Respect Authority

“Professionals call it elderspeak, the sweetly belittling form of address that has always rankled older people: the doctor who talks to their child rather than to them about their health; the store clerk who assumes that an older person does not know how to work a computer, or needs to be addressed slowly or in a loud voice. Then there are those who address any elderly person as “dear.”

According to the New York Times, which appears to have some sort of inside track on the elderly population, old people are pissed off. And not about Social Security, or hooligans or “the blacks,” but about the fact that everyone just keeps talking to them like they don’t know anything. Newsflash old people: you don’t.

Times reporter John Leland took it upon himself to track down a few disgruntled geriatrics, who say being referred to as “sweetie” or “dear” pisses them off more than anything else. In fact, according to a 2002 study of 660 people over the age of 50, researchers found that those with positive perceptions of aging (i.e. those not constantly hearing “the Depends are in aisle four, honey”) lived an average of 7.5 years longer. And in another imminent study, Dr. Becca Levy, an associate professor of epidemiology and psychology at Yale University, found that older people exposed to negative images of aging; including words like “forgetful,” “feeble” and “shaky;” performed significantly worse on memory and balance tests, and showed high levels of stress.

I have a few issues with these studies. For one, the first was conducted entirely in Ohio, which could in my opinion have a very real effect on the characteristics of the elderly included therein. Maybe they’re stressed out because they’re in a swing state and God only knows how the elderly struggle with understanding ballots. Or maybe the simple fact is they knew they were participating in a study about people being old, and this reminded them they were old, and then they got sad. If someone told me to eat McDonalds while participating in a study about fatness, and then showed me pictures of fat people while I was eating my two-cheeseburger meal, I’d probably develop a complex too.

Most importantly though, being called semi-endearing, semi-insulting names is part of the process of aging. When you give up the ability to walk at a normal pace, drive without oversized sunglasses, or use the remote control, you give up the right to be treated like someone capable of all of the above. That’s why you get things like senior discounts, early-bird specials and my tax dollars. In fact, the only elderly person I feel compelled to treat as an equal is Dr. Ruth, because she’s capable of making me feel sexually inexperienced, and that’s a quality no old lady should have. 

[NY Times]