January 14 – “On Old Guys and New Words”

I get that Old Guy Newsletter from AARP.  In fact I signed up to be in that group as soon as I was eligible (when I turned 50).  I figured there was bound to be some kind of benefits, like discounts at Astroworld (whoops, they closed Astroworld), cheaper hotel rooms (that happened, but we have only taken one vacation in the last ten years), and maybe some coupons for restaurants or something (no coupons, but most of the time you have to come out and ask if they offer discounts.  I'm finding that gets easier and easier the older I get.  It seems like people expect way different things from old guys.  It's not really respect, I don't think.  That may be the roots of it, since years ago people did respect older people way more than they do now.  It's more like sighing and putting up with a two-year-old because he is acting like a two-year-old.  I have found that people are more likely to chuckle and respond favorably to the "nice old guy" as opposed to the demanding, highly motivated "senior executive."  Besides, it's a lot more fun being the nice old guy.  You can do pretty much whatever you want and people write it off to the rigors of aging.  Is that what t means to wield influence over the young?   My AARP newsletter had an interesting article in it.  It was about the new words that get added to the dictionary every year.  Of the fifty words they selected to define for us oldies so we wouldn't feel so out of place in our society, I had actually heard of thirteen of them.  Here's their introductory statement to the article: "Whether chillaxing with a gal pal or out on a bromantic date, you'll automagically impress your friends when you rock these beauties."  They may be in the dictionary, but they are sure not in my computer's spell check or grammar check yet.  There are little red lines all over this page as I type it.   Here's a few of them: Frenemy – noun – friend with whom one has frequent conflict Staycation – noun – vacation spent at home Viral – adjective – circulating rapidly on the internet Vuvuzela – noun – long horn blown by fans at soccer matches Heart – verb – to like very much, love (written as a picture of a heart) Bromance – noun – close platonic male friendship Own – verb – to utterly defeat or humiliate   Numbers 14:18 says, "The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion."   Father, please heal the frenemy rifts that have gone viral in our world.  Forgive our attempts to own each other.  Help us to go beyond bromances and learn to really heart each other.  Amen.