What’s old?
That’s easy. Anyone ten years older than me.
Yes, that’s an old line, but we writers need to be careful who we call old.
In 2020, calling someone who is 60 “elderly” can anger your core readers.
It can even make readers laugh – at you.
Some readers snicker at Ellery Queen’s description of the “elderly” Inspector Queen who was “not yet 60.” The dynamic mystery writing duo were young whippersnappers of 29 when they created Inspector Queen.
To be fair, I thought 60 was ancient when I was in my 20s. Now, not so much.
Another longtime mystery reader said, “They Found Him Dead” by Georgette Heyer starts with a sixtieth birthday party for Silas Kane who is described as being “very old. As far as I can see, the book was published in 1937.”
How about Edmund Crispin’s “The Moving Toyshop” where the dead victim is described as “an elderly woman in her late 50s”?
What? That’s outrageous!
Except those books were published decades ago, and “old” in 1930 was a lot different than “old” in 1970 – or 2020.
Think back to your grandparents. In 1970, my beloved grandmother was an old woman at age 60. She had a big black purse (stuffed with photos of her grandchildren), sturdy shoes, crispy gray hair and a flour-sack figure. Granted, Grandma had a much harder life than I did, but people used to age faster than they do now.
The government says we’re old at 62. That’s when Americans can start collecting Social Security benefits – and haul them in for a long time. Social Security.gov says, “About one out of every three 65-year-olds today will live until at least age 90, and one out of seven will live until at least age 95.”
Sixty-five is the retirement age in the US, but many people that age still see themselves as young and vigorous.
So if you’re creating an older character for your novel, here are some things to consider:
Older people do not have equal protection under the law. If you have an older person who’s going to be assaulted, many jurisdictions have extra penalties for bashing seniors. In Massachusetts, a man was “arrested and charged with unarmed robbery, assault and battery on a person over the age of 60, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon (shod foot – aggravated) and mayhem.” In other words, he kicked an older person with his shoe. That’s something to consider when you have your bad guy attack an older person.
Seniors are often stereotyped as defenseless. But that ain’t necessarily so. An 88-year-old woman was assaulted and carjacked in a Walmat parking lot. She fought back with her cane and survived. “I’m a tough old broad,” she boasted.
And speaking of tough, how about the 82-year-old “award-winning female bodybuilder who turned the tables — literally — on a home intruder and beat him so badly after he broke into her house that he had to be taken to the hospital.” It’s true, and it happened in Rochester, New York. The bodybuilder broke a table over the creep – and she was just getting started.
Statistically, that Rochester Wonder Woman would be considered old, even by today’s new and improved standards.
So just how old do you want to make a senior character in your novel?
A CBS news story says, “Research from John Shoven, a prominent economics professor at Stanford University, suggests that if your chance of dying within the next year is 1 percent or less, you might be considered ‘middle aged.’”
Shoven has a chart that shows “the threshold for men transitioning beyond middle age increased from about age 44 in the 1920s to about 60 today.”
Oddly, 44 would be true “middle age.” Sixty may be the “new” middle age for men, but there are very few 120-year-olds roaming around.
Shoven says, “And finally, if your chance of dying within the next year is 4 percent or higher, you might be considered ‘very old’ or ‘elderly.’ . . . This threshold for men increased from about 65 in the 1920s to 76 today.” So men are “old” at 76.
“Shoven suggests that reduced mortality rates correlate roughly with improved health and vitality at all ages, and can be used as a proxy measure for aging.”
If you’re a woman, you’re even luckier – and younger. Consider this cheery news, ladies, from Shoven.
“By these measures, women today transition out of middle age around 65, a number that has increased from the late 40s in the 1920s. ‘Old’ for women today is about 73, which increased from the late 50s in the 1920s. And ‘very old’ today is about 80, an increase from about 67 in the 1920s.”
People don’t automatically get ‘old’ at 70. Wikipedia sums it up this way:
“Gerontologists have recognized the very different conditions that people experience as they grow older within the years defined as old age. In developed countries, most people in their 60s and early 70s are still fit, active, and able to care for themselves. However, after 75, they will become increasingly frail, a condition marked by serious mental and physical debilitation.”
That’s why my character Margery, in my Dead-End Job series, stays a perpetual 76. I can’t have her aging naturally, or she’ll be too old to go on adventures with Helen Hawthorne.
Personally, I like the question the sage Satchel Paige may or may not have asked:
“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”
***************************************************************************
Cozy lovers! Three of my Josie Marcus, mystery shopper mysteries are on sale throughout September. DYING IN STYLE, MURDER IS A PIECE OF CAKE, and AN UPLIFTING MURDER are $1.99 each this month.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m 70, and I seem a lot younger than my grandma was at that age. My mom, however, owned a motel and had to do maid work up into her 80’s when the housekeeper didn’t show up. Good genes are super helpful!
Elaine, a cringe-worthy topic esp for all of us boomers. Remember “never trust anyone over 30”?
I notice people are more solicitous of me the last few years. I must remind them of their granny. I can’t be offended when someone is trying to be nice by carrying something for me. But it does give me pause…until I try to get up from a low couch. Then I’m more than ready to grasp their outstretched hand.
I dislike when someone calls me “Young Lady” or say I’m “70 years young.” I tell them that’s condescending and I earned every year.
A very solid 63 here! I don’t call many people old anymore. Many “old people” are younger than me. Now if they could just drive better.
As this is an old post, I looked up a story about an old man with a temper. Miguel Sanchez, 45 ended up with a black eye and stitches after a fight with a then 66 year old near Omaha, Nebraska. Pity Miguel wasn’t a baseball fan. He tried to get physical with a Hall of Fame pitcher known for; being mean, holding grudges, and being a Gold Glove boxer. Yes, St. Louis fans, Miguel got a beating from Bob Gibson, then 66 and still taking no “stuff”.
Gotta love Bob Gibson, Alan.
When my kids were little, they said someone old “had lines in their face and walked with a cane.” How old? I asked. They said 60. I pointed out that we’d just spent the weekend waterskiing with their grandparents who were 60. They upped it to 80.
I like this story, Terry.
Princess Two, my youngest child and now a 2nd grade teacher studied the ‘how old is old/when will I die’ question in college. She kind of blew the teacher off. The professor said something about how long you will live after you have a heart attack. My then 20 year old told the class she had her first heart attack at 17. She didn’t think living to 90 was in her cards.
COVID sucks.
People with a purpose live longer, Alan, and your daughter is a good teacher.
Good information and food for thought. I’m 68, but I use a walker and can’t left my head up straight so people undoubtedly think I’m much older (certainly much older than I feel). They are quick to open doors and offer assistance, which I appreciate (but deep in my heart feel a certain resentment that it’s necessary). My great-grandmother lived to be 101. My mom is 82, still driving, living alone, flying to visit me, and completely self-sufficient. I think I need to be more careful about how I categorize and describe “older” characters. Thanks for a thought-provoking post.
Your welcome, Kelly.
ARRGHH! I mean, you are welcome, Kelly.
How old I am depends upon who I am talking to. I seem young to some and old to others.
Does that mean I’m middle-aged?
🙂
Definitely.
Do a search for actors over the age of 60. A good chunk of the current action/adventure actors are over that age. Personally, I would not want to be punched in the snoot by Liam Nesson, Colin Firth, or Tom Cruise for calling them old.
Not to mention Richard Gere, Morgan Freeman, Arnold Schwarztenegger and more.
The one question I have yet to find the answer to is how did my kids get older than me?
And there’s something about how folks say, “Sir,” when addressing me that makes me want to look over my shoulder to see who they’re talking to… (white beard not withstanding…)
Children grow up so fast, George. Good thing we don’t.
When I wanted to have a particular plot point in the current WIP, I found this:
From the Washington Post this morning new columnist Say More on July 11, 2026:
“And while I feel sheepish mansplaining reproduction to a woman in her 50s, I feel obliged to say that a very low chance of conception is still not a zero chance.”
It made the Pride’s Children: LIMBO plot point unlikely, not impossible, and cheered me up considerably.
My aunt found that out in real life.
I would LOVE to hear more details, Elaine – do you know any?
I’m abehrhardt at gmail, if you’d like to send me information that way.
This was in the early 1970s.My aunt was in her early 50s. She found out she had a surprise pregnancy. Boy, was she surprised. Her doctor told her that her baby days were over, and her youngest child was in college.
She had the baby, a very healthy little girl.
That is lovely – how wonderful that the baby was healthy. The possibilities of problems for both baby and mother go up with the mother’s advancing age, but are not necessarily happening!
Not in this case.
At 81, I’m learning to fly a single prop Piper Archer and exercising every day. If you have good health, the sky is the limit.
In my books, I usually have a couple of characters in their 70s who are active and outsmarting the bad guys.
Fly high, Patricia.
Back in 1992 I interviewed my first supervisor at the library when she retired, to provide the library director with material for her comments. My wonderful supervisor, Marvelle, was 65, and gave me some wisdom–when she looked in the mirror she saw an “old person” but she still felt 25 inside. Now I’m 65 and know exactly what she means.
She went on to live to nearly 90, and had an active, full life in retirement, even working as an “on call” library assistant at the new branch when it reopened in 2004.
Marvelle knew how to keep that 25-year-old alive.