Irritating

People, if something is 50 years old, it is not an antique. Hell, its barely vintage at that point. Retro? Possibly. But definitely not an antique.

When *I* was growing up (Jesus Christ, did that just come out my mouth?!?!), an antique was something that was at least 100 years old, and it usually pertained to furniture, of which my mother loved to collect. Big, ugly, dark pieces of furniture that we really didn't have room for in our house. We'd either pick stuff up from real antique shops in the countryside, or some obscure relative would pass on and mom'd get another huge, old piece of something or other 'that used to belong to [dead even longer relative]'. Whoopee.

But for what its worth, it stuck. And I grit my teeth every time I see someone post something on Craigslist or eBay after cleaning out their closet or piecing out some dead relatives estate, declaring: "Antique! So I will charge something ridiculous for it!"

That English Beat button from 1982? Not - I repeat - not an antique. Shut. Up.

To be fair, I found a definition of antique on the interwebs:

An item which is at least 50 to 100 years old and is collected or desirable due to rarity, condition, utility, or some other unique feature. Motor vehicles, tools and other items subject to vigorous use in contrast, may be considered antiques in the U.S. if older than 25 years, and some electronic gadgets of more recent vintage may be considered antiques.

Hmmm. Interesting. Too bad they're wrong.