At what age do you consider someone to be elderly?

[caty]

I was watching David Letterman earlier this week, and the actor, Hugh Jackman, made a remark about two elderly women in the audience of a show he was doing. Then he said that these women were about 60 years old. Wow--60 is considered to be elderly to some people?
I consider 50-70 years old as middle age and 80 to be elderly. People in their 70's can be either depending on their health and outlook on life. I know some people in their 70' who are very healthy and active and have a wonderfully positive outlook and that makes them seem too young to call elderly.
What age do you consider to be elderly?

[Nikia]

1. It depends on the person

Some people are elderly in their 60's but some are not until their mid 80's. On average for Americans today, it probably happens around 75. I do tend to refer to someone in their 60's as "older" though.

[China_cat]

2. 20 years older than I am.

[ComerPerro]

10. hence the term "elder", eh?

[buddhamama]

3. 75

or older depending on the person.

[tigereye]

4. 80, but...

my 81 year old dad still wind-surfs! I guess elderly isn't what it used to be!

[Fuzz]

5. Well, I'm 39, but feel 75, so

I'm elderly. :)

[achtung_circus]

6. 20 years older than I am.

For the record, those 71 years of age or older are "elderly". This week.

[flamingyouth]

7. I think about 80 or so.

However, I have a 101-year-old friend who's still sharp as a tack and was driving up until two years ago. He looks and seems about 25 years younger. :D

[BikeWriter]

8. Hey, I resembl... resent that!

[ComerPerro]

9. it all depends on your age

[SOteric]

11. I consider 'elderly' to be a descriptor both of age and motility.

I know a woman who's in her mid-80's, but so bright and vibrant most who know her would have a hard time calling her elderly. She climbed to the roof of St. James Cathedral this last July to watch the fireworks from that vantage point.

I've also known people as young as 50 or 60 who seem so out of it, so sedentary that it would be hard not to think of them as elderly upon first impression.

So, while I think the numbers might work in a very broad and general way, I'd have to say that I'm not in favour of broad and general definitions here. I think several factors influence the way I think of a person as 'elderly' or middle aged, or somewhat ageless even.


P.S. Oh yes, - and on Monday mornings even 20 year-olds can feel elderly.

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Depends on when they decide to be "old" and "incapable".

My mom became elderly when she was about 45.

I know people in their 80s who are still years away from elderly.

[caty]

13. I'm pleased to see

that so many believe that age is a state of mind. Some people just give up on a lot of things that would improve their way of life when they reach a certain age. Others just keep going on as though they were still 25 and enjoy the benefits of that way of thought.

[Left Is Write]

14. I don't really know, but definitely NOT 60.

[kedrys]

15. My dad just turned 75, so I guess 90

:D

[sarge43]

16. I've always liked Bernard Baruch's take on the subject

Old is anyone 15 years older than I am.

[skygazer]

17. It gets older every year

It used to be about 50 when I was in my 20's - now that I'm 45, it's jumped considerably. But I think it does depend on the person's health and mobility. My dad's 78 and I can't think of him as elderly. He's a very active guy.

[Evoman]

18. You left out 40 and 50 in your poll.

:evilgrin:

[bigwillq]

19. Over 70 (nt)

[pitohui]

20. elderly does not mean quite the same as old

middle age is 40 to 60, old age is over 60, but elderly doesn't have a given age because it also has a connotation of fragility and reduced mobility

many people are not truly elderly until they are 80 or even older because even in their old age, they have a very long period of fit old age, the woman who hikes up kilimanjaro at age 56 is old (well, middle-aged if you must), i've just corresponded with a woman who has recently returned from a backpacker tour of west africa in her late 60s and this woman considers herself older but fit, while her mom in the nursing home would be considered elderly

we just haven't come to grips with the fact that a person can be "old" for a very long time, so we think acknowledging that someone is middle-aged at 40 is insulting them, rather than making a statement of fact, the same with acknowledging someone is old at 60

you do not really consider 70 to be middle-aged -- or if you do, you are very out of touch with the realities of the human lifespan -- it's really pushing it to say anything past 55 is middle aged because, let's face it, how many 110 year olds do you see running around? :-)

before we decided that only young people were worthwhile, middle age started at 30 or 35, but in the 1960s it suddenly became an insult to be middle-aged and so to humor our egos we have creeping age inflation

middle-age certainly starts well before 50 though, the biological realities don't change, assuming middle-age is supposed to encompass peri-menopause as well as the change (not to mention those hard to define male equivalents)

elderly is something else, that's the word that comes out when the systems start to fail...

the great danger in kidding yourself that 40 is still young and that 70 is middle-aged is that you don't ever kick yourself into gear, acknowledge that the clock is ticking, and start doing those things with your life that you truly want to do -- those who quit kidding themselves have much more motivation to get on with things

[Guava Jelly]

21. how old am i ?? oh yeah 40..

elderly 40 that is