I just read an amusing post, “Discount Me Out,” by a fellow Blogger (Life In A Word). In his post, he takes up the discussion of pricing discounts offered to senior citizens and when are you a senior citizen?

He got me thinking about “old age,” I mean when does that really set in? Recently, I was approaching a door and a nice gentleman said, “Let me get that for you MA’AM.” Of course, I appreciated his gesture; however, he left me thinking about the word “Ma’am.” Isn’t that a Southern term, we don’t use that in the North. Also, it seems to me that “ma’am” is for an older lady. I need to ask a Southerner about this.

Life In A Word’s blog also talked about discounts. An interesting topic. Do senior citizens always get a 5% discount? For example, he said his dentist gave him a 5% discount and then the sprinkler guy gave him a 5% discount. Is there a NEW trend going on with the 5% discounts or is this for people in their 50s, now senior citizens?

Makes me think of Andy Rooney. He was a senior citizen and did a fabulous job with a 3 minute clip at the end of 60 Minutes every week. Here on Youtube, “Andy Rooney – Birthdays,” he talks about getting older and why birthdays are not that special. Very amusing.

Paul Harvey, the radio broadcaster, was the same. In my family, when it was “Paul Harvey time” everyone stopped to listen. He covered all sorts of interesting news pieces, but what kept us listening was his voice — he had the most engaging voice. Here is a clip from YouTube called, “Remembering Paul Harvey / Legendary Radio Broadcaster / ABC.” If you haven’t heard Paul Harvey before, you’ll enjoy this.

Senior citizen – Andy Rooney and Paul Harvey proved that it didn’t stop them from working and being admired even at an “older age.”

Like my Dad says, “Nothing wrong with a discount in any form!”