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| Photo: Sunday Times |
I was once, rather ridiculously, told by M&S magazine (RIP) that I couldn't use the word 'older' in a feature I was writing about age. I know, it makes no sense. So, hooray then for Cambridge University classicist Mary Beard who told the Cheltenham Literary Festival this week:
'I’m really trying to reclaim the word old. I think about it in terms of other kinds of reclamations of vocabulary we've had over the years, such as ‘black’ or ‘queer'. I'm rather keen for a campaign to do that for old, instead of 'old' instantly connoting the hunched old lady and gentleman on the road sign, or the picture that you get on the adverts you get for senior railcards. I hope by the time I die, old will be something that makes people fill with pride.'
I'm joining the campaign - are you?
Quote via the Independent.
I'll be 70 next summer and while I'm glad people say I don't look old, I am even more proud that I have made it this far and with a huge fund of life knowledge. Old to me-I'm constantly recycling myself.
ReplyDeleteYes, but I think the hunched old lady getting her senior rail card should also be afforded respect and appreciation and her full due of personhood.
ReplyDeleteJudy C., I think the point is that "looking old" just like "queer" or "faggot" or "dyke" what have you might be a term we want to embrace. Holding off on "kike," but willing to consider "fatso" as well.
Yes! I call myself "old" proudly and with a smile. I much prefer it to the only alternative I'm aware of. xo
ReplyDeleteLet's take it back from the young people who turn 30 and cry, "I'm so OLD now!"
ReplyDeleteI've been on that campaign for years! Crone is another favorite of mine.
ReplyDeleteAs long as there are steps onto the bandwagon (my creaky old knees, you know), I'm with you!
ReplyDeleteIndigenous peoples here use the term "Elder" with great respect (Our uni has several First Nations Elders who work with students and faculty AS Elders, which I think is pretty cool).
ReplyDeleteI will proudly embrace the term old when I get there, and I reserve the right to decide what age that will be!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, I'm 58 and just getting started
ReplyDeleteOx
Just as long as people don't start using the word, crone, lol. Cannot abide that archaic word. Elder, ok, old, perfectly ok, but pray, not the C word!! ; )
ReplyDeleteI have created "The Aging Scale."
ReplyDelete1-20 years of age you are "youthful."
20-40 years of age you are "young."
40-60 years of age you are "middle aged."
60-80 years of age you are "old."
80-100 years of age you are "elderly."
100+ I guess you are SOL or not, depending upon how you feel. I am glad to say I am old, turning 68.
I appreciated Emma Thompson's recent comments on the subject; there's so much shillyshallying about the word, primarily - I imagine - because 'old' isn't supposed to be 'sexy' (unless you're a certain type of man)... and if you're female and not sexy then what on earth are you for anyway?
ReplyDeleteMy best friend never got to be 40. So far I'm continuing to grow older each day... lucky me!
I'm old and proud of it and right on board with where she is. It is funny has people will change around me when they discover my age...some have actually gone from treating me as a peer, to talking to me like I am in elementary school. Very sad and frustrating...I do not like to be called "Dear!"
ReplyDelete62 and beginning to enjoy the perspective that more years bring. Only wish I were a few inches taller and a few pounds lighter.....
ReplyDeleteYes indeed. I rather like being old on the whole. The only thing I miss about youth is the elasticity...having spent some time in Korea this summer where old people are given a lot of respect, allocated seats on public transport and are provided with free cardio equipment in public spaces, I'm all for it. Ageing isn't for the fainthearted.
ReplyDeleteDunno, "old" is something other people would put on me, but to me I'm just...well..."Me"
ReplyDeleteIt's the same when I was "young" Yeah sure, the world out there may give me short-cut labels but I don't bother doing that to myself usually. I'm too busy being "too short to reach the top shelf" or "a lover of ghost stories" or even "Peter's mother"
That being the case old is as good as young to me, but we'd damned well better stop trying to equate "old" to all things bad and evil and young as the equivalent of all things good, beautiful and desirable.
Absolutely, I'm tired of this PC world where we can't call an old lady an old lady, it's utter nonsense.
ReplyDeleteElle, I rather love the word crone, it's a female archetype and when we reach that stage we have to embrace it, there is no alternative, it has an inherent power, we've just been brainwashed by youth and beauty.
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