Is it possible to be cool and middle aged?

MustabusterMustabuster Posts: 5,973
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I was just reading a few articles in my line of work where they they frequently mention 'cool' apps and 'cool' ways of doing things which just really got on my nerves a bit.

So I was thinking maybe I'm past it, past that stage in my life where things had to be cool and hip. Do you think this is inevitable? Is it actually possible to be cool and 40+ (say) at the same time? I was thinking that some middle aged bloke trying to be cool to a young person would be the social equivalent of Dad Dancing or liking Status Quo.
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  • ElyanElyan Posts: 8,781
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    Respect is about all you can hope for.

    You won't get that by trying to be cool.
  • Mark39LondonMark39London Posts: 3,977
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    Horses for courses.

    You can be cool at any age; neither the young or the old have a monopoly on it, despite what some might think.
  • mebiscuitmebiscuit Posts: 327
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    Its all about being comfortable in your own skin. That's the coolest anyone can be.
  • TrollHunterTrollHunter Posts: 12,496
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    I'm the wrong side of 40 and a couple of my daughters' friends (aged between 14 and 17) have remarked that they (my daughters) have a cool dad. It's possible to still be cool, but it's not something you can learn - you just are.
  • SemieroticSemierotic Posts: 11,131
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    After 40, people respect character (and, if we're honest, power) more than arbitrary definitions of coolness.
  • Richard46Richard46 Posts: 59,829
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    I was just reading a few articles in my line of work where they they frequently mention 'cool' apps and 'cool' ways of doing things which just really got on my nerves a bit.

    So I was thinking maybe I'm past it, past that stage in my life where things had to be cool and hip. Do you think this is inevitable? Is it actually possible to be cool and 40+ (say) at the same time? I was thinking that some middle aged bloke trying to be cool to a young person would be the social equivalent of Dad Dancing or liking Status Quo.

    If your indicator of teen culture is Status Quo you may have slipped into some kind of inverted cooldom where a complete lack of hipness is (rightly) considered the gold standard.

    BTW Late Happy Birthday to Francis Rossi who was 66 on Friday.
  • shaddlershaddler Posts: 11,574
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    My son's mates apparently think I'm cool. I'm not sure why, but I suspect it's probably because I haven't grown up yet :D
  • alan29alan29 Posts: 34,606
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    Is being cool a desirable thing?
    Nah!
  • JT2060JT2060 Posts: 5,370
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    I'm 57 and my 27 year old daughter thinks I'm 'cool'. I think it's just a matter of not growing old mentally and receding into old age envying the next generation. We share a taste in music [up to a point], love fast cars, regularly go out to lunch and chat aimlessly about our lives, and I am teaching her to cook properly. Proper validation is that her friends think that it is 'cool' that we do this.

    I also dress a lot. lot more fashion consciously than my father ever did. I am not walking around in skinny jeans with my ar*e hanging out, but most of my wardrobe is Ted Baker, Jeffrey West, YSL or Ben Sherman.

    I staggered her a few months ago and took her to see Lady Gaga at the O2. After we got home I heard her on the 'phone to her best friend saying 'It was amazing, Dad knew all the f******* words. I do not like her swearing, but on this occasion, it did make me smile. :)
  • TrollHunterTrollHunter Posts: 12,496
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    JT2060 wrote: »
    I'm 57 and my 27 year old daughter thinks I'm 'cool'. I think it's just a matter of not growing old mentally and receding into old age envying the next generation. We share a taste in music [up to a point], love fast cars, regularly go out to lunch and chat aimlessly about our lives, and I am teaching her to cook properly. Proper validation is that her friends think that it is 'cool' that we do this.

    I also dress a lot. lot more fashion consciously than my father ever did. I am not walking around in skinny jeans with my ar*e hanging out, but most of my wardrobe is Ted Baker, Jeffrey West, YSL or Ben Sherman.

    I staggered her a few months ago and took her to see Lady Gaga at the O2. After we got home I heard her on the 'phone to her best friend saying 'It was amazing, Dad knew all the f******* words. I do not like her swearing, but on this occasion, it did make me smile. :)
    Oh you were doing so well up to then but ruined by revealing your love for Lady Gaga. Swing and a miss JT :D

    Although I'm not sure I can talk as I took my 13 year-old to see Cher Lloyd a couple of years ago and we had meet and greet tickets and while all of the other parents were happy to take photos of their kids meeting her, I got my daughter to take a photo of me with her!! One of the other kids said, "I wish my dad was like that"!!

    (I also knew all of the words to her songs)
  • SemieroticSemierotic Posts: 11,131
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    JT2060 wrote: »
    I also dress a lot. lot more fashion consciously than my father ever did. I am not walking around in skinny jeans with my ar*e hanging out, but most of my wardrobe is Ted Baker, Jeffrey West, YSL or Ben Sherman.

    Expressing this much care over labels reads more like a midlife crisis than being genuinely hip, though...
  • Poppy99_PoppyPoppy99_Poppy Posts: 2,255
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    mebiscuit wrote: »
    Its all about being comfortable in your own skin. That's the coolest anyone can be.

    This is spot on. It is not about labels in clothes, or knowing the words to the same songs as your kids - it is about being yourself without the need to impress anybody else, or feel chuffed when puts a label on you that you are cool. You shouldn't let anybody else's opinion define you - even if it them labelling you as cool or an old fart. Being cool is just not giving a damn.
  • wampa1wampa1 Posts: 2,997
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    Gregory House managed it.
  • Jambo_cJambo_c Posts: 4,672
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    JT2060 wrote: »
    I'm 57 and my 27 year old daughter thinks I'm 'cool'. I think it's just a matter of not growing old mentally and receding into old age envying the next generation. We share a taste in music [up to a point], love fast cars, regularly go out to lunch and chat aimlessly about our lives, and I am teaching her to cook properly. Proper validation is that her friends think that it is 'cool' that we do this.

    I also dress a lot. lot more fashion consciously than my father ever did. I am not walking around in skinny jeans with my ar*e hanging out, but most of my wardrobe is Ted Baker, Jeffrey West, YSL or Ben Sherman.

    I staggered her a few months ago and took her to see Lady Gaga at the O2. After we got home I heard her on the 'phone to her best friend saying 'It was amazing, Dad knew all the f******* words. I do not like her swearing, but on this occasion, it did make me smile. :)

    Sorry but neither of these things is cool. I've never found labels cool, anyone can read a fashion magazine and copy what some celebrity is wearing, it doesn't mean that you're cool or have style. Style is something you're born with and cool is something that you get by just being yourself and doing your own thing. Someone can look far more cool and stylish in an outfit put together from a charity shop than someone who spends a fortune on labels. Cool is about being totally comfortable with who you are and just being who you are without giving a toss about what anyone else thinks.

    I've never followed current trends and just wear what I like (most of my wardrobe consists of 1960s and mod style stuff and I don't see this ever changing). I've a mate who thinks he's cool but he's basically just a sheep, he'll slag off something that I'm wearing but you just know that if in a few months time some celebrity wore one then he'd go straight out and buy one. That just isn't cool.
  • SupratadSupratad Posts: 10,390
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    Can I be cool and middle aged?


    Hell yeah.
  • Fairyprincess0Fairyprincess0 Posts: 29,991
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    You shouldn't care about being cool when your middle-aged. Coolness is a soulless affectation.

    It's middle-age when you realise what's truly important. Settling down with kids, the simple pleasures....
  • SemieroticSemierotic Posts: 11,131
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    You shouldn't care about being cool when your middle-aged. Coolness is a soulless affectation.

    It's middle-age when you realise what's truly important. Settling down with kids, the simple pleasures....

    Was agreeing until you went for the kids cliche.
  • Fairyprincess0Fairyprincess0 Posts: 29,991
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    Semierotic wrote: »
    Was agreeing until you went for the kids cliche.

    It's was merely a serving suggestion....
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 619
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    i think that depends on your definition of what's cool really. One person's "cool" might another person's "naff".

    I have always thought that Bryan Ferry was cool, but that's probably a very different version from what a 18yr old would say was cool.
  • JT2060JT2060 Posts: 5,370
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    Jambo_c wrote: »
    Sorry but neither of these things is cool. I've never found labels cool, anyone can read a fashion magazine and copy what some celebrity is wearing, it doesn't mean that you're cool or have style. Style is something you're born with and cool is something that you get by just being yourself and doing your own thing. Someone can look far more cool and stylish in an outfit put together from a charity shop than someone who spends a fortune on labels. Cool is about being totally comfortable with who you are and just being who you are without giving a toss about what anyone else thinks.

    I've never followed current trends and just wear what I like (most of my wardrobe consists of 1960s and mod style stuff and I don't see this ever changing). I've a mate who thinks he's cool but he's basically just a sheep, he'll slag off something that I'm wearing but you just know that if in a few months time some celebrity wore one then he'd go straight out and buy one. That just isn't cool.

    The description was to show the difference between the clothes I wear and what my father would have worn. I would hardly call the labels mentioned cutting edge, and definitely none of my daughters male friends would wear them - double cuffs are an anathema to them.

    I am quite happy with how I look, and as you quite eloquently said 'I don't give a toss about what anyone else thinks'.
  • JT2060JT2060 Posts: 5,370
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    Semierotic wrote: »
    Expressing this much care over labels reads more like a midlife crisis than being genuinely hip, though...

    The midlife crisis sits on the driveway. 4.6 litres of American muscle - a far bigger sign of 'crisis' than clothes. :)
  • muggins14muggins14 Posts: 61,844
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    Coolness is in other peoples' eyes, so I don't know if anybody thinks I am or am not cool. I don't think I ever was cool, so not much has changed :D I don't care either, except that my daughter thinks I'm super fantastic and that's all that matters to me :D

    What pleases me greatly is that I've finally reached the stage, or age, where I don't care what others think of me anymore, certainly not strangers. To me that's cool :D
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 7,182
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    Hasn't it always been cool to not be cool, to not care about what others think? Those are the types of people that I generally think of as cool. They neither know, nor care about being cool. Age is no barrier of coolness.
  • alan29alan29 Posts: 34,606
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    Surely it is uncool to care about appearing to be cool.
  • JT2060JT2060 Posts: 5,370
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    Oh you were doing so well up to then but ruined by revealing your love for Lady Gaga. Swing and a miss JT :D

    She was fabulous. A little bit too much of the LGBT agenda, but that is her 'thang'. The most enjoyable part of the evening was people watching in the bar - it is difficult not to laugh as some hulking great bloke walks by in full white vinyl and white platform boots.
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