True Sagacity

There were many times, when I was a little girl, where my grandmother used to lie about her age. Not just to her multitude of friends, but also to her family (which also included me). But unlike most women I know who would lie about their age by lying younger, she would always lie older. For example, for much of her fifties, my grandmother would tell people that she was in her sixties.

When I was really little, her age always screwed up my learning mathematics (so... you were supposed to turn 61 this year, but you still get to stay 60 even though you're really 55???). As I got older, I learned that it wasn't my counting that was screwed up but maybe my grandmother was really special and knew some awesome magic. Then I got to the age where I realized that my grandmother was just weird.

"Grandma," I said one day. "Most women always lie about their age, but they always lie under. Like women who are over 30 but always say that they're 29. Why do you always lie older? Don't you want to be young?"

"My dear," she said. "It's no good to lie younger than you really are."

"Why not? It seems like everyone's doing it."

She laughed. "People are smart. If you tell them that you're younger than you really are, they'll think 'wow, she looks terrible for her age'. But if you tell them that you're older than you really are, they'll think 'WOW! She looks GREAT for her age!'."

Sagacious Grandmother is truly sagacious indeed!