Naughty older folk

[idun]

NormanH wrote this today: Personally I would rent together, and keep  each person's savings in a separate bank account, but then I am someone who thinks that the difference between herpes and true love is the herpes is for ever!

 

It reminded me of something I read yesterday about the increase, nay double the amount of STD's reported, and I don't mean dialling codes, in  50-90 year olds.

Viagra got the blame, but I don't think that it's viagra's fault that people chose not to take any precautions. I just cannot imagine being told that I had HIV or Syphillis at my age or older, one probably treatable the other, well, what do you tell the family?

The good thing is that it seems that older folk are having active sex lives and I that is good and healthy. Just be careful when you do or it could be very unhealthy![:-))] 

[cooperlola]

Maybe the fact that you finally aren't at risk from pregnancy means that at last you can have unprotected sex so choose to ignore the health risks?

At what age, Idun, does one turn from an old person into an old folk?[:D]

[pachapapa]

I am glad that the 90 year olds are still active.....but will I still be able to enjoy a 3D plasma then.

[cooperlola]

I think it's only diy that makes you go blind, Pacha.[Www]

[idun]

When I was 15, anyone over 21 was old. If I ask my son, he will say we are old. If I ask my older friends, they will say I am young. But for me over 50 really is classed as 'older'. Didn't say 3eme age though did I, as I didn't mean that either.[Www]

 

 

[Val_2]

Yes I read about the increase in STD's in the over 50's as well and could not believe it. Suppose there are more people than ever having casual sex so even one virus would soon mutate, increase and spread and with no risk of pregnancy in that age group for most, protection is not something they want or even think about any longer.

[cooperlola]

Idun, I had a friend once who reckoned that if the average life expectancy was 75 then up until 25 you were young; 25 to 50 middle aged and 50 to 75 old.[:D]

My point is not really about the age thing so much as the eumphamisms which seem to be breeding these days!  No longer do people die, they pass away or -worse still - pass over and old people are old folk.  Why can't we tell it like it is any more?

[Gardengirl]

'Old folk' to me are really old - needing care home etc. I suppose because people used to talk about 'old folks' homes'.

Anyway, that's way older than me, except on a bad day!  [:D]

[cooperlola]

My mother is nearly 90 but I think she'd clock anybody who referred to her as an old folk.[:D]

GG, as the people in question are still sexually active then presumably they are not folk yet?

[Russethouse]

Isn't calling people in any group 'folk' something of an Americanism ?

[cooperlola]

We still talk about "young people" though, RH, as opposed to "old folk".  As gg says, it may well be from the old folks' home thing, but where and why did that start?  I'm not having a go at Idun, just questioning this awful use of silly words to disguise something we don't appear to want to say in clear, plain language.

Just promise me that nobody on this forum will refer to me as a "folk" except in the same sentence as the word music, and that when I drop dead you won't announce that I've "passed away!"

[NormanH]

You mean those old folkers who still folk?[6]

and I am sure they will say she has popped her clogs of you Coops [:D]

[Frederick]

 My mother used to say "There's nowt so queer as folk "  Sounds like she would  be in trouble today !

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Frederick"] My mother used to say "There's nowt so queer as folk "  Sounds like she would  be in trouble today !
[/quote]only not for the folk bit!

[idun]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

My mother is nearly 90 but I think she'd clock anybody who referred to her as an old folk.[:D]

GG, as the people in question are still sexually active then presumably they are not folk yet?

[/quote]

My Dad sometimes walks into shops and sees a white haired old man walking in and looks back to see who it is. Then ends up seeing himself looking up at the screen and seeing it is him.

At nearly 90 no matter what your mother thinks she is old. I am aware of my age, it doesn't bother me and I would hate to be young now, that I do know.

[Mr Ice-ni]

[quote user="idun"]

I just cannot imagine being told that I had HIV or Syphillis at my age or older, one probably treatable the other, well, what do you tell the family?

[/quote]

Unless you practice incest why do you need to tell them anything?

John

[cooperlola]

[quote user="idun"][quote user="cooperlola"]

My mother is nearly 90 but I think she'd clock anybody who referred to her as an old folk.[:D]

GG, as the people in question are still sexually active then presumably they are not folk yet?

[/quote]

My Dad sometimes walks into shops and sees a white haired old man walking in and looks back to see who it is. Then ends up seeing himself looking up at the screen and seeing it is him.

At nearly 90 no matter what your mother thinks she is old. I am aware of my age, it doesn't bother me and I would hate to be young now, that I do know.

[/quote]It's not the "old"(clearly she is old, as am I)  bit that would bother her but the patronising euphamism "folk" which as far as I can tell appears to be intended to make people feel better about being in the last few years of their lives.  Old woman,old person yes, but old folk?  Perlease....

("Senior citizen" is the other euphamism which winds both her and me up!)

[Pommier]

Senior citizen is surely another Americanism; I don't think of myself as a British citizen, just British, wheras Americans seem to have a big thing about citizenship. People used to talk of OAPs but that term isn't much used these days, elderly seems to be the more usual way of talking about old people. Are you old when you're getting a state pension, and does that change with the pension age increasing? 

[Gardengirl]

[quote user="Pommier"]Are you old when you're getting a state pension? [/quote]

NO! [:D]

[KathyF]

 

You beat me to it, Gardengirl! [:D]  I was 65 last birthday and certainly don't think of myself as old,.nor do I feel old. Physically, having lost a lot of excess weight I feel fitter than I did at 55 and though my memory isn't quite as sharp as it was 10 years ago, it still does what I want it to. Ask me again when I'm 80! [:D][:D]

[andyh4]

[quote user="Russethouse"]Isn't calling people in any group 'folk' something of an Americanism ?[/quote]

 

Depends if you were brought up in the home counties or the Yorkshire Dales RH.  Lots of folk live oop north.

[5-element]

Interesting to see what winds people up.

Here in France, what REALLY annoys me is the way any woman over a certain age is referred to as a "mamie" - it is assumed that everyone has children and grandchildren, and that this is the most spectacular thing about who they are! I find it really patronising and dismissive - and have French friends who agree with that too. Yet it appears a perfectly acceptable way of calling, or even addressing someone. I was in the doctor's waiting room the other day, with a number of other patients, and a mother said to her noisy child, looking in my direction: "Arrête de faire du bruit, la mamie là-bas elle est malade!". This was adding insult to injury, as I was feeling just fine, only there to renew a prescription...[:D]

[mint]

[quote user="KathyF"]

 

 Ask me again when I'm 80! [:D][:D]

[/quote]

Hey, Kathy, watch what you say!  Are you implying that 80 is old?

My OH is 81 and he still regularly beats men in their 30s and 40s at table tennis.  People who play table tennis will know what a game of quick reactions it is.

There are young men in his club trying to get into the league teams who won't play with him because they lessen their chances of being picked to play competitively if they get beaten by an 80 year old.

I think some people are luckier than others in the rate at which they age. 

Me, I've had to get used to becoming invisible since my late 50s but I like it when people make the mistake of treating me as though I am doddery because I have ways of getting my own back![:D]

[NormanH]

[quote user="5-element"]

Interesting to see what winds people up.

Here in France, what REALLY annoys me is the way any woman over a certain age is referred to as a "mamie" - it is assumed that everyone has children and grandchildren, and that this is the most spectacular thing about who they are! I find it really patronising and dismissive - and have French friends who agree with that too. Yet it appears a perfectly acceptable way of calling, or even addressing someone. I was in the doctor's waiting room the other day, with a number of other patients, and a mother said to her noisy child, looking in my direction: "Arrête de faire du bruit, la mamie là-bas elle est malade!". This was adding insult to injury, as I was feeling just fine, only there to renew a prescription...[:D]

[/quote]

I would have loved to see your face[:D]

[cooperlola]

[quote user="andyh4"]

[quote user="Russethouse"]Isn't calling people in any group 'folk' something of an Americanism ?[/quote]

 

Depends if you were brought up in the home counties or the Yorkshire Dales RH.  Lots of folk live oop north.

[/quote]But in that case it is not age related, is it?  I call people on this forum folks all the time and would use the word if I were addressing a group of teenagers (not that I do that often!), young adults, the middle aged and/or the old. It's just the use of the word as though it somehow softens the "old" bit which I find so patronising, particularly as old people themselves very rarely distinguish themselves as "folks" whilst calling everybody else people.

Personally, I prefer old f*rt/bat/cow etc - at least they're up-front and straight, not mealy-mouthed.

 I agree, 5-E.  I'm always being asked here if I have children or grandchildren and the questioners look like they've stumbled into a leper colony when I say no, I don't like kids and thus have no intention of inflicting any of mine on the planet.