Tuesday, August 26, 2008

YOU'RE HOW OLD???


My birthday is no where near, and yet, recently many people have inquired as to my age (which is rude in the first place). When I politely tell them, they reply "OH MY GOD/HOLY S#!T YOU DON'T LOOK THAT OLD!" This is the point at which I attempt to control my murderous rage and fuming, tell them that since I am actually that old, this is quite what my age looks like. I appreciate that they are trying to pay me a compliment by saying I look nice, but what they are actually saying is, "Wow, you are really, really old, at least you look decent." Which, my dear friends and readers, is not a compliment at all. One could simply say, "Oh, really? I would have guessed you were X years old." if one is trying to convey that I look younger (which, by the way, I do not, I look exactly the same as all of the other people I know who are near my age).

I would think this would be common sense, but apparently people feel free to assess and comment freely on anything these days, but I will plead my readers, if you hear I am in jail for assault, you know why.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In my line of work, I often ask people's age, and they rarely get offended but I still tread carefully sometimes. I also don't like it when people say, "You're good at that for your age." It's fine if I think that, for someone in their 20s, I'm doing OK at life, but if someone else says it, it almost always comes off as condescending. And the depressing thing about that is, as you get older, you may or may not get better, but chances are the playing field will become more even and you won't be so special anymore.

The Domina said...

@lalaland: I should also note, it's not rude to ask if it's part of your job, of course.