Half Your Age, Plus Seven

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

A friend told me last night about the half the age plus seven rule which he thinks should be applied for blokes looking for (female) partners. Apparently you should never date anyone who is less than half your age plus seven years.

Do you think this is a good rule?

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 19 September 2004 09:33 (twenty-one years ago)

it would mean that I shouldn't be with anyone less than 23 and a half.

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 19 September 2004 09:41 (twenty-one years ago)

i think it "works" up until the younger of the couple gets into their early to mid twenties (ie. the older of the couple is in their mid to late twenties). but i don't really think it works anyway, except that i can agree that i'd probably be a bad idea for me to date a eighteen year old. maybe not tho.

― m. (mitchlnw), Sunday, 19 September 2004 09:56 (twenty-one years ago)

It's bollocks, obviously. This is clear from the one-way nature of it, as it's always expressed. Not that I'm likely to be seriously dating anyone in their 20s (I'm 45), but not for ludicrous reasons like this.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 19 September 2004 10:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think (m)any 21 year old's would want to go out with me.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 19 September 2004 10:43 (twenty-one years ago)

20? that seems ludicrously unfair.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 19 September 2004 10:50 (twenty-one years ago)

and yet i'll never have to worry about it.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 19 September 2004 10:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I am about to lose the teenagers. Bye bye, babies. I hardly knew ye.

― Ally C (Ally C), Sunday, 19 September 2004 11:25 (twenty-one years ago)

22 (and a half) for me. Funnily enough, this is indeed the (absolute, stretching credulity) age limit that I'd come up with myself.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 19 September 2004 11:28 (twenty-one years ago)

what I find interesting is that when the boy's 14, the girl should be 14 or older, but when the boy is 13 the girl should be 13 and a half or older!

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 19 September 2004 11:30 (twenty-one years ago)

18 year olds.

― cºzen (Cozen), Sunday, 19 September 2004 11:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I could go as low as 22. Were I not married, that is. Does it work for girls, this, by the way? Or do I have to subtract seven from my age and double it to find out what sort of old wrinkly I could feasibly end up with (48, in that case)? Or do we get the "best" of both worlds?

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 19 September 2004 11:31 (twenty-one years ago)

there is a formula for girls too. Can't remember what it is tho.

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 19 September 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

What I find interesting is that seven year old girls are being encouraged to date infants.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 19 September 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

(i realise 48 doesn't constitute an old wrinkly, by the way)

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 19 September 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

18 and a half-year olds, here I come! Except not.

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 19 September 2004 11:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, whoops

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 19 September 2004 11:57 (twenty-one years ago)

No man over 24 is allowed to date me by this rule, which seems a little limiting.

Did this really originate from the Bible?

― Cathy (Cathy), Sunday, 19 September 2004 12:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Cathy,
Did this really originate from the Bible?

I don't think so no. I think it originated in the z00l0gy dept of 0xf0rd Univ3rsity.

No man over 24 is allowed to date me by this rule

is yr bf over 24?

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 19 September 2004 12:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Mark is wrong. It did originate in the Bible. Jacob orginally wanted to marry a 206-year-old girl, but God put his foot down.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 19 September 2004 12:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Jacob was two at the time.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 19 September 2004 12:33 (twenty-one years ago)

i thought it was nation of islam edict, i vaguely remember something along these lines with malcolm being set up with betty

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 19 September 2004 12:35 (twenty-one years ago)

my personal code: 36-24-36? only if she's 5'3"

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 19 September 2004 12:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Are you Sam Malone?

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 19 September 2004 12:37 (twenty-one years ago)

nah, he just likes it when you kick them nasty thoughts

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Sunday, 19 September 2004 12:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it originated in the z00l0gy dept of 0xf0rd Univ3rsity.

Oh, I am disappointed. Why did you googleproof zoology?

is yr bf over 24?

No, but he will be before I'm 20. So there would be a few months of wrong before it was ok again.

― Cathy (Cathy), Sunday, 19 September 2004 12:40 (twenty-one years ago)

z00l0gists are like sc1ent0log1sts only the bad scifi they base their religion on is day of the animals.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 19 September 2004 12:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh wait, he won't be over 24.

― Cathy (Cathy), Sunday, 19 September 2004 13:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I think we need a rule that makes it so that all women think that short, balding 45 year olds are what they should aspire to.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 19 September 2004 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

All women should be short, balding and 45?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 19 September 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

don't discriminate against the tall.

xpost dammit ned

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 19 September 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

There are cults for that sort of thing, Martin.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 19 September 2004 13:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I doubt I'll be baldING by 45

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 19 September 2004 13:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Mickey Rooney fan clubs

(x-post)

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 19 September 2004 13:36 (twenty-one years ago)

When I'm 80 and can still date 47 year-olds, I'll probably be thankful for this rule.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 19 September 2004 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought this was a Chinese proverb. Or maybe Yiddish. Well, I read it somewhere, a book concerning grandmothers. I just can't remember if it was Wild Swans or something by Erica Jong.

― Anna (Anna), Sunday, 19 September 2004 14:25 (twenty-one years ago)

That post kind of sums you up, Anna.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 19 September 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

In a very nice way, I mean.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 19 September 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

How? Tell me. Feed my self-obsession.

― Anna (Anna), Sunday, 19 September 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it was the vagueness, coupled with the Erica Jong / Wild Swans mash-up.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 19 September 2004 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

18-years old is my limit. I always thought that seemed young, but I'm okay with it.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 19 September 2004 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I have gone as much as four years under my limit, three years or so back. I am unaware of any evil consequences.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 19 September 2004 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I don;t know any 23 year old who would want to date me, so I think I'm ok.

― luna (luna.c), Sunday, 19 September 2004 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

18 is almost my limit anyway, but it's all a moot point.

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Sunday, 19 September 2004 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

No, Luna, it's a one-way thing, so you should be dating someone aged 50!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 19 September 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm about to be limited to 18.5 and up

― Free the Bee (ex machina), Sunday, 19 September 2004 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

17.5 is pretty close to my own shame threshold, too. This is clever. In related news, I was hit on by a fourteen year old, today.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 19 September 2004 21:11 (twenty-one years ago)

chris is turning 39. i'm turning 28. I think I'm too old for him.

― A. Atom Gorgon (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 September 2004 21:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Man, Aja's in deep doo-doo. Half her age plus seven is still, like, prenatal.

― ex-jeremy (x Jeremy), Sunday, 19 September 2004 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

My limits supposed to be 23... my partners 21. Meh *shrugs* works for me.

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 19 September 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I can date 15 year olds, then. Envy my youth.

― stephen morris (stephen morris), Sunday, 19 September 2004 23:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Whoo, I'm looking forward to picking up some 17-and-a-half-year-olds.

― Andrew (enneff), Monday, 20 September 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

hmm, i'm 25 and dating a 50 year old man right now. 50/2 + 7=...32. numbers schmumbers.

― the intern, Monday, 20 September 2004 00:54 (twenty-one years ago)

23. That puts the Olsen twins out of contention. OH NOES HOW WILL I SURVIVE.

― Sexual Air Supply (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 20 September 2004 00:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Turns out I shouldn't have been so wary of all those college guys dating my female friends in high school, they were just following the rules.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 20 September 2004 01:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Ben Franklin advised men to marry women who were older in years. And then added: "Because they are more grateful". Good ol' Ben. What a knucklehead.

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 20 September 2004 01:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it sucks a werewolf's hairy asshole.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Monday, 20 September 2004 01:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Dude, half Aja's age plus seven is...Aja's age!

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Monday, 20 September 2004 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Does that mean that when my first sexual encounter as a 12-year-old was with a 15-year-old girl, I was just following the rules? At what point does this stuff cease to apply? Is it okay for a 4-year-old boy to be with a 9-year-old girl? This madness must stop!

― Andrew (enneff), Monday, 20 September 2004 02:19 (twenty-one years ago)

No! The madness must continue! How else will 4-year olds learn about sex and relationships? They need to learn from people older and more mature than themselves.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 20 September 2004 02:33 (twenty-one years ago)

(Does that mean that when my first sexual encounter as a 12-year-old

No. Way.)

According to this, I should be sticking to a 19 - 34 age range.

Wow. That opens up a whole world of possibilities. Though I'd still feel vaguely dirty about going with someone between the ages of 19 - 21. Like I'm their babysitter or their mom or something.

(This message is brought to you by the Council Of People Who Are Ancient On The Inside.)

― Many Coloured Halo (Dee the Lurker), Monday, 20 September 2004 02:35 (twenty-one years ago)

No. Way.

Way.

― Andrew (enneff), Monday, 20 September 2004 02:53 (twenty-one years ago)

16.5! yes!

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Monday, 20 September 2004 03:03 (twenty-one years ago)

22, good.

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Monday, 20 September 2004 03:14 (twenty-one years ago)

My ex-drummer once almost punched me for saying to him "dude, half plus seven rule!". He is 32 and his girlfriend is 17.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 20 September 2004 12:29 (twenty-one years ago)

19.

p.s. hasn't this been discussed before on another thread?

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 20 September 2004 12:38 (twenty-one years ago)

No way am I dating any 19-year-old boys.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 20 September 2004 12:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, dating, no.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i know a band who use this rule for groupies. and they're not very old. and it's pretty gross. i don't know. i have always been attracted most to girls who are my always-current age. aside from a particular weakness for bitchy attractive 43-ish y/o women.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Half times seven = 98
Half minus seven = 7
Half divided seven = 2

I can see why they stuck with plus seven.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Well okay, I don't know any 50 year olds who want to date me, either.

― luna (luna.c), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Luna, when I get there I'll give you a call (assuming i can read the number without the glasses I left....where?)

― Michael White (Hereward), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I've tried dating women in their early 20s but they all seem to like Radiohead a bit too much.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

better then not liking anything too much... maybe.

― bnw (bnw), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I couldn't date a 22 year old. I can imagine it being fun for a couple of weeks, but then there'd open up a huge bleeding void where common ground should be. Nein danke.

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

A major problem with this is that if you find a woman the right age (any 29.5 year olds out there looking for a 45 year old?) it'll all go wrong quickly anyway. We need women who age at half the rate of men, apparently.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 20 September 2004 21:23 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.