What age range is middle age?

The Sandbox General
21

I think middle age will be my age plus 5 for my foreseeable future

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22

Sounds like the right attitude.

Also, labelling people is a never a good thing. It negates them, so says Dick Van Patten.

23

is that so, old timer?

24

I feel negated.
Double-negated, even.

25

You rang?

3 Likes
26

Reminds me of a scene from “On Golden Pond”:

Ethel: “Hey, I met the nicest couple!”
Norman: “Huh? Where?”
Ethel: “In the woods!”
Norman: “A couple of people?”
Ethel: “No, a couple of antelope. Of course, a couple of people. Their name is Migliori, I believe.”
Norman: “Migliori? What sorta name is that?”
Ethel: “I don’t know, darling. Italian, I suppose. They’re up from Boston.”
Norman: “They speak English?”
Ethel: “Of course they speak English. They’re a nice middle-aged couple, just like us.”
Norman: “If they’re just like us, they’re not middle-aged.”
Ethel: “Of course they are!”
Norman: “Middle-aged means the ‘middle’, Ethel. Middle of life. People don’t live to be a hundred and fifty!”
Ethel: “Well… we’re at the far edge of middle age, that’s all.”
Norman: “We’re not, you know. We’re not middle-aged. You’re old, and I’m ancient!”
Ethel: “Oh, poop!”

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27

Middle age implies the existence of early age and late age. So by that logic–and assuming average of expectancy of 75 for easy math–the buckets are 0-25, 26-50, and 51-75. Middle is thus 26-50. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.

1 Like
28

No because middle aged and old age imply adult. There are children/teens/young adults/middle aged/old age.

On this scale young adults would be like 20-39/40-58/59-75?

Is life expectancy in the US really only 75? I never would have guessed my diabetic overweight parents would live longer than average. (OK it’s 77.) But my parents are 79 & 80.

They never smoked and never drank excessively, and quit drinking probably around 25. But definitely obese & diabetic since their 50’s.

29

Makes you wonder what all the others are doing…

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30

Sadly a lot of them died young.

31

If y’all want to get an idea of how long people may live, given they’re alive now at the age they are now… maybe try the actuaries’ longevity illustrator!

Using the period life expectancy from birth to estimate people’s life expectancies who are currently 70 is a little silly.

It’s like the time I wrote this:

Russian Retirement Age Raised Past Death? Let Me Actuary-splain…

https://stump.marypat.org/article/1018/russian-retirement-age-raised-past-death-let-me-actuary-splain

Or, instead of the longevity illustrator, you could just read off the Social Security life tables:

People age 80 are expected to live 8-9 more years.

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32

I knew that Longevity Calculator existed but I couldn’t remember where to find it.

But I didn’t remember that it expected you to still be working. And my mother hasn’t worked at a job since her 40’s, I think.

33

I understand this, just didn’t expect my parents to beat the odds, as they have already. My dad has weirdly escaped death multiple times, and my mom a couple.

34

You’re looking at my gut, aren’t you? I must be middle-aged, because I remember this skit.

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35

507×640 71.2 KB

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36

Reminds me of the Vsauce episode where he argues that people in old pictures look old simply because that was the style of their generation which to you is old but was consistently their generation their whole lives.