There’s a new way to describe old. It’s “perennial.” Not everyone likes it.
Pam O’Brien, 69, thinks it’s contrived. Ms. O’Brien, who teaches full time in the Public and Professional Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh, says there are better, more appropriate terms. She personally doesn’t mind “elder,” as she is an elder at her church, along with other people ranging in age from the 30s to the 80s. But she’s not a fan of “elderly” and neither are her friends, who were upset when they were described by a younger...