Lying language

"Right! This is a senior couple who want to buy a mattress."

"We are not in a position of seniority to anybody. We are not young. We are old, old, old."

For some reason he would not or could not say "old". “Old” is not leprosy. It is a chronological condition. It is nothing to be ashamed of or be proud of. But the word with some people seems to be more of a taboo word than the vulgar verb referring to the sex act used to be.

I have decided to rehabilitate the word "old" from its state of taboo. On a couple of occasions I have worn a badge with "old man" in yellow letters on a white background.

The first occasion was to the Queensland art gallery. I was standing looking at an artwork containing writing indicating the social conscience of the artist. A man looked at the picture, my badge and me and said, "Very clever".

A woman noticed the badge and said, "That's right."

The second occasion was at a choral recitation at St Stephens. There the reaction was different. A man came up to me and said, "Who pinned that thing on you?"

"I did. What's wrong with being old?"

"As long as you don't think old."

He rushed off before I could say that thinking old could contain more wisdom than thinking young.

An old woman and later a young man both said, "You're not old".

To both of them I said, "I'm 82. How old does one have to be to be old?"