To not see 70 as elderly

[Ibeliveinyou]

I don’t know if if it’s because my parents are now that age but I just don’t see a 70 as old.

Of course it's elderly - and I'm 64. It's your age, not a personality trait or a mindset.

@LunaHeather

"Richard Wilson was 53 when he began playing Victor. Yet he was supposedly to be viewed as an old man! I suppose we still retain that archetype in our minds to some extent."

Never saw it, that has really shocked me!

Sean Connery played Harrison Ford's dad in Indiana Jones when there was only a ten year age gap between them.

I think as people have started living longer, age has become relative. When my mum was 40 she shopped in m&s. I'm 40 and too young to be seen dead in there!

You can be technically elderly without being "old" though. I know some very sprightly persons in their 70s and 80s.

@Meruem

There seems to be an obsession lately of not wanting to accept older ages. Of course 70 is elderly. The same way someone in their 40’s is not “young”. I don’t get why people find that so hard to take. I’m in my early 50s and so I don’t see it as some kind of insult if someone calls me middle aged, it’s what I am. I might feel younger in my mind but my age is what it is. No matter how fit I am or how I feel or look. They’re just descriptive words that people seem to take as insults.

This ^ in spades.

I don't understand why ANYone is so offended that someone of 70 (in fact, over 65,) is called 'elderly.' They ARE elderly. As you said, it's not an insult, it's just a description of the age group.

And just because someone doesn't feel elderly, and runs a marathon a month, plays squash, and works 50 hours a week at 73, that doesn't mean they're not elderly. They are still elderly.

As you say, why are people so offended by it? Comments like 'my 73 y.o. mother/nan would kill you if you called her elderly' are bizarre. WHY? Why would she 'kill you?' She IS elderly.

Also, like I said a few minutes ago, I don't understand why 'not looking your age,' is celebrated so greatly. What on earth is wrong with looking your age? And as I said, virtually everyone looks their age within 5 years in either direction. Yet, some people seem DESPERATE to be thought of as looking much younger... and insist people think they are their daughter's sister, and claim that they are asked for I.D. to buy booze even though they're 43! Bizarre!

Yes a lot of people enjoy good health and remain busy and active in old age. But they're still old / elderly. I think it's patronising to not see people as 'properly old' until their health or thinking start to fail.

‘Elderly’ is when you ‘have a fall’ rather than just falling over.

So you have to make sure that if you do ever hit the deck at 60 plus, you tell anyone concerned that you tripped and fell, not that you ‘had a fall’.

I'd say 70+. You can still be 70, working, fit and active but get one of the age related cancers and die. I know a few people aged 66-76 die of cancer/stroke out of the blue. Sadly.

Elderly in my head starts at 80. Some 80+ are not elderly though. It carries slight connotation of fragility in my mind.

My gran used to say that “old” was always 10 years older than she was. I think she had it about right.

Elderly is just what people say when they think “old” might be offensive, isn’t it?

@littlepattilou

I'm 50 and I was asked to remove my mask by the cashier in the supermarket recently when I was buying a bottle of wine. Made my bloody week

Yes, 70 is elderly.

Someone I know through work is 70. Ive known him for years and hes always looked the same, but I was quite shocked to find he is 70 (although I knew his son was a similar age to me so quite feasible his dad would be that age)
He works full time, and plays golf, hes always showing me funny videos and games on his phone, (until lockdown as I'm not at work at the moment) and playing tricks on people, he certainly doesn't seem elderly. He had a heart operation a few months ago and was back at work the same week.
My parents neighbours were in their 40s when they moved in, and they looked elderly then!

It’s meant to be a positive term. It’s only seen as a negative due to stigma over age. Elders are stereotypically meant to be seen as wise and respected due to their experience and the elderly are elders. I don’t see it as a bad thing at all. Disabled or decrepit or dotardly are worse.

There is so pretty strong denial going on here. Of course 70 is elderly. People may still be running marathons, shopping in Top Shop and wearing bikinis on the beachwalk whilst rollerblading. They’re still elderly.

People seem to be unable to accept the aging and death process in this country so they kid themselves that they/ their parents/ their aunty Betty isn’t elderly at the age of 70.

I remember when I was a teenager reading about an elderly couple in the newspaper. The man was in their 50s. Even as a teenager I thought that was a bit of an exageration.
I actually wonder whether the fact that the retirement age has gone up and proably more people are working well into their 60s and 70s mean we don't think of them as old because they are still "working age", rather than "retired".An OAP used to be 60 but I'm not sure how many people retire at 60 any more.

If no one defines what the word 'Old' means then what OP said is meaningless.

I can remember things that happened 50 years ago. I have no doubt that makes me 'old' - even though I'm a lot younger than 70. 50 years is a long time in the lifespan of a human being.

100% depends on the person.

My mother, a life-long heavy smoker who never exercised and ate a poor diet was definitely elderly at 70. FIL, in complete contrast, is a non-smoking fitnesses fanatic who was still competing in triathlons at 70.

Average uk life expectancy is 81.26
The average age doesn't mean that's how long most people live. There are some who live much longer and some who die young, it's an average.

Well I think I'd have to say 70 is elderly (if not then when does elderly begin?), but that doesn't mean that all 70 year olds will be decrepit.

Depends on the person, I'd have said - but no, I don't see '70' as elderly.

I think Helen Mirren is 75, btw...

I wouldn't describe her as 'elderly'.

Of course Helen Mirren is elderly. She may look amazing - as many old people do - and she may may not thank us for saying so, but it's still a fact.
This thread is making me wonder how long some people think they're going to live.

I think elderly means old/ oldish and a bit frail and a bit slow.
So if you're 80 and not frail or slow then I would probably not call you elderly.

Interesting isn’t. My dad was not ‘elderly’ at 80 at all. He was more or less exactly the same as he was at 40. Working, driving, everything. Then sometime in his mid 80s he bacame old, became ill, and died.

What do people think elderly means? Is there some special other made up definition that doesn’t use age as it’s criteria so people can kid themselves that 70 and 80 year olds aren’t elderly?

Average uk life expectancy is 81.26
The average age doesn't mean that's how long most people live

It’s also the life expectancy for people born now, not 50+ years ago when the expectancy was a lot lower