DIscovering you're not as old as you thought you were

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SO I was in the pub Saturday night and say "I'm not looking forward to my next birthday. I'll be 27! That's so old!" My mate looks at me and says "You're not 26, you're 25."

"NO I'm not, I'm definitely 26."

"Look, you're one year older than me, and I've only just turned 25. You're 26 on your next birthday."

SO we did the maths, and yes, I'm a year younger than I thought I was. For the last 9 months I've thought I was 26, now it turns out I'm 25. Anyone else had this happen to them, or is it just me?

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:00 (twenty years ago)

It's really odd - like being put in a Tardis and launched back a year. I had psyched myself up to be 26, and now I'm only 25 I feel like I've gained an extra year out of nowhere. A very odd sensation.

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:01 (twenty years ago)

For a while, I had to do the maths whenever anyone asked.

Now, I have my age tatood on my forehead. Metaphorically, obviously. pssh, that'd be silly!

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:09 (twenty years ago)

"There's nothing we can do, the Government know..."

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:13 (twenty years ago)

My first reaction was: How in the world can you forget your exact age?!? But then I realized at a certain point you just don't really think about it that much anymore. I mean, what's the difference between 31 and 32? I still feel like I'm 27.

― nathalie's pocket revolution (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:17 (twenty years ago)

I'm still young enough for this to seem strange (22). Once I get properly into the mire of adulthood though, I'm sure I'll understand.

― Crackity (Crackity Jones), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:18 (twenty years ago)

xpost.

Exactly. It's not really an important piece of information, so there's no NEED to remember it. But everybody assumes it IS important, so when you get an idea in your head that it's something other than what it actually is, you think it can't be a mistake, because nobody would FORGET their age, right?

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:19 (twenty years ago)

25 = mire of adulthood? Oh dear.

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:19 (twenty years ago)

It's worse when you get to my stage and realise that you are EXACTLY HALFWAY between being born and dying. It chills me that I'm now the same distance from being 75 than I am from being seven, the latter of which I CAN REMEMBER AS THOUGH IT WERE ONLY YESTERDAY thus I AM as old as I thought I was :-(

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:20 (twenty years ago)

Something happens to ppl in their mid to late twenties which makes them forget their age. Very strange!

― Panther Pink (Pinkpanther), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:20 (twenty years ago)

Dawn has the same birthday as me, although she is 10 years younger.
Amber is the day after mine.
Alice is exactly a week before Amber's, so for a week, she is one year younger than Amber.

Oh, and one day in a fit of madness, I picked lottery numbers that were based on Dawn's and My ages, birthdates and wedding dates. So I'm now committed to the lotto for all time, and can never forget my age anymore!

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:24 (twenty years ago)

It's easy for me, I was born in a year that ended in zero, so if it's after my birthday, then I'm the same age as the year.

(However, I did stay 22 for 11 years, but that's another story.)

― Smug and Pious (kate), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:25 (twenty years ago)

That didn't make sense, did it? Unless I'm 105. Which I think would be a good age to be, so I'm going to start lying and rounding my age up from now on.

― Smug and Pious (kate), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:25 (twenty years ago)

When I hit thirty, no-one believed I was. Which is when I discovered I look young for my age.

As Dawn says, people assume I am Dawn's age rather than vice versa. Which is just as well really.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:28 (twenty years ago)

The bus driver gave me a child's fare today (for under 16s) WITHOUT ME ASKING FOR IT!!! I'M 22 FFS!!!

― Crackity (Crackity Jones), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:34 (twenty years ago)

Maybe you're 16 and have forgot your age.

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:03 (twenty years ago)

I'm never entirely sure if I'm 26, 27 or 28 at the moment.

However, I have a stronger grip on reality than the schoolteacher who turned up at my work to visit a work experience pupil (aged 15) and mistook me for her... don't know whether to be appalled or flattered.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:08 (twenty years ago)

I (36) generally do the maths to be absolutely sure. A bonus of being born on the first of January is never having to adjust for whether I've had my birthday yet or not.

― OleM (OleM), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

That's awesome Ole. Though presumably you always feel like shit on your birthday. Not so awesome.

― Crackity (Crackity Jones), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:25 (twenty years ago)

Well I am 29 and think about it a lot because next year I'm 30
But in my mid 20's I sort of lost a year too

― Paul Kelly (kelly), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:29 (twenty years ago)

Ole presumably just carries on from the previous night!

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:31 (twenty years ago)

From about 6 months after my b'day I mentally prepare for the next one. So I feel 32 even though I'm only 31, then it surprises me on my birthday when I think I should be turning 33.

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:54 (twenty years ago)

Yes, exactly. I think I must do the same.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:56 (twenty years ago)

Part of my old job was asking people their age. It was amazing how many people took a while to remember or had to work it out; and then there were people who told you, and then 2 minutes later said 'hang on, I told you the wrong age'. And it wasn't just older people, young 20-somethings sometimes struggled too.

― , Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:59 (twenty years ago)

Well, maybe they were just thinking of a suitable age to tell you, as opposed to their actual age.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 10:01 (twenty years ago)

Possible, but I think unlikely - they had nothing to gain from lying, unless they just didn't want me to know their real age.

― , Tuesday, 13 September 2005 10:04 (twenty years ago)

Who's that bloke in Bournemouth, on the prom front, who does "I guess your age"...

What's that all about?

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 10:19 (twenty years ago)

My jaw has been dropping all through this thread. I'm not sure if it's because the very idea of having to 'do the maths' is alien to me, or what. One number minus another is doing maths, but so is 1+1 and it doesn't take any calculating. Whatever the reason, I've never had to hesitate and never got it wrong and I think I know it without having to derive it anew.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 11:40 (twenty years ago)

I confused myself no end when I was sixteen. I had two fake birthdates - one for trying to buy alcohol and one for getting on the train as a half fare.

― Rumpie, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 11:43 (twenty years ago)

Maybe because you think about your age on a daily basis. ;-) The only time it crosses my mind is when people ask me - which is very rarely - and it's my birthday. Even then I don't really think about it. Of course we can do the maths, Martin, but it's the fact we don't have to do it... I don't think I'd get it wrong as much/long as John has, but I can definitely understand.

― nathalie's pocket revolution (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 11:43 (twenty years ago)

Nathalie, I think the difference is not needing to do maths, but just knowing the two numbers and therefore how old I am - my relationship to numbers is different from that of most other people. I learned this many years ago when I stated that 729 was an easy page number to remember in a book I was reading, and was surprised when I had to explain that it was 6 to the power of 3. (Then what 'to the power of' meant.)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 11:52 (twenty years ago)

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