Bette Davis Was Right About Aging

Unfortunately, some people suffer with medical problems throughout their lives, but there's no question, that once we pass a certain age, which varies by person, even people who have gone decades without major illness or injury start to feel the effects of just having lived. We often hear about "aches and pains," and much of this pain sort of creeps up on us; that is, it doesn't necessarily slug us in the jaw and knock us to the ground, but rather some people start to feel pain or achiness in some parts of the body, often like in knees, hands or shoulders. As time passes the achiness may intensify, and achiness may also flare up elsewhere. Generally speaking, when we're younger, and if we're fortunate, we won't have too many difficulties to deal with at the same time. When we get older, however, things can begin to happen in quick succession, giving the sufferers multiple health issues to deal with, and bringing with them necessary changes to the lives of people so afflicted. I mentioned "aches and pains," but remember, even if some are lucky enough to escape these problems in their early decades of life, as we age, many people have some change in their eyesight, their hearing, their teeth, their blood pressure, their digestion and their balance. Those "aches and pains" are likely that nefarious enemy ... arthritis; inflammation in the joints, which can also cause swelling. Of course the chances of far more serious conditions rise with advancing years, like heart problems, respiratory problems and cancer.  
 
This brings me to one of my favorite actresses ... Bette Davis. Besides her many roles in show business over the decades, Bette Davis was also known for being outspoken. In her later years she suffered with breast cancer and strokes, as well as, I'm sure, a number of conditions I mentioned above. She also uttered the line, "Old age ain't no place for sissies." There's a funny thing about this quote, while oft attributed to Davis, I can find no time or place for her quip, although I must admit, I haven't exactly made this my life's mission, especially since my neck hurts, my shoulder is bothering me, my hand is shaking, my blood pressure pill is due, there's ringing in one ear and there is tingling between my should blades. So whatever the case about who actually said, "Old age ain't no place for sissies," there is much truth in the line.

WORD HISTORY:
Quote-This word is distantly related to a whole series of common words from the Germanic roots of English: "who," "whom," "how," "why," "where," "what," and a number of others. It is also distantly related to "quorum," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English. It goes back to the Indo European root "kwo," which produced the expanded form "kwo-ti," which had to do with "how many, how much." This gave Latin "quot" ("how many"), which produced Latin "quotus" ("what number in order," also, "which"), and this produced the verb, "quotare" ("to differentiate by numbers;" thus also, "to divide a book by numbers/chapters, to set an amount or value to some item). This was passed to Latin-based French as "coter" ("to set a price or value for items," "to give an evaluation of something"). This was borrowed by English as "coten" in the second half of the 1300s, seemingly from both Latin and French, but initially with the Latin meaning, "to divide a book by numbers/chapters." By the second half of the 1500s the spelling had changed to "quote," and the meaning had developed to, "to use or cite a numbered part of a book (chapter) as a reference." By the second half of the 1600s the meaning had moved to, "to cite sentences or particular passages of text." In the mid 1800s one of the old meanings returned, "to set a price or value for items," but whether this came from French or Latin, I'm not sure. The noun form seems to be both a use of the verb form as a noun, but also a shortened form of the closely related "quotation."