I am concerned about the somewhat derogatory interpretation of a couple of words which arose during a workshop at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival. The first was “senior”. According to my Collins Australian Gem English Dictionary, the first meaning is “superior in rank or standing”. Well! In the land where tall poppies are snipped at the stem, we wouldn’t want to be accused of that! The second meaning is “older”. I would have thought this to be a mere descriptive statement of inevitable fact and nothing to be ashamed of, or concealed.
My beautiful old Encyclopedic World Dictionary goes one step further. The “higher rank or standing” is “esp. by virtue of longer service.” This brings me to the second word which I feel is sometimes regarded with disrespect. The Gem defines “pension” as “allowance for past services; annuity paid to retired … old people etc.” “Pensioner” is a noun derived from this. Personally, I am ecstatic to have survived the rigours of the working world long enough to retire from it, and grateful to a social system which regards my attainment of a certain number of years worthy of financial support. I consider there is a degree of hidden prejudice against older people in the dislike expressed against these purely factually descriptive words.
To my surprise, the alternative suggestion, “vintage”, does not appear in the Gem at all. There are fifteen possibilities in the Encyclopedic World Dictionary, twelve of which refer to wine and one to motor vehicles. The only complementary definition, “of high quality; exceptionally fine”, is offset by “old fashioned; out of date”.
Bearing all this in mind, my preference is to be regarded as a “senior retired pensioner”.