{"id":7548,"date":"2020-12-03T15:57:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T20:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=7548"},"modified":"2021-01-14T15:18:35","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T20:18:35","slug":"talking-about-age-in-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/talking-about-age-in-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking About Age in English"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_7549\" style=\"width: 688px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7549\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7549\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/Age-678x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"678\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/Age-678x1024.jpg 678w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/Age-232x350.jpg 232w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/Age-768x1159.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/Age.jpg 848w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7549\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay, CCO<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I have a birthday coming up soon, and it\u2019s a big one. You know, one of those birthdays where you get lots of mail trying to sell you things you thought were just for old people. How did that happen?<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Words and Phrases for Old Age<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>I am what is known as a <strong>baby boomer<\/strong>, someone born after World War II when there was a significant increase in the world\u2019s population. Boomers, as we are called, were born between 1946 and 1964. We remember the Beatles, Apollo 11, Watergate, and the great racehorse Secretariat. I saw <em>Star Wars<\/em> two days after it first opened and experienced the great east coast blizzard of 1978. You may need to look that last one up but, believe me, it was unforgettable.<\/p>\n<p>People over the age of 60 in the US are generally called <strong>seniors<\/strong>, or <strong>senior citizens<\/strong>. That is the most polite, acceptable term. Other polite phrases are<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Aged<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Advanced in years<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Venerable<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Mature or matured<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Golden ager<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Sexagenarian (between 60 and 70)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Septuagenarian (between 70 and 80)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Octogenarian (between 80 and 90)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Nonagenarian (between 90 and 100)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Centenarian (over 100)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>The Benefits of Aging<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>But, you are best advised to stick with senior or senior citizen. The age to be recognized as a senior in order to qualify for certain benefits, such as a <strong>senior citizen discount<\/strong> among service providers will vary. Nevertheless, many restaurants, arts organizations, and retailers pass along savings or provide special benefits for seniors. People who are over 60 and beginning to live on a more restricted income will often ask if they qualify for senior benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Most Americans over the age of 50 belong to the <strong>AARP<\/strong>, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons. This is an interest group, concerned with improving the lives of Americans over fifty years of age. It lobbies Congress and corporations on behalf of its members, sells insurance, provides consumer information, and is largely non-partisan. It also publishes the most widely-circulated magazine and newsletter in the country. The AARP membership card grants members discounts on many products and services. There were over 38 million members of AARP in 2018.<sup class=\"modern-footnotes-footnote \" data-mfn=\"1\" data-mfn-post-scope=\"0000000000002f0d0000000000000000_7548\"><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"  role=\"button\" aria-pressed=\"false\" aria-describedby=\"mfn-content-0000000000002f0d0000000000000000_7548-1\">1<\/a><\/sup><span id=\"mfn-content-0000000000002f0d0000000000000000_7548-1\" role=\"tooltip\" class=\"modern-footnotes-footnote__note\" tabindex=\"0\" data-mfn=\"1\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/AARP<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Idioms<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>There are some <strong>euphemisms<\/strong>, or more colorful and less proper phrases, for older people. While these are common, don\u2019t let a senior citizen hear you say any of these about them. Don\u2019t be surprised, though, if they say these things about themselves.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Getting on<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Long in the tooth<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Not a spring chicken<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Not in his\/her prime<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Over the hill<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Those days are past<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You will also hear many seniors say these phrases about growing older.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Age is just a number.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Like a fine wine, I\u2019m just getting better with age.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>I\u2019m old enough to retire but young enough to enjoy it.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>60 is the new 40.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cIn the end, it\u2019s not the years in your life that count. It\u2019s the life in your years.\u201d \u2013 attributed to Abraham Lincoln<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>You\u2019re only as old as you feel.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Personally, I don\u2019t care about getting older. It\u2019s better than the alternative!<\/p>\n<ul class=\"modern-footnotes-list modern-footnotes-list--show-only-for-print\"><li><span>1<\/span><div>https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/AARP<\/div><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"232\" height=\"350\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/Age-232x350.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/Age-232x350.jpg 232w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/Age-678x1024.jpg 678w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/Age-768x1159.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/Age.jpg 848w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px\" \/><p>I have a birthday coming up soon, and it\u2019s a big one. You know, one of those birthdays where you get lots of mail trying to sell you things you thought were just for old people. How did that happen? Words and Phrases for Old Age I am what is known as a baby boomer&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/talking-about-age-in-english\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":7549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,135370],"tags":[10612,386354,13],"class_list":["post-7548","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-english-vocabulary","tag-aging","tag-american-culture","tag-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7548"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7918,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7548\/revisions\/7918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}