Ah, screw it. What are we - knights of the Round Table?

By the same logic, that should be seen as a compliment.

at all.

And I'm 79 also. I'm occasionally addressed as "young lady" and take it in the spirit in which was offered.

like @ grocery store parking lot! Ma'am!

negative.

Whatever you focus your attention on, you strengthen.

And sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.

I like that. I’m going to try to remember that to respond with when I hear the all too frequent kind of negativity that surrounds us lately.

But I don't like "80 years young" at birthday.
80 ain't young.
Period.
I'm an old man and I know it and feel it.
"You're only as old as you feel."
BULLSHIT
I feel 80.
Piss off.

and afterwards we went to my place and...she is "Really good!"

I have better things to occupy my mind.

they say it either with a happy tone and expression or a politeness. their tone isn't dripping with sarcasm when they speak those words -- and if it was i'd probably say "fuck you."

i hate the word ma'am.

Here in Germany, people often address men they don’t know that way, no matter what their age. It’s just a way of finding a middle ground between stiff formality and impolite informality. I’ve addressed that way by Germans for 45 years. Here, it doesn’t raise an eyebrow no matter how old you are.

being called "young lady" irritates the shit outta me. Patronizing is a good word.

not sure which I find worse,,,, The 'young' part or the 'lady' part,,,,

At my first job as a financial analyst in a big corporation after getting my MBA, my boss called another department to tell them he was sending over a "young lady" to pick up some paperwork. It really took me aback. I looked at all the other financial analysts, mostly male, and wondered if he would have said "I'm sending over a young lad to pick some paperwork." No, he'd have said, "I'm sending over a man." He knew "girl" was offensive but couldn't bring himself to call me a woman because I was in my 20's. Why it was necessary to identify my gender, I don't know. He could have just said I'm sending over an analyst, but maybe he felt it would be confusing on the other end when a female arrived instead of an expected male? It really bothered me, but I didn't challenge it; he was a nice guy. But I puzzled over it for some time. Now, of course, it really puzzles me but not from the gender perspective but rather the age contradiction. As the other poster said, it now feels patronizing and condescending.

as Papa or Mama, They are also usually older.

That one doesn't bother me.

Mami or Papi

A guy saw this and said "That was some impressive run, young man!"

I bet I heard this story from him a hundred times, him beaming every time about how he was so athletic he was mistaken for a young man.

I also find this comment very puzzling. I just don't get it. I don't think it's meant to be mean, or even to be funny. Maybe clever? But how? I just don't get the motivation for describing someone in a way that is the exact opposite of what they are. I get your two analogies (obesity and mentally challenged) and yet they don't quite hit the same tone; they seem derogatory. Whereas "young man" or "young lady" just makes no sense. And it seems to be said mostly by people just a bit younger, like a generation younger. I've never been called that by someone truly young like 20's - 40's. Seems to start late 50's to 60's. Maybe that was a thing for their generation. Maybe denial that they're nearing our age? JUST DON'T GET IT!