On Wed, 29 Mar 2017 15:07:47 +0100, John Rumm wrote:
On 29/03/2017 14:33, Johnny B Good wrote:
On Mon, 27 Mar 2017 19:31:53 +0100, Max Demian wrote:
On 27/03/2017 19:11, ARW wrote:
On 24/03/2017 15:46, wrote:
On Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at 3:14:16 PM UTC, critcher wrote:
Would I be correct in assuming that most of the posters and readers
on this ng are of a mature age. i.e. 55 - 80 yrs.
It is difficult to guess age from a posting, but from the info
given out, there seems to be an abundance of wisdom here.
I'm 39.
So is Homer Simpson!
Now if you asked me how old I was I would say 46.
However if you asked my Mother how old I was I am sure she would say
47 in October or some other ******** - It's something Mothers never
stop doing.
But you are in your 47th year...
Plus, added to that fact, it's "A Habit Born Out Of Hope", that
mothers
in general cultivate[1], that her child (yourself in this instance)
will survive to enjoy the forthcoming birthday celebrations at the end
of said year. It's a little bit unfair to be so dismissive of your
mother's pious hope for your survival to your next birthday as to be a
matter of "Just some other ********".
Its a trait that people seem to apply to themselves when over a "certain
age" (which is slightly woolly in its definition but is typically 75+).
Ask a question "how old are you?" and you will be told how old they will
be next birthday.
Our attitude to forthcoming birthdays keeps changing as we get older.
Initially, it's one of impatience to reach the early milestones of
maturity such as 5, 13, 18 and 20 or 21. Thereafter, we're old enough to
see the next milestones, 30th and successive decadal birthdays more as
reminders of our own mortality and impending demise.
Eventually, once we've come to accept the inevitability of our
mortality, typically from age 50 onwards to, as you posited, 75+, our
next birthday becomes more and more a matter of 'defiance', hence the
response to that question tending to be couched once again in terms of
our age at next birthday.
--
Johnny B Good