Originally Posted by JimLane
One of the news weeklies - Time or Newsweek, I think, ran an aticle asking if 70 was today's 50. Upshot was that a lot of people are doing today at 70 what people quit doing at 50 in years past.
Well, if 50 yesterday is 70 today, then it follows that 30 yesterday is 50 today. And 50 or 70 is so much better than stating old or elderly!
Folks around here know I do not appreciate terms like "elderly" and "old."
The reason is that "elderly" and "old" are terms that carry a whole lot of baggage, most of it negative, and really have absolutely no meaning in regards to any one person's functioning or age. "Elderly" or "old" to someone 20 is quite different than "elderly" or "old" to someone 60.
If we have to have an age-related reference, I much prefer simply stating an age. What is wrong with that? Although still not clarifying the physical and/or mental condition of the person, it is at least accurate.
So, instead of "an elderly driver was going down the street" how about "a person about 75 was driving down the street." Now we all at least know what age we are talking about.