The Lost Generation: Not Gone Yet!

[Anthony '58]

This appeared on my twitter feed this morning:

[sbarrera]

(03-27-2022, 12:05 PM)Anthony Wrote: This appeared on my twitter feed this morning:

Was there any caption or other information in the Twitter post? Because I would expect her to appear in this list:

https://grg.org/WSRL/TableE.aspx

which has the oldest living person as 119 year old born in 1903.

[pbrower2a]

The "122" looks like an age on a birthday celebration in the context.She certainly looks extremely old, but she (if 122) has passed the longest lifespan ever recorded (Jeanne Calment, who died at age 121). Wikipedia follows very old people closely.

The place and date are not identified. A birth certificate is rarely forged, but there is always the possibility of a recording era. Maybe someone started to type in "1909_ (which itself indicates a very old person) only to add a zero for "1910". Such might happen in those places in which typists are not good and paper is scarce or expensive,

[Anthony '58]

As time goes on, the number of "hendenarians," a term that is slowly gaining popularity - it means "having (lived for) eleven (decades)" - will give the appearance of increasing, due to the increasing likelihood that a reported birth date can be confirmed beyond the merest statistical shadow of a doubt (the Silent were the first generation to be born in hospitals more than half of the time).

Even as recently as the '80s, it was not uncommon to see a fugitive's birth date on an FBI wanted poster followed by the notation "not supported by birth records."

And Jeanne Calment was a "dodenarian" - meaning "having (lived for) twelve (decades)."