The Aging Paradox: How Old Is Old and All That Jazz?

it is full of old people. The unpleasantness of being confronted with one’s advanced age may transfer to how any term describing old age is perceived, including “elderly,” but does that make these terms inappropriate? Calling an 80-year-old “elderly,” “senior,” or “in later life” will not change his actual age. Even if one preferred word were found, it would be a matter of time before this new term would carry the stigma of the old one. It would be better to change the stigma and not the word. We should remember that elderly is not the same as frail, that old is not the same as worthless. This message is far more important than the discussion of whether elderly or older people feel insulted by either term or whether health care for the elderly will rise in status if it changes its name to health care for later life. Clinicians and researchers could therefore embrace “elderly” as the preferred term to describe the old people they care for and investigate. Stemming from the Old English “aeld” it means “somewhat older,” a clear and gentle way to describe an old person. Let’s stop debating semantics and start changing a stigma.