Uh... what did you just say? o___0

[MoonCat]

Elderly folks with no discernible ill intent generally get a pass from me in cases like this.

You're more forgiving than I am. I can't help thinking there's no excuse for ignorance in a time when you can't walk three feet in any direction without being hit with information overload.

Plus I'm cynical. I tend to believe that people who use that word "inadvertently" know perfectly well that it's going to upset or shock people. I have no faith in humanity left

[mathnerd]

I'm defining "elderly" as people in their 80's and older. Most of the time, these people are just falling back into old habits. It happens as humans get older. I also noted "no discernible ill-intent". If I felt a person was just being nasty, then I'd feel differently. But, a person like my grandmother in the years just prior to her death, who was in the throws of dementia and sometimes didn't even know who she was? Yeah, I'm not going to get offended by that. Even a person who's just frail and confused isn't going to be judged by me. They were raised in a different time. I hope when I'm that old, the young people around me will forgive me for anything I might do that inadvertently causes offense in such a situation.

[MoonCat]

Well, yes, somebody who was clearly not all that clear-headed anymore, I could see not getting too upset about it.

Unfortunately I always seem to encounter the other kind...like my neighbor, who knows exactly what she's saying, and then pulls the "I didn't mean anything by it" stuff while sneering at me.