h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is something I read recently on a mug and I think it should run as an open question:- "If you were not told and did not know what your age is, How Old Would You Say You Are?"

Too bl**dy old. All achin' and groanin' and feeling disgusted at the youth of today. Nivvermind that I am one

Now is this, 'how old do you think you look' or 'how old do you tell people you are'?

I had an innneresting ( and full of innuendo) convo with a Belgian guy recently which went:

(twas in francais but I'll translate)

Moi - how old d'you think I am?
Lui - 42 (good answer, you're thinking!)
Moi - 42!!! (kicking him) How dare you! I'm 41....and a half.....



Pah. I have no qualms with the age that I am.

That's a very courageous question, Luckystar!
I haven't asked anyone to guess my age since I passed 30, for fear of the answer I may get.

If I didn't know how old I was? I don't know, I look about 20, but I act about 50....so I'd probably split the difference and go with 35!

Ahhh. I always get told that I look/act like someone in their 20's. I have no idea why...

When I was 14, people thought I was at least 20. Now that I'm 20, people think I'm about 17 or so. How's that for ironic?

But my own opinion... probably someone in their 40's. Having more of a mid-life crisis than a quarter-life crisis.

I feel I stopped maturing when I was 15. I also thought I look young, but people down here think I'm 25 or 26.

I always thought I looked quite young (if I have a fringe then I look like a 5 yr old) but the surprised reactions when I told my work colleagues that I was 22 (I'm 23 now) made me think that maybe I look older than I am.

But then everyone at the uni seems to be sort of ageless - there are the young people (who include people up to the age of 45) who dress and act young, and there are the old people (who include people down to the age of 25) who act and dress old. I've giving up trying to guess peoples ages here - I just assume they're all older than me (apart from the students)

I always shock people with my age. I got asked for ID (18 here) at 29 1/2, so I think now I would guess I was about 30. I don't feel any older than I did then - even with a toddler. My Grandmother says she started to think she was getting old at 89 - she'd had a stroke. She's now 96 and still going well - and people think she is a less able 80something

Ythika

I recently went to have my hair cut and took an old picture of me along to show the lady how I wanted my hair to look. The picture was of me aged about 25, and was taken a loooonnng time ago. When I told her how old the picture was, she was surprised and said she would have thought it was only taken 2 or 3 years ago. I have since shown the picture to some colleagues and they agree. So I obviously look about 10 years younger than I really am.

Based on that, I'll admit to 29 as far as physical age is concerned. Mentally, I range between 4 and 40 - usually the lower end in terms of behaviour (when I can get away with it) and somewhere around the middle in terms of humour.

I think I'm offically 26.
But normally act like a teenager still cept when I'm in a really daft mood when I return to about 7 or 8 But with certain attitudes that wold be more appropiate in a 30-40 something

In reality I'm 26. When I was about 23/24 I shaved my head. (I was going really thin on top and looked like I was trying to hide the fact I was going bald. I wasn't - I didn't care but my hair looked really bad) Since I've gone completely bald I've been told it makes me look younger, I've been told it makes no difference and I've been told I look older. In fact someone guessed my age at 38.

Not really very interestig but it's all true.

Me? I think I look mid 20's but I act really immature alot of the time. So I'd guess at about 18/19.

Have you seen The Importance of Being Ernest? It was a play written by Oscar Wild and made into a movie with Judi Dench, Colin Firth, and other famous actors. The main character was found in a handbag when he was an infant and doesn’t know his age or parents. There are some great lines referring to your question.

Personally I never tell people my age. I’m still quite young as far as people are concerned and I find that people’s attitudes tend to change towards me when they find this out. When confronted I always ask sweetly ‘how old do you think I am?’ and when they answer I give them a huge smile and say ‘that’s nice’. I think if I didn’t know my age the conversation would be very similar.


Ebert

My friend's girlfriend, when we met for the first time, tried to guess how old I was- she said I was 35, while I'm actually 21. I guessed she was 20, and she was 26.

No real point to this post but hey, who cares.

I'm 19 and at the second year of university. I'm joint 2nd youngest in a group of 50. When I tell people my age they say something like "how old are you really?". For an interveiw I was asked "so how many years out did you take before coming to University?". Generally if you ask people who've just met me how old I'am they say something between 23 and 28. I hope this trend does not continue.

I'm also a little worried that Amy knew I'm here...BEFORE I POSTED

(She has spies everywhere!)

(Big Brother=The Thingites, trust no-one)

I used to be taken for mid twenty's when I was 16 and 17, which was kind of handy Though I hope now, I don't look much older than I am... Unfortunately I probably do Not that I really care, so there isn't much problem

I reckon I look younger than many of my local contemporaries - someone I know said he thought I was about 10 years younger than I am - but he's a bit of a smoothie so was he being honest?
My Mum definitely looks much younger than her age - even her GP thought her record had the wrong date of birth. So I hope I'm taking after her.

My mother-in-law has a pert reply when people who haven't seen her for a while say 'you haven't changed a bit' - she says 'I hope I looked better then than I do now'.