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Senior citizen

Posted by ESC on January 29, 2005

Christian Science Monitor. From the December 22, 2004 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1222/p09s01-coop.html

'Senior citizen' is a euphemism that just doesn't fit
By William Ecenbarger
LANCASTER, PA. - It's bearing down on me at the rate of 3,600 seconds per hour - that most important tear of Americans' calendrical page, that magic moment when my odometer hits 65.

To be sure, it's a nonevent, a figment of the imagination, less than a blip in a wink, a snowstorm in a glass paperweight, future schlock, right up there with crystal balls, tea leaves, and goat innards as an indication of anything.

But call me old if you wish. Just don't call me golden-ager, oldster, coot, curmudgeon, geezer, fogy, old-timer, prime-timer, retired person, mature American, seasoned citizen, silver fox, young at heart, chronologically gifted.... And please, please, don't call me senior citizen...