The Words We Use for Elders

Much has been discussed on this blog about what words are used to describe old people. (Here and here are just two.) From day one at TGB, we refused any of the cutesy euphemisms such as “golden ager,” “third ager” and even “senior citizen” which has a dusty, overused quality to it.

We like “old” and “older” for clarity’s sake, and we lean heavily toward “elder” in an attempt to resurrect that lovely old word the definition of which needs to be expanded beyond its identification mostly with tribal elders.

About a month ago, Marilyn Gardner, a columnist for The Christian Science Monitor reported on a language survey among 100 journalists and editors who write about aging and retirement. She makes an important point:

“…the issue goes beyond the language those in the media use. The words we all choose to describe people in midlife and beyond – ourselves and others – help to define and shape attitudes about later years, both positive and negative.”

The Christian Science Monitor, 8 August 2007

The top two choices, in order of preference, were “older” and “senior.” “Boomer” was acceptable, but not “baby boomer.” And I couldn’t agree more with this:

“’Elderly’ is the word that grates the most. Elderly used as an adjective is acceptable, but the phrase ‘the elderly’ comes under criticism for its ‘impersonal and stigmatizing manner’ of grouping older people together with images of frailty and decline.

“’Elders,’ on the other hand, can convey respect.”

"Senior citizen" is one of the most disliked terms in the survey. The phrase is among my Google Alerts and the stories listed are almost always about pie sales, bridge club meetings, menus at senior centers and other community announcements showing that while journalists may be up to date on elder language, service organizations are not.

Ms. Gardner is even up to speed on the word “still” which we have railed against on this blog:

“It’s not just generational labels – nouns – that can convey negative images. Pesky little words, such as ‘still’, as in ‘still driving’ or ‘still jogging,’ imply that these activities are something out of the ordinary, defying the norm.

“Then there are the adjectives that are meant to sound complimentary but actually boomerang. Think of spry, perky, chipper, feisty, sweet, little and grandmotherly. For one journalist responding to the survey, the cloying phrase ‘100 years young’ represents the worst possible cliché about aging.”

Hear! Hear! In the same category are two phrases I recently ran across in news stories – “encore careers” and “after midlife” because they try too hard to avoid referencing old age.

Generally on this blog, we do not use the pejoratives for old people such as geezer, coot and biddy except in playful, humor circumstances. In a recent email exchange, Deejay of the Small Beer blog made me laugh when he suggested that Geezer Flicks is a lot more fun that the staid Elder Movie List name I had given our growing list of films that feature elders in a positive light.

It's always good to laugh so I have changed the name and henceforth it will be known as Geezer Flicks. Thank you, Deejay.

Otherwise here at TGB, we will continue using elder, old and older for exactly the reasons Ms. Gardner concludes her story with:

“Words matter. Whatever the choice of language, conveying a sense of dignity – which is sometimes hard for people to come by in their later years – represents a worthy goal.”

The Christian Science Monitor, 8 August 2007

[At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Marti tells of the human need for a sense of place from her immigrant parents' point of view and her own in In Search of My Father's America.]