I was at a celebratory dinner tonight for about 1,000, with some very well-known nurses. Some colleagues were very excited to meet someone who is well-known in nursing, but who has been around since the '70s. When my colleagues met her, they described her as "quite spry" for her age. Many of us said we'd never want to be called "spry" because it makes you sound so old.

So I looked it up,and it seems to have a Scandinavian origin, meaning "active; nimble; agile; energetic; brisk." Those aren't "old" sounding words, are they? "Energetic" sounds absolutely young! How did "spry" get that elderly connotation?

spry

I think it has connotations of elderliness because of the fixed phrase spry for their age.

Yes. However, how did that phrase arise? After all, you could say "energetic for their age" too, but we don't.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Yes. However, how did that phrase arise? After all, you could say "energetic for their age" too, but we don't.

I'm pretty sure I've seen "energetic" used quite often. And "active", and "nimble" ...

One expects youngsters to be spry, so no comment needed unless they're inactive consumers of super-size sugar water and computer addicts, in which case they're called statistics.

arnie, I see "energetic" used for the young, but not the old.

I would have called JackPalance "energetic" and "spry" after watching him do one-handed pushups at his advanced age some years ago.