Message Board Archives
The Puzzling Gap between How OldYou
Chrissy
2023-02-24 22:27:08
are and How Old You Think you are]]
This past thanksgiving, I asked my mother how old she was in her head. She didn’t pause, didn’t look up, didn’t even ask me to repeat the question, which would have been natural, given that it was both syntactically awkward and a little odd. We were in my brother’s dining room, setting the table. My mother folded another napkin. “Forty-five,” she said.
Why do so many people have an immediate, intuitive grasp of this highly abstract concept—“subjective age,” it’s called—when randomly presented with it? It’s bizarre, if you think about it. Certainly most of us don’t believe ourselves to be shorter or taller than we actually are. We don’t think of ourselves as having smaller ears or longer noses or curlier hair. Most of us also know where our bodies are in space, what physiologists call “proprioception.”
Good read
nitro
2023-02-24 22:55:21
In reply to Chrissy
Why do I look older in a photo than when I see myself in the mirror?
Brerzerk
2023-02-24 23:15:42
culpepperboy
2023-02-25 00:13:43
In reply to nitro
Turn off the "touch up my appearance" feature on your mirror. 
Kay
2023-02-25 01:29:36
In reply to Chrissy
Good writer dat Jennifer Senior. I still have a copy of her book "All Joy and No fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood."
Chrissy
2023-02-25 01:57:58
Chrissy
2023-02-25 01:58:32
In reply to nitro
Yuh see what yuh want to see
tc1
2023-02-25 02:07:27
In reply to Chrissy
Chrissy,I was in Bim 2015 and this guy called me daddy and I told my friend the guy called my “daddy”.My friend turn to and said you lucky he did not called you grandad.
Chrissy
2023-02-25 02:17:51
In reply to tc1
And dat's di truth
tc1
2023-02-25 02:20:04
In reply to Chrissy
openning
2023-02-25 03:21:59
In reply to tc1
I was in Bim 2015 and this guy called me daddy
Was his mother with him or do you know his mother?
Allyuh leave sperm all over the place.
Dukes
2023-02-25 09:27:52
Chrissy
2023-02-25 11:31:03
Emir
2023-02-25 12:16:47
In reply to Chrissy
Nice read!!!
Speaking from experience, the instinct to deduct from one's age is mainly cultural and somewhat gender centric: In the West, the deduction is universal with women more than men, whereas in the Eastern societies, the older you are the greater the esteem and respect you get from society.
Prior to COVID when I travelled frequently, I proudly and without pause gave my age in places like India, Egypt and the Qatar to the hotel and tourist guides. Positive comments always followed.
Curtis
2023-02-25 16:09:02
Chrissy
2023-02-25 16:37:55
It's fall down funny in our culture. I know a man who was in the same QC class as two other close friends, but these days he claims to be almost ten years younger than the other two.
I think it is economics more than vanity.
culpepperboy
2023-02-25 16:42:19
In reply to Chrissy
Age is an (unlisted) number.
cricketmad
2023-02-25 17:02:41
In reply to Chrissy
I never felt the need to make believe that I am younger than I am. The thing is I could easily do so as people usually think I am at least ten years younger than my age. I retired recently, and people think I retired early because of my appearance.
Chrissy
2023-02-25 17:03:06
In reply to culpepperboy
Only for those who haven't known you all your life
