Geriatric??

As have moron, cretin and imbecile already, all precise and respectable medical terms when they were coined, but devalued by those who devalued the conditions they defined.

Merlotgran I am still laughing at you stuck in your deck chair.

You should see me trying to get up from the floor. I find getting up and down off my knees a tortuous experience, so who am I to laugh !

When I took my DGS2 to a Bounce and Rhyme session at the local library yesterday, the enthusiastic young man welcoming us to the gathering of young mums/dads and babies belatedly checked himself when asking "Would you.....would anyone like a seat?". And there was me thinking I could pass as an older yummy mummy...... At least he didn't offer me a drop of WD40 for the audibly creaking knees when I got up afterwards.

I first heard the word 'geriatric' used to describe me by a young male accountant who worked with me. I was aged approx 50 at the time and continued to work until aged 65, leaving then for family reasons. I can truthfully say that most, if not all of the ageism which I encountered in those last years came, not from employers but from employees who by and large will not accept anyone over thirty-five. It's now five years since I retired. Is it any better now?

So are we geriatrics,
Do our ailments fit the bill
Cos our joints and muscles play tricks
And we have to take a pill?

Does it give away our secrets
When we can't recline with ease
And we struggle to stand upright
On account of dodgy knees?

Does the geriatric label
Make us bristle with dismay
When we feel we've more to offer
In a senile 'senior' kind of way?

Are we're heading for the scrap heap
Where the geriatrics dwell?
Well, I know if I end up there
That you'll be there as well.

I`m outta here

Did you write that merlot ? I like it

If someone aged 65 is described as geriatric how on earth would they describe my grandma who at 98 is a virtual dinosaur.

my grandma could almost be someone aged 65's grandma too !

Agree with Nonnies earlier post. My DH and I don't have a lot of money to spare but what we have we share. Neither of us have to ask/persuade each other for anything.

If you have to be devious to persuade him to spend money on something you want then either :-

1) You have made a habit of overspending the household money in the past, which is still remembered and a repeat is being resisted. Try being less greedy in how fast you spend it, and he will be more likely to feel generous. And tell the truth about what you want the money for.

2) You chose a skinflint who believes in keeping women barefoot and pregnant. Bad choice. Either live with it and work for your own luxuries or dump him and find a millionaire.

3) You like to be on top of the relationship, and exploit his needs to your own advantage, while feeling contemptuous of the poor sap. Make the most of the moment and screw all you can out of him, because this worm will turn and replace you with an equal partner who enjoys his lovemaking as much as he does hers and gives him love as well as sex.

Oooh, Elegran, you really tell it how it is, don't you? And you're absolutely right.

Hope this hasn't already been said but using sex to get something out of someone is surely prostitution?

In the original AA (precursor of dl DLA and PIP) elderly was defined as over 50

That has been said, Nonnie and the sayer of it was rapidly shot down in flames

No, they were not shot down for saying using sex the get something out of someone is prostitution. They were shot down for suggesting that all women use sex to get money or goods out of their husbands and partners and then when many of us vehemently denied it, suggesting that at least she was honest and we were not.

From that premise she also suggested that marriage was merely legalised prostition, women sold their bodies to their husbands in return for being financially supported for life, which was also queried, not just by those of us who were never financially dependent on our husbands but also those brought together in marraige by love for each other and where sex was always consensual.

At one time, women were sold to their husbands (and it wasn't all that long ago that it stopped) by their fathers and women had no property or money of their own - how do you think they fared under that system given that the wives became the property of their husbands? How do you think that women 'encouraged' their husbands to be generous? That all men were good and decent and believed that marriage was an equal partnership or that they had the final say? Do you think that men like that don't exist anymore? Do you think that all marriages are based on fairness? Equal sharing? Or do you think that what men earn they still see as their own and only to be shared when it suits them? Given the lengths some men go to in order to protect their money when divorcing, I suspect those men do see the income as theirs as they don't appear to want to share it out equally and I also have no doubt that, at one time, they, and their wives, may well have claimed to have an equal partnership.

One thing I have noticed on GN: Silverfish is quite good at yanking people's chains and many will dutifully squeal 'objection' but without actually discussing it - it comes across more like those objecting are trying to stamp out a flame. Then, what you are left with, is a forum where people just agree with each other - all the time.

Maybe, if you listen to people who are not versions of yourself, you may learn more about human behaviour and thought processes that don't mirror your own personal experiences. With the best of intentions, I will say that not everyone's life experiences are the same as yours.

I am talking about the present not the past.

Nobody is stamping any discussion out, or trying to impose uniformity, but when someone makes sweeping statements like 'we all do it' and then accuses those who disagree as 'not being honest', then, yes, we do protest vehemently.

That post of yours hits the nail on the head, Flick.

"not everyone's life experiences are the same as yours" That is why it is not a good idea to state that "we all do" something.

I recently sprained my knee and sent for a folding walking stick from ebay as a temporary aid. After that I was inundated with adverts for stairlifts, etc. I complained to ebay (you can give feedback about these things) that I was not that old and felt a bit miffed! They stopped after that. (Actually I suppose I am that old but I feel it doesn’t mean ME! )

I was informed a couple of weeks after the birth of my first child "Never forget, every bite of food you put in your mouth I have bought, so you had better be nice to me" It took me 4 years and a divorce, to go to collage, get qualifications to ensure I would always be able to support myself and my children. That one sentence, from that ex changed my life for ever, I have never asked or expected anything from anyone since then.

I must admit OAP sounds strange... we no longer have anything called an 'Old Page Pension', so it's meaningless. In the same way, MOT is outdated, as we haven't had a Ministry of Transport for many a long day!

Well said FlicketyB, as usual ( 15:12:51)

I'll just be glad to get to "geriatric" age. Call me whatever you want then.

How can anyone possibly prostitute themselves in a marriage? Who ever has sex once they are married???