Geez you're getting crabby in your old age ;)

The last young punk who called me a geezer got a quad-cane in the spokes :50: Rascal Scooter my ass.

When I lived in Atlanta I wore one of these because I was one of the few "old" roadies.
http://www.love2pedal.com/images/Product/medium/822.jpg

I've worn it once since I moved to FL (Nov 2012). Seems I'm one of the younger "old" roadies. Many folks older than me can outride me. So the jersey will stay in my drawer until I'm 75 or maybe 80 y/o. Maybe I'll be a geezer by then. :innocent:

Now THAT is a cool shirt!

:thumb:

It's not a shirt. It's a jersey.
http://www.love2pedal.com/

Shirts v jerseys... so way back when in the 70's and 80's I wore t-shirts. I thought those tight weird looking jerseys were for sissies! Problem was after about 20 miles of hard riding, the tshirt got soak through with sweat and would stretch out and weigh 20 lbs. I have some funny old century ride photos with me in those tshirts (hanging down to my knees) - ugh - what a mess!

So I came over to the "dark side" and started collecting jerseys - mostly event jerseys, but any ones that where pretty and nusual as well. I have a closets full of jerseys!

That said, over the years I have come to realize those jerseys are really expensive. Get some grease and oil on them or tear one or pull some threads, ugh, money down the drain. So I discovered wicking/athletic wear sold at places like Target and JC Pennys. They are cheap ($10 - 25), comfortable and functional and if one gets strained I throw it away without worry. So its not some fancy ride jersey, but since i am old and don't care, it's become all about function, comfort and cost. Another advantage of being a Geezer!

Someone on this board has the Interstate sign shirts or jersey already for old farts, no G word!

Wait till I tell how many 'seats' I went through.:rolleyes:

Thanks for the wicking shirt tip! http://www.amazon.com/A4-Marathon-Pe...cking+t+shirts


Rich

Society has changed. It is no longer acceptable to refer to people using pejorative terms reflecting their age, race, ethnicity, mental status, etc. While it may be sort of tolerated in private places among like minded people this is not such a place. This is a public place open to anyone who cares to point their browser this way. This lack of bigotry tolerance is a good thing and something to be encouraged. We are individuals who are interested in bicycles. We are not characterized by the classic definition of a person who is mentally and physically decrepit.

During my recent medical problems other than finding a competent provider to work on me the biggest problem was to get people in the medical and social system to treat me as Me, an individual and not like the generic "geezer" presented in this thread. Using such terms, even in self-deprecating "humor" works against the benefit of every mature person.

Like other forms of group discrimination age discrimination has to go. No, I am not grumpy or cantankerous. I am a fervent believer that each person should be treated as an individual. That is the essence of the human rights march over the past nearly a century.

Keep our language and clothing positive and without sick humor and we all will benefit.

I routinely use my age as a positive motivator for a lot of the youngsters with whom I work out. At the same time since they almost all know people who have had similar injuries they are motivating to me. But, not once do any of us use pejorative language. We respect each other too much for that.

^^^Thank you HawkOwl. Truly words of wisdom. Thank you.

This geezer likes hovering up the young un'g's. Your only as old as U feel.

I recall seeing a little video clip of Tim Allen's take on the "N word". Basically, his point seemed to be that if you get too upset by what other people say, you're just letting them control how you feel. I think there's some truth to that. If somebody wants to call me a cracker or honkey or whatever term they can come up with, it just doesn't really bother me, and that pretty much defeats the purpose of using those terms in the first place, and so they don't seem to be a big deal to anyone.

If a term is used to describe a group that is viewed negatively, it will take on a negative meaning. This has happened with race, with nationalities, with sexual orientation, with mental and physical handicaps, etc. Then when that word becomes offensive, some new word will come into use, which, after being associated with the group in question, takes on a negative connotation, so a new new word is needed, and the cycle continues. I think the issue there is that the words are the symptoms and not the problems. The problem is not the name applied to the group, the problem is viewing other people in a negative way in the first place. If you don't fix that, then fixing the names won't help. If you do fix that, then fixing the names won't be needed in the first place.

As applied to age, it seems to me that the better approach is not to run around policing what people say about old people, but to change what they think about old people. Through the years, I've known several people that were 80 or above, always had something positive to say, always had a friendly greeting, always had a smile when they greeted you. It would never have occurred to me to use a negative term in describing their age. But I also know many other people around the age I am now, who are very much of the "get off my lawn" personality. If a lot of the older population is like that, you can bet age is going to be viewed negatively, and whatever name you choose to call it will take on a negative connotation.

So my solution is get out and ride your bike. Have fun. Laugh. Ride with young people. Ride with old people. Ride far. Ride fast. Race. If they call you Pops or Gramps, don't get bent out of shape about it, and maybe they won't be offended when you call them "kid". Get the Cat In The Hat jersey, wear it. Get a Geezer jersey, wear it proudly, and change the definition of "geezer" for somebody. Wear your Waldo outfit when you ride at Halloween.

Hey: A bit of trivia for you. While writing this, I was googling synonyms for "geezer". One that came up was "old bat". Pretty derogatory, right? Except that one of my friends just recently completed her 8th or 9th 1200k randonneuring ride (actually, this one was a 1,400k). And the little sign on her bike says "Old Bat On A Bent"!. That's what I'm talking about! And I seem to recall her riding a 600k dressed in a jack-o-lantern outfit a couple of years ago, come to think of it!

Words have power, lots of power. Even before Shakespeare people knew words had power. That is the primary reason why NOW and NAACP were and are so prickly about what words are used. It is the reason why they frame their arguments in the language they do.

Yes, it is good to live by example. But, it is very powerful to use positive, respectful language. The words that are used very often trigger the kind of reaction, debate and ultimate outcome.

Enough, use language and actions that are positive, respectful and honor each individual for what that person is and don't cater to bias of any nature.

While doing that it is amazing how many youngsters you can influence by your superior abilities. Yes, I said people who routinely post here have superior abilities. That is leading by positive example. A Good Thing.

I'll never call anyone a geezer but if it's said about me I don't care. My line of work leads me to spend a lot of time with 20-30 year olds and I try to set an example by doing and I don't care what anyone thinks or says about my age.

@ HawkOwl The only age discrimination I see these days are overwhelmingly postive. Such as discounts or special priviliges for seniors. Also your issue with finding a medical provider to treat you as an individual is not unique to your age (or geezerhood if you will). EVERYONE says that about the medical profession.

Wow! Never realised geezer was an insulting term in the U.S.

Here in the UK it just means a bloke, guy etc., mainly used around London area but also throughout the country.

Rich,
If the shirts ever got off the ground I'd be in for one or both. Doesn't bother me in the least to use some humor in my life and be called a geezer. My friends and others I ride with are all geezers by choice and call ourselves that regularly. If that is the worst thing I am called life will be a breeze, political correctness isn't correct, common sense is. Deal with that.

Bill

I guess we need to agree to disagree!!

Thanks for your kind response.

Nonsense. It's Political Correctness and it has crept into every facet of normal life today. "Don't dare say anything which could be interpreted as offensive lest someone's feelings be hurt."

Exactly. You're as old as you feel. As a child we used to say "Stick and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me."

It isn't an insulting term. A tease maybe, but not an insult.

Exactly.

Finally I don't appreciate having my thread hijacked for personal social agenda. If you have had some unpleasant experiences surrounding the use of that word that's unfortunate. The subject is t-shirts for biking...and jerseys. As I said originally if geezer offends you don't click on this thread.

Thanks, Rich

It just means that as a society, we need to learn to:

Lighten Up

All this politically correct male bovine manure, means that you can't say or do anything without fear that you will in the least, way offend someone. When I was a kid, I was called two things, Nazi and Kraut, because I have a German name. I simply had to grow a thick enough skin to deal with it, which I did, by simply ignoring it, and the morons that used it.

Those are very cool. I'd like one.

Regarding T-shirts: I don't really care for them.

Regarding the G word: I can usually find better words to express myself. Don't really care for it, but not offended when someone else uses it, as long as they're not talking about me.

Regarding clever cycling apparel for our demographic: it doesn't get much better than our Over 50 jersey. I've always liked this one: http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...teamjersey.jpg

Kudos to the wearer. He makes me feel skinny.

I believe the older one gets the more noise one should make. Others may be as quiet and compliant as they wish - that's fine by me.

The subject is shirts and jerseys for geezers. The Politics and Religions forum is for social activism. I don't have anything to add to the politically correct anti-geezer discussion.

Thanks for the offer but the road sign thing doesn't do anything for me.How about on the back(You Are Drafting a 70 Year Old)Now this thread might get interesting.:popcorn

That's a great suggestion. :thumb: