When you were little, how old did you think people used to get, and at what age did you consider a person old? (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 5 months ago by user224@lemmy.sdf.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I used to think that age equated to percentage of life lived, thus I thought that most people live to close around 100.
But it also made me think that people only get old when they're like 80.

I mean like actually "old". The "old" adults were referring to. At that age I considered those 14/15 year old 9th graders old, just a bit different "old".

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[-] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I thought my grandparents were old, but old has legitimately changed a lot. In the 80s my maternal grandparents (then in their late 40s or early 50s - about the age I am now) looked like today's late 60-somethings. Neither had any of their own teeth as it was somewhat common for dentists to recommend full replacement at the first signs of trouble for their generation. I don't think either had ever worn sunscreen before I was a kid. My grandfather's appearance was affected by diseases I never had to deal with like Scarlett and Rheumatic fevers. My grandmother got her hair set with nasty chemicals on a weekly for 30 years (I don't know how it wasn't so damaged it disintegrated).

My grandfather became the breadwinner for his siblings at 13 too, that's gotta age a person. FYI: In those days you just had to mail in a form to get your Illinois driver's license and the state never checked the details.

[-] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 5 months ago

Damn.

I also heard that dentists used to recommend hard toothbrushes and "If your gums don't bleed you're not brushing hard enough."
Although that may depend on region.

this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2024

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