This post started off with a draft title of A Senior By Any Other Name.  I was picking up the theme of a Montréal Gazette article I enjoyed entitled, What’s in a name? That which we call a senior …

The reason why my interest was piqued by that article was that I recognized the author’s name, Janet Torge.  It reminded me of pleasant evenings spent playing badminton in Beaconsfield many years ago since she was a member of the club there.

Janet mused about some of the existing names that are being used to describe seniors:

• Boomers
• Seniors
• Old people
• Elders
• Zoomers

All of them seem to have drawbacks and she came up with the pleasing alternative of Late Bloomers.

Avoiding the word plays that the Bloomers word might have suggested, I suddenly realized that there seemed to be an acceptance that what we are talking about here is a label for others to use about those of us who are over 50.

Since we are all living longer and staying healthier, I am not sure I will meekly accept a label that others might put on me.  Given many more years of productive and fulfilling life, it seems to me that a more proactive approach suggests we should not be looking for a Senior label.  A label is usually something you stick on an inanimate object.  What we need is a Senior Brand.

Why a brand?  Without a strong brand, others may assume the wrong things about seniors in general.  If we want to get more positive reactions, then we should not be shy about the positive contributions we can make.  The Senior Brand should certainly accentuate the positives.  Just think of some of the adjectives you might apply:

• Distinguished
• Experienced
• Knowledgeable
• Fund of memories
• Energetic
• Reliable
• Inventive

At the same time as guardians of the brand we must make sure that any possible negatives that people may assume would apply are never visible.  That means avoiding any suggestion that we may be:

• Weaker
• Forgetful
• Irascible
• Vision challenged
• Nodding Off
• In our dotage

Thinking along those lines you might come up with the following (or their female equivalents where appropriate) as possible contenders for the brand name:

• Chiefs
• Heads
• Sages
• Senators
• Authorities
• Gurus
• Nobles
• Statesmen
• Patricians
• Patriarchs
• Peers

Those are just to get your mental juices flowing.  If you can think of a more positive brand name for seniors, then why not add it in the comments.  This is really important because there are more and more of us every year who will be promoting that brand. Let’s find a brand we can be proud of.

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