> Why do people lie about their age? I suppose
> most people don't actually lie about it, but
> almost everybody I know at least jokes about
> lying about their age.

I have no idea. It seems to be mostly women who do it, or who want to keep their age a heavily-guarded national secret, as if people can't tell by *looking* at them that they're mid-forties instead of mid-teens.

When I was a kid, it seemed that 40 was the big evil birthday for adults. When I got to my late 20s, I was astounded by all the "Oooh, not long until you're THIRTY!" comments, and the general sense of impending doom among other people approaching that age. I pay little, if any, attention to birthdays (yes, I'm the person who actually got my own age *wrong* in an early forum post, with the result that I ended up being 28 here for two years running before anybody noticed and asked about it). So when I turned 30 my main impression was that there must be something wrong with me for not having some huge pre-midlife crisis about it like a character in a sitcom.

I can't see 40 being any different. If birthdays give people a despair-wracked sense of how little they've done in their life so far, and how little time is left, those people should maybe get off their great big butts and go and *do* the stuff they always thought they'd have done by now.

Brunnen-"chronologically 30, mentally it varies between 6, 18 and several thousand"G