| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a "spinster"?
Posted: 7/6/2007 2:07:01 AM | | Hey, I've had this debate with people before. I refer to myself as a spinster all the time. My sister's wedding is coming up and I'll be the oldest single person there (29!), so I'm sure this will come up a lot then as well. It may sound like a silly question, but I'm just wondering what others think is the age when spinsterhood is official? | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/6/2007 7:00:21 AM | Aren't spinsters someone that use that machine that pulls yarn through to make a blanket or such? OH, maybe that is a spinning wheel? I get those two confused.. As Roseann Rosanna Danna would say, Never Mind. Seriously, I think that when one gets past the age of realistically thinking that marriage is a good investment , one that is well on her way to one foot in the grave maybe, then it's a good bet she is. | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/6/2007 7:01:49 AM | A woman is a spinster when she has officially given up, or is a corpse. If they're still kicking, and wanting to date, then they're worth it. Personally, I think you're gorgeous, and you love South Park. How can you be a spinster with those 2 on your belt?
Anyway, my sister was the first to get married in our siblings, and she was 34 at the time.
All my friends who got married young are divorced, or on their second marriage, so I'm in favour of getting married later.
Have fun! He could be just around the corner! Lol | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/6/2007 12:52:02 PM | I'm 22 (23 in September) and my grandma told me to hurry up and get married cuz I'm getting close to being a spinster. It doesn't help that a bunch of younger relatives (including my little sister) got married this year.
I personally would never call myself a spinster, but that's just me. If you want to call yourself a spinster at 20 or 40 0r 80, go ahead.
And just a note, I heard somewhere the other day that 75% of people are married by the time they turn 35 and 95% are by the time they're 65..... | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/6/2007 1:01:26 PM | I thought that word went out with the hoop skirts. LOL. No woman is ever considered a spinster that I know of in this day and age.....at least not here in the Northeast. I doubt that most people even know what the term means anymore.
I haven't heard the term "bachelor" in a long time either. | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/6/2007 1:05:15 PM | Thanks scorpiomover, that's really nice.  I wish more guys thought like you.
And, I do have one cat, so I guess I'm on my way. One down, seven to go. And if the rules state you have to spin to be a spinster, what about spinning classes? Does that count? lol | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/6/2007 6:54:50 PM | holy geezus, OP! you're 29 and think you're a spinster?!! what kind of crack are you on? seriously, if you were a 60 year old virgin who lived with a dozen cats, well then the label might fit. but i'd hardly think anyone in her 20's, 30's or 40's has earned that label...and i think it's questionable even for the older single ladies. this is not the days where an unwed woman older than 21 needs to pack herself off to the nunnery! we've come a long way sunshine, embrace it!
oh and for the record, i'm 34...and nowhere near a spinster IMO. lol ; ) | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/6/2007 7:01:40 PM | 1) I would think that a "spinster" was an umarried virgin woman of some age, right?
2) In today's terms, I think the age is 1026. If a woman is unmarried by then .... For a man it is 1050! But a virgin woman over 20 could qualify as a sort of "spinster", maybe! | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/6/2007 8:31:35 PM | Yikes...I guess I am the living definition. Although I do not own a spinning wheel, I am an amateur "fibre artiste", I reckon' that I resemble it.... Oh well....at least I'm not dead and am having fun.
From Dictionary.com:
noun
1. a woman still unmarried beyond the usual age of marrying.
2. Chiefly Law. a woman who has never married.
3. a woman whose occupation is spinning.
From Wikipedia, a kinder and gentler definition and makes the "appropriate excuses” to boot. Could possibly have been written by a member of my “club”. This is organized, long, and rambling, which is why I did not post it here, as I have done enough. Perhaps there is a need to change my user name to Spinster W, Rambling Spinster W, or just plain simple...She-who-rambles or an assortment of variations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinster
 planted firmly within the cheek. May need surgical removal.
You, dear OP, are a "baby". | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/6/2007 9:26:10 PM |
I heard somewhere the other day that 75% of people are married by the time they turn 35 and 95% are by the time they're 65.....
With marriage rates declining but many people considering long-term shacking up to be about the same thing, it's a little bit difficult to say exactly. But you may be about right on the first number -- the one I remember is 80% of women marry by age thirty. It's only 85% (or maybe one or two points higher) over the whole lifetime, so only about a quarter of those left unmarried at 30 marry for the first time after that age. Again, my data could be a little dated, but I think your 95% number is high; there is a sub-population of women who will never marry for ideological reasons.
Among the never-married aged 35-39, women outnumber men by a four to three ratio (except in NYC, where the ratio is reversed), so they must be marrying before then. | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/6/2007 9:58:22 PM | | OP, you're way too young, and way too pretty, to be considered a spinster. If this was the 19th century, 30 or so might fit the definition, but in this day and age I don't buy any of that nonsense. Go at your own pace and don't worry about labels. | |
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notard
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Joined: 1/10/2007
Msg: 18 | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/7/2007 7:25:11 AM | I think back in the day when they actually used the word, the age was probably20-25..... but then again, they were getting married at 15 back then.
I mean, have you ever seen the movies Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice ??? Women/girls had to get married to be able to have anything. As Elinor Dashwood said to Edward Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility as they were discussing their futures and such....
Elinor : You talked of feeling idle and useless, imagine how that is compounded when one has no hope and no choice of any occupation whatsoever.
Edward : Our circumstances are therfore, precisely the same.
Elinor: Except that you will inherit your fortune. We cannot even earn ours.
Now??? You are only a spinster if you feel like one. There is no set age for marriage.... it's whatever the two people are comfortable with.
JMO
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/7/2007 7:37:17 AM | There's nothing like the word 'spinster' to make me feel old....makes me feel like I live in a ramshackle house with 35 cats!
When I got married at the ancient age of 25 they put 'spinster' down on the marriage certificate. This was in England so they may be doing it like they did in the dark ages. My husband to be got to have his profession put down...I got 'spinster'.
I, personally, hate the word because it makes me think of old aunts like in James and the Giant Peach! | |
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PHK
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Joined: 12/14/2006
Msg: 21 | |
| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/7/2007 8:46:44 AM | Haha! well I am officially the "old maid": the only member of my generation on both sides of the family that is not married (or partnered) and also no children. Likewise for all my highschool and college buddies. I'm OK with that, because as some family and friends have said, "You're nearly debt free, have traveled the world, can take vacations without having to arrange child/pet/lawn/house care, and look better than most of us"  I don't have a cat either  I think spinster is a mind set... when you become a hermit (and have 2+ cats! haha) | |
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| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/7/2007 9:06:39 AM | A spinster is a "single woman past the common age of marriage"; back when the term was popularly used, a woman was definitely an old maid if not married by age 25 and a spinster if not married by the age of 30. If not married by then, it was unlikely she ever would be.
So, if you're 29 and don't see yourself getting married, I think you qualify.  | |
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UR4ME?
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Joined: 11/15/2006
Msg: 25 | |
| How old are you when you can officially call yourself a spinster?
Posted: 7/7/2007 10:01:39 AM | You are about 5 years away from being a spinster, I'd say. You can listen to all the hoo-ha about age and cats and archaic words, but if you are not married by a reasonable age then you are a spinster. And, in our society, the most common age is late 20's, early 30's.
The problem is not that you are going be a spinster, the problem is that you haven't yet come to terms with your impending spinsterhood; embrace it! | |
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