Feb 26, 2010
Is it politically incorrect now to call someone a certain number of “years old”?
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NBC’s announcers always say athletes are “X years of age.”
Is this awkward terminology required over against the standard “X years old”?
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I didn’t think anybody would ever consider one to be more offensive than the other.
There was a spate of “years young” a few years ago in the UK.
Not sure that I’d call ‘years of age’ awkward terminology though
It’s awkward, not because it’s ungrammatical, but because it’s quite formal in a situation when everything else is relatively casual.
The awkwardness is increased since they say it so often and to the exclusion of what most English speakers would expect.
years of age sounds weird to me… I wonder if anyone else thinks the same…
Wow, that would mean they are only 10 years old! (Got to love a good Roman numeral joke)
hm, hadn’t noticed. you should ask Language Log.
Have you ever noticed that they always say “Good Morning to you” when they are greating people they are about to interview. Who says that is real life?
Do you really need to say either? If you say someone is 30, we ought to be able to figure out your meaning.
It sounds like they’re unnecessarily clarifying the phrase. Could someone be “30 years of” something other than “age” in that context?
(btw – I always wondered if a lawyer could be anything other than “at law”.)
I meant “attorney” not “lawyer”. Darn sinus meds…
I think it’s awkward, too.
I’m almost 33 years old. That didn’t feel very awkward to admit. : ) Did it sound strange in your ears? I hope not…
I was always taught that “years of age” was the proper phrasing. I suppose it may sound awkward if the rest of us have not learned to use the correct phrase.
Around the world, other languages use the verb “have” with age. We use “be.” I guess the adjective old is offensive! Just plain dumb. Maybe our grammar in this sense is tautology.
The only phrase I find politically incorrect is the term politically incorrect. And, of course, the awful reference to significant other.