AIBU to not understand why people won't divulge age?

[Downunderduchess]

I don't get it, so many people go all coy & mysterious when the subject of age comes up and it's not because I'm younger than them, the ones that do it are all roughly I think around my age (52). It's such a privilege to grow old. Obviously it doesn't affect me on any significant level but it puzzles me.

it's not something I go around asking but when getting to know people, work colleagues etc. When someone is having a birthday!

I would think you can get to know people without having to know this? We have birthdays at work based on day/month, no one has ever stood there and asked what year they were born in in order to sing Happy Birthday. I’m sure it’s a thing, it’s just never come up in any conversation I have had and I’m not young.

I spent six years bed-ridden recovering from serious illness/disability. So I am essentially running six years “behind” everyone else.

I get the running behind in regards to things like schooling, uni, job entry but no idea how this equates to running behind in appearance for age. If this is the case, I would think you just naturally look young and this would have occurred with your appearance illness or not.

I never said it did??

It is abundantly clear you made no connection between the illness and your youthful appearance. Some people either can’t read or think properly, perhaps a combination of the two.

Just for the record, I look a lot younger than my age too

OP, don't see how it's any of your business. Weight/sexuality/marital status. Would you go there? No. How does knowing the age help you get on better.?

Listen to what they say, the clues in conversation can help you carbon date their arse, and in the meantime you might actually get to know them better.

I've never concealed my age in social situations but on the other hand never been asked, but if I was I'd be inclined to say MYOB.

Because when people know your age they make assumptions about you based on their perception of that age.

Getting old is a privilege, one that is denied to many,

@echt so you've never in your life been asked your age in a social setting & you wouldn't tell if you were asked? Fair enough if it's too personal to disclose for you. I am a fairly open person & feel comfortable discussing with friends all the subjects you mentioned. Each to their own. It's been interesting to read the different responses.

Downunderduchess

I've never been asked in a social situation. I socialise with people not their birth certificates and all my friends seem to have the same approach. Would you ask someone at a party how much they earned or what their hips measure?

I am 34 and sick of being told I look 17 and 'Like a child' so I don't go around telling people my age

I don’t hide it people know my age but it’s not anyone’s business really.

I add 10 years then everyone reckons I look really good for my age....

@Downunderduchess - I disagree - you're the one starting a thread making an issue of people keeping personal information private. you're the one who wants to know their age - why though? Which I think is a fair reason to ask by return.

As you say you're in Australia as opposed to the Uk, and most of us will come at this from a UK angle - newspaper reports will go something like: "Mrs Smith, 42, lived in a 400K house, died etc, a 20 yo man is helping police with their enquiries" - all of which is utterly irrelevant to the story but it does allow the reader to draw assumptions based on age (and wealth).

so you've never in your life been asked your age in a social setting - in the UK we tend to be a little more discrete, not so blunt. If I needed to gauge age I’d do it in a roundabout way - were you in my year at school? Or what year did you leave school? (Had this very conversation at the weekend actually)

I'm surprised you haven't noticed the huge amount of anti-ageing merchandise aimed at women. Do you seriously think that all the women buying this stuff are just tickety-boo about their age? That there's no pressure on women whatsoever to pretend to be younger than they are?

You must walk around with your head in the clouds. I hope you;re more tactful in RL.

I really don't care. I tell people if they ask.
I think it makes people wonder more if they try to hide it , draws more attention to them.

@MyOpinionIsValid actually I never said I wanted to know anyone's age, I said I wondered why some people don't like saying how old they are. It's an observation of human behaviour, a subject which interests me.

I've just been wondering about this as I've been filling in a job application where you can't put identifying features, like your age, or where you got your qualifications, but you have to put the year you got them and full employment history with dates.
I found it strange, as surely people with o levels must be over a certain age, and when you entered the workforce having done / not done a levels and a degree surely mean people can make a reasonable estimate of your age. I hadn't thought about people who miss a significant amount of education like the poster upthread. It still seems strange - eg I got a nursing qualification from a secret institution, it was in 1988, the year I started an entry level nursing role, progressing up the bands at specified years, but I cant tell you my age, it would be prejudicial.

@HoppingPavlova

I get the running behind in regards to things like schooling, uni, job entry but no idea how this equates to running behind in appearance for age.

Yeah this is what I thought. If you had been running behind at school and college in your teens, (because of an illness that lasted for 6 years,) that would NOT make you look younger.

Weird how people on mumsnet (usually aged 35 to 50,) claim they are are often mistaken for 17-20 years younger. Yet I NEVER see this happen in real life. I have never seen anyone in real life who looks more than 7-8 years younger than they are. Not when you look at them properly...

Also, it's funny how there are never posts where someone of 45 is mistaken for 60.