Old, older, elder, senior? What’s in a name?

Recently, while following my nose across the internet, I stumbled across an interesting competition being run by an American grassroots anti-ageism organisation called Enrich Life Over 50 (ELO50).

The competition, which closes on 30 November (so there is still time), is calling for people to nominate the terms and phrases that best describe the segment of the population aged 50 and over. There’s even $1,000 in prize money for the judges’ choice!.

Now, this is not a new challenge, by any means. As a writer and thinker about ageing for well over a decade, I can confirm that this question of how we refer to people who are in the 60’s, 70s, 80’s, 90s and beyond is a fraught one.

The question has been posed, debated, dropped, revisited, set aside, argued hotly about and largely given up on (not necessarily in that order) many times and in many places and contexts.

Conventions prevail is some settings. The term ‘senior’, usually denoting a person aged 65 or over, is commonly used in the context of a special age-related benefit or dispensation. Transport fares, entertainment venues and various goods and services offer ‘seniors discounts’.

The question has been posed, debated, dropped, revisited, set aside, argued hotly about and largely given up on (not necessarily in that order) many times and in many places and contexts.

In the United States, the term ‘elder’ is widely used in aged care settings and policy discussions and it seems that increasing numbers of aged care organisations in Australia are following suit with this term.

You can still find plenty of references to ‘the elderly’, particularly in discussions about different sections of the population, but it fair to say that its very much ‘on the nose’ these days with its negative connotations of decline and decrepitude.

By far the most common term used by governments, researchers and policy makers these days however is ‘older people’; and with good reason. It’s hard to find offense in this straightforward description and it’s nice and vague about any entry point. There are younger people and older people and somewhere along the spectrum you seamlessly glide into the zone.

The only problem with the term, ‘older people’ or ‘older person’ is that it doesn’t glide off the tongue as a noun in the same way as terms like ‘infant’, ‘child’, or ‘teenager’ do. But then neither does ‘young adult’; and what about that other treacherous label of ‘middle aged’?

Reclaim the name

Lots of people say, forget finding a new name: we need to fight back and reclaim the term ‘old’ – to be old and proud and make the fight about changing ageist attitudes and perceptions.

As a term, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the word, old. The problem is that we live in an ageist society and we don’t regard ‘being old’ in the same way as we regard ‘being young’

‘Being young’ – in fact being any age and stage – comes with different experiences and challenges, positive and negative. As most people who are fortunate enough to experience ‘being old’ will tell you, the same is true at that stage of life.

Yet the many good things about getting older are too frequently ignored. As a reader said so eloquently, commenting to a blog in the New York Times back in 2012:

“If you are old, you will not get a job, be respected, be listened to, be considered attractive, worthwhile, etc. People will assume you are feeble, sick, frail, stupid, and irrelevant. The problem isn’t the word, it’s the meaning we give the word (i.e. negative).”

The nub of the matter

It’s this point that I think needs to be seriously addressed. Why should ‘old’ be any different to ‘young’ in the sense that it is a rough descriptor of the number of years a human has graced the earth?

Some say they loudly refer to themselves as an old man or old woman and they take pride in that.

Working – campaigning – to shift dominant perceptions of what it means to be an older person and ensuring equal respect and acknowledgment for all generations, should be a priority of individuals, communities and governments everywhere, whatever labels and titles we use.

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What descriptive terms do you like to identify with as an older person?  Feel free to contribute your suggestions.  

In the meantime, here are some of the labels we use for people in older age groups:

• older person
• older adult
• olders
• ageing adult
• senior/seniors
• mature adult
• elder/elders
• elderly
• boomers
• long-lived
• retired person
• retiree
• encore agers
• senior citizens
• just… ‘people’

Some have delighted in coming up with amusing names they say they are happy to wear:

• golden agers?
• finally-free-agers?
• geezers and geezerettes
• seasoned citizens
• evolvers?
• platinums
• wrinklers
• silverbacks
• vintage