to others in a condescending way whilst bigging yourself up in the process shows a lack of compassion.

Same here RainbowFlutterby - you can't interact with some people without being thought annoying. There seem to be a lot of constantly angry people about.
I can understand that people get irritated if they are having an off day. I have yet to see why the age of the person who irritates them has any relevance at all.

I would like to know at what age you reach that time that you can't have an opinion if you are a woman. I know you don't count after 50yrs but I suspect it is much earlier.

I quite often describe myself as an old dear, and proudly acknowledge my possession of a crone's travel pass. What really pisses me off is when people assume everyone over 50 is feeble brained, bigoted, and IT illiterate, and when they talk about the 60s and 70s as if they were the Dark Ages.

The problem is some people are just underthinking this......

I already am a grumpy old fart / hag / bag.
I think I admire people who can be a witch. I'd really like to have a lot more of what they've got.

If I ever start smelling like wee, I hope nobody is afraid to tell me.

I got called a tough old bird a couple of weeks ago. I'm only 36!
I want to grow up to be a proper battleaxe though.

yanbu
i would rather be just called by my name, age is just a number

"I saw an old woman violently abuse my child in the supermarket by smiling at him" sounds fine to me. (Why is it always supermarkets by the way?!)

It's the derogatory accompaniments that I find distasteful and I'm fairly young myself.

Babies and I often have fun in supermarkets, pulling funny faces etc and the mother generally doesn't notice.

What would Baroness Trumpington do if anyone called her an 'old dear'............

Old women are known to use their bus passes (a perk for entitled baby boomers) to travel to supermarkets with the specific intention of glancing at babies in prams, smiling at new mums and even passing the time of day with them. Fact in MN World

If I'm an arsehole to everyone in my old age then I don't think I will be able to complain if someone refers to me as 'an old bag'.

I count myself as a woman of a certain age.

Of course, there are other women of a different certain age, but I'll be one of those one day, too.

Agree about not using age as an insult, though.

It depends if I earn the label. If I go about minding my own business like I do now I would be upset, if I take up sticking my heads in strangers prams and telling their parents what to do with them I would be a bag.

How horrible to want to live in a world when you never exchange a word with your fellow human beings.

I'm aiming for old bag here!

I hate it. It's combined ageism and sexism - old men rarely get referred to in this way.

It's so insidious too. I was part of an online discussion the other day about how to write clearly and someone said: "Ask yourself if your mum would understand it."

Of course, because your mum's bound to be a dimwit, isn't she?

I can't imagine this ever being something I could bring myself to be bothered about.

Don't get me wrong, I love it when people come up and comment on how cute my kids are (I mean, who wouldn't, they are gorgeous obviously!)

But there does seem to be that look of total disgust at your screaming child that only a old bag person of age can truly pull off.

If I'm an arsehole to everyone in my old age then I don't think I will be able to complain if someone refers to me as 'an old bag'

If someone's an arsehole, then call them an arsehole. How is their age relevant?

I thought the same thing too, Floisme!

"I hate it. It's combined ageism and sexism - old men rarely get referred to in this way."

Correct.