I really dislike being called a Senior... it brings up visions of older folk basket weaving in a nursing home. Not putting anyone down, that has succumb to that, just saying most of us do not fit that description. Few years ago, was reading something that listed the correct name for certain occupations, and situations. On the list next to Senior Citizen, was Chronologically Gifted,now there is a name for us that befits us. A garbage collector correct title is Environmental Specialist. Kinda makes handling other peoples trash -awesome . Here they use that term when hiring for this position. Being CG makes us sounds more energetic,alive and kicking, smarter, wiser. However, on the rare occasions, I treat myself to a burger out, I am forced to say" do you honor the Senior discount ? We need a name change people
Well I looked for some alternatives and most are pretty bad, lol. Only liked sexagenarian https://www.powerthesaurus.org/senior_citizen/synonyms
I prefer 'senior' to - old age pensioner ! Ugh, that's just terrible Chronologically gifted ? Makes me sound robotic
I remember when I was home raising my children and there was a "fuss" being made about being called a homemaker....so many changed the name to "Domestic Engineer" As for me I was still a Homemaker and proud of it. Now I'm a Senior Citizen and proud of it too. No matter if they change the name or not...we will still be Senior Citizens and that is nothing to be ashamed of as far as I'm concerned.
Agree Babs - domestic engineer sounds ridiculous, homemaker - I like Senior citizen - yea, has an air of seniority about it ........... @Babs Hunt
As seniors, I don't really care what they call us as long as we get the respect that we deserve from being a seniors..
I think that it is not just us who have labels, it pretty much is everyone in general who is categorized into some group or another, whether we like the name/label that we are given or not. We start out being called a baby, progress through toddler and teenager, become one of the working class, and eventually we get to this age , and are called seniors. I guess I have never given much thought to these labels of distinguishing people. As long as it is not a derogatory label, it doesn't bother me one bit whether they want to classify us as Seniors, BabyBoomers, or even Chronologically Gifted. I think that @Steve North expressed my feelings about it pretty well when he said that what is important is not the name; but how we are treated. I love the little extra perks that they have for seniors, and happily remind people that I am one, when we go somewhere that has a Senior Discount.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this...was just wondering how others think about it. I don't even like labels myself
I quite like being a senior with all it's discounts, much better than OAP (old age pensioner) as we used to be referred to in the UK......Interestingly they still use the word pensioner here in Russia though pronounced differently, I have it written down on a piece of paper in cyrillic for when I need to ask for a discount
How old are you when you are supposedly labelled 'senior citizen'? I'm not an OAP..because I'm not a pensioner... I'm still working and don't reach pension age for another 4 years ( although I'm going to take early retirement soon).... am I a senior?...or am I a baby boomer? I don't feel mentally any different to when I was in my 20's... and I certainly don't look like an old lady.....
Good question, @Holly Saunders , and the answer seems to be almost anywhere between 50-70, depending on who makes the determination of the title of "senior". It used to always be associated with age 65, since that is when people often retired and started getting the Social Security checks, and qualified for medicare . Now, you can start SS as soon as age 62, and do not get full benefits until you are older than 65, and it gets revised every so often. Places like hotels and restaurants usually say 55, but some of those are as early as 50, or as late as 60; so even those kinds of places vary in their determination. On this forum, you can join at age 50 (which means that I have a son old enough to be on the forum, for Heaven's sake !) . I think that the Baby Boomer appellation is only for a specific time frame, those born just after World War Two; so that one is actually easier to identify. I remember my mother-in-law used to say that inside every 70 year old lady, beat the heart of a 17 year old girl; so I guess whether we are called a senior or a Baby Boomer, we are still Young At Heart. Maybe that should be our new title, I kind of like the sound of that one......... the Young At Heart generation.