History Main / ScrewPolitenessImASenior

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

-->'''Mr. Grainger''': Damn Krauts! I didn't fight on the beaches to be made to look a monkey!

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Mace Tyrell's mother Olenna, the "Queen of Thorns", is the only noble of a great house allowed to get away with complete and utter tactlessness - and as for the minor houses, rudeness doesn't ''begin'' to cover the ninety-year-old Lord Walder Frey. [[spoiler: Murder does, for both of them]].
-->'''Edmure Tully''': ''[regarding Walder Frey]'' A few barbed words and some unseemly gloating. From ''him'', that's courtesy. I half-expected the old weasel to piss in our wine and make us praise the vintage.

* Mrs. Dubose from ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'' casts aspersions on the entire neighborhood, but Atticus tells his children to leave the poor, sick, old woman alone. Then again, that probably has more to do with his general decency than anything else. Well that and the fact that he had some admiration for her since [[spoiler: she was addicted to morphine and trying to quit before she died of the disease she had. Dying slowly and very painfully instead of easily without pain if she had just stayed on it. That takes guts]].

-->'''Jonathan''': Now, mother, you can forget that crotchety old lady routine.\\
'''Mother Dexter''': What routine? I ''am'' a crotchety old lady!

-->'''Max''': Hold up ladies, you don't get a bitch-pass just because you're old! ''[gasps from the ladies, [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome a cheer from the studio audience]]''] Yes, that's right, I said it. You come in here with your gangster granny attitude, think you can get away with dumping all over the lowly gypsy waitress. No way. At this diner, we don't discriminate due to age. If you're gonna act like an ass, I'm gonna treat you like an ass. No matter how close that ass is riding to the floor.

* WWE's Wrestling/TheFabulousMoolah and Wrestling/MaeYoung - although, to be sure, they were pretty rude when they were young, too.

* Ventriloquist Creator/JeffDunham has old man Walter. [[spoiler: "Dumbass."]] In one special, Walter even ponders getting a job at UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}} now that he has retired.

** His first "Creator/ComedyCentral Presents" act included a routine about this. He mentions how when he's an old man, he will steal things 24/7, and if caught by police, would only say "I'm old", and how he would always break the speed limit, and if the cops stopped him, would say "I'm dying". He also jokes how he would curse at his grandchildren, and listen to gangsta rap - before commenting on how ''odd'' it'll be when "Old People Music" includes the terms "bitch" and "ho".
-->'''Nick''': ''(Fondly)'' Ahhh, [[YourMom your grandmother]] was a ho!

-->"When you turn one hundred...you can legally commit murder. You can murder anyone. You cannot shoot them, stab them, or poison them - anyone you can strangle, or pummel to death with your bare hands is fair game. ...How many of you would help if someone called, 'Help! A one-hundred-year-old woman is strangling me!'"

** Kreia is a bitter old ZenSurvivor, callously ridicules everyone and everything, openly mocks the GFFA's concepts of morality, casually commits MindRape on your crew, and is completely open with the fact she's running ThePlan with your character as the central piece. She justifies it by saying, in effect, that she's seen it all, [[MisanthropeSupreme and hates it all]]. She is also a [[spoiler: Sith Lady]] so her lack of politeness is pretty understandable.

** [[MagicalNativeAmerican Old Joe]] might be a fairly laid-back old-timer, but he's not above prodding you with his walking stick if he feels you're moving too slowly - usually while grumpily remarking "''some'' of us aren't getting any younger!"

* Deliberately invoked by Lord Shojo in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': he makes paladins clean out Mr. Scruffy's litter box, snarks back at KnightTemplar Miko, and is all around a CoolOldGuy who doesn't have much regard for authority or tradition. [[spoiler:Subverted - or maybe even played even straighter - when he reveals that his entire persona is a facade that keeps him from being assassinated: why would his noble rivals need to kill him if he's an old, senile, presumably easily manipulatable ruler? Belkar, who had already liked him before this, promptly began idolizing Shojo.]]

* Dr. Dave's mother on ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger''. She slows down traffic and is rude to everyone, and even [[spoiler: sets up a plot to derail her son and Lois's wedding]].

--> '''Sari''': What's the magic word?
--> '''Ratchet''': NOW!

** One of his catchphrases is "I'm a senior!" At one point his son points out that, since he's 63 years old, he isn't ''technically'' a senior citizen yet[[note]]in {{Canada|Eh}}, where every second of the show takes place, 65 is that magic number, though one government suggested it should be raised to 67[[/note]], but Oscar completely ignores this.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', Slappy Squirrel is sort of a G-rated version of this.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': The titular family’s [[CrankyNeighbor neighbor]] Mr. Grouse can be this, especially when something lands on his lawn.

%% Trope was declared Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease via crowner by the Real Life Maintenance thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=2ujsc3s5

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Winry's grandmother Pinako is one of the few characters to intentionally press Ed's BerserkButton about his height and then double down on it. This is despite [[MiniatureSeniorCitizens Pinako being shorter than Ed]], as he points out.

%%* The "Scooter Lady" from ''Manga/YoureUnderArrest''.
* Occasionally, Genkai from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''
* The Third Tsuchikage of ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' often acts this way, especially in the way he shows contempt for the much younger Gaara. It's implied through his own statements that he became stubborn with age.
* [[CoolOldLady Torogai]] from ''Literature/MoribitoGuardianOfTheSpirit'' has no time for your ignorance of the SpiritWorld, your UndyingLoyalty to the emperor, or any of that crap! Young people these days...
* The title character of Machiko Hasegawa's ''Ijiwaru Baa-san'' (AKA "Granny Mischief") is a [[GrumpyOldMan grumpy old woman]] who's always screwing around with her friends, family, and neighbors.

* ''Manga/QueenMillennia'': Yayoi's mom responds to an operator asking her to show respect to the Queen Millennia by giving him a GroinAttack for not respecting her as elderly. Shortly, everyone present has to switch between fighting the Millennial Thieves and feeding her and the professor.* Happosai of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. Then again, he's been screwing politeness his whole life (except around girls he's hitting on), so his seniority is really a secondary factor. And sadly as one of the most powerful martial artists in the world, nobody can really restrain him in any way (unless they bring panties).

* In ''Fanfic/HotspringSouls'' Gehrman is this. Not only does he [[NoIndoorVoice scream at the top of his lungs every time he speaks]], he also has some particularly embarrassing behavior such as [[{{Squick}} dropping his dentures in the sukiyaki pot]]. Even Eileen and Djura, his fellow elderly hunters, are ashamed of him.

%%* Kevin [=McCarthy=] as R. J. Fletcher from ''Film/{{UHF}}''.
%%* Anne Ramsey as Momma from ''Film/ThrowMommaFromTheTrain''.
%%* Carl Fredricksen from ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}''.

%%* Judge Smails from ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}''.
%%* Grandfather Disguisey, played by,Harold Gould, from ''Film/TheMasterOfDisguise''.

%%* The old lady from the ''Franchise/{{Madagascar}}'' films. Especially in the Christmas short.
* The little old lady from ''Film/TheRunningMan'', who unashamedly drops a PrecisionFStrike on [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments live national television]].
* ''Film/BubbaHoTep'': Elvis is allowed to be as rude as he likes because nobody takes him seriously anymore anyway.
-->'''Elvis:''' Shit! Get old, you can't even cuss someone and have it bother 'em. Everything you do is either worthless or sadly amusing.
* In ''Film/TheGoldenChild'' there's the unnamed elderly High Priest, who tends to cuss and pick his nose a lot. He does help the protagonist, though.
%%* Katharine Richelieu from ''Rumor Has It''...
* Octavia Tarrant of ''Film/CandymanFarewellToTheFlesh''; she even says that once you get to her age, you don't bother with being polite.
* In ''Film/AreYouBeingServed'', grumpy old Mr. Grainger makes no effort to hide his hatred for the Germans in the hotel, calling them slurs and flicking the VSign at them:
-->'''Mr. Grainger''': Damn Krauts! I didn't fight on the beaches to be made to look a monkey!

* Mrs. Dubose from ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'' casts aspersions on the entire neighborhood, but Atticus tells his children to leave the poor, sick, old woman alone. Then again, that probably has more to do with his general decency than anything else. Well that and the fact that he had some admiration for her since [[spoiler: she was addicted to morphine and trying to quit before she died of the disease she had. Dying slowly and very painfully instead of easily without pain if she had just stayed on it. That takes guts]].
* The poem ''Warning - When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple'' by Jenny Joseph is about a middle-aged-or-so woman fantasizing about being eccentric when she is older and doing such things as learning to spit, swearing in the street, and picking flowers in other people's gardens. One line of the poem ("...I shall wear purple with a red hat...") inspired the whole the "Red Hat Society" thing. Many products for older women proudly display a funny red hat as a symbol of sisterly unity.
* The following verse by Lemuel F. Parton sounds a similar note:
-->''I have led a good life, full of peace and quiet\\
I shall have an old age full of rum and riot\\
I have been a good boy, wed to peace and study\\
I shall have an old age, ribald, coarse and bloody\\
I have never cut throats, even when I yearned to\\
Never sang the dirty songs that my fancy turned to\\
I have been a nice boy, and done what was expected\\
I shall die an old bum, loved but unrespected.''
* Similarly, Creator/DaveBarry has written about his wish to "age ''dis''-gracefully", hitting things with his cane, yelling at people, and generally being a bastard.
** Dave also writes about seeing a senior citizen holding up traffic in New York city by standing in front of a taxicab and whapping the hood with his umbrella, over and over again. The cheering crowd around him was clearly expressing the sentiment that the old guy was doing what they'd like to do but never could.
** A scene he saw at a party where an old lady innocently crept up next to some guy and speared his foot with her cane. When he tried to quietly pull free, she shifted her weight so that he was still stuck. "It made for fine entertainment and a younger person could never have pulled it off".

* "Gramps" (really great-great-grandpa) from Creator/KurtVonnegut's short story ''Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow''. He tortured his descendants by constantly changing his mind about who would receive his fortune. The root of the problem in the story is a medicine called anti-gerasone, which stops aging as long as it is used. This creates relative immortality; the user will live forever unless he or she stops taking it. People put off breaking their addiction to life further and further; the grandfather, for example, was 172, and was described as still in his prime.
* Muriel in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' gets away with insulting just about everybody, all while repeatedly informing them that she is one hundred and seven. Although it's implied that she's one of the wealthier members of the family, so that might also have something to do with it. As for the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, this trope is averted with Albus Dumbledore, who's over one hundred years old himself but always infallibly polite, even to [[BigBad Voldemort]].
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Mace Tyrell's mother Olenna, the "Queen of Thorns", is the only noble of a great house allowed to get away with complete and utter tactlessness - and as for the minor houses, rudeness doesn't ''begin'' to cover the ninety-year-old Lord Walder Frey. [[spoiler: Murder does, for both of them]].
-->'''Edmure Tully''': ''[regarding Walder Frey]'' A few barbed words and some unseemly gloating. From ''him'', that's courtesy. I half-expected the old weasel to piss in our wine and make us praise the vintage.

"Why should we care what happens to monsters?"\\
"Would ''you'' go out on a night like this?"\\
"Depends if I knew where Granny Weatherwax was."''

* Grandma Mazur in the ''Literature/StephaniePlum'' books by Janet Evanovich. It's hard to say how straight an example this is, as she certainly doesn't think of herself as old, often attempting to dress and act like a woman half a century younger than her. However, she's not afraid to use her age to her advantage, either.

* In Creator/SandyMitchell's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novel ''[[Literature/DarkHeresy Scourge the Heretic]]'', a teenaged Inquisition operative posing as a noblewoman over a century, intentionally invokes this, explaining her bluntness by saying that at her age, you realize it saves time.
* Literature/PhilipMarlowe's client, General Sternwood, in ''Literature/TheBigSleep'' by Creator/RaymondChandler. The wheelchair-bound general is very frank about his daughters' outlandish behaviours and reputations, "because my hold on life is too slight to include any Victorian hypocrisy."
* In the book version of ''Literature/HowlsMovingCastle'' by Creator/DianaWynneJones (not as much in the anime), shy, dutiful protagonist Sophie is cursed by being transformed into an old lady and immediately uses this as an excuse to be rude, obnoxious, and generally do whatever she wants. After all, the curse has ruined her life so she figures she might as well enjoy one of the few perks of old age.
* Literature/TheWarlordChronicles provides possibly the best example: Merlin. He's arguably even worse than Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax combined about this trope.

"Men have died for less than that, ancient one," E-Thas reminded him.\\
"I am safe," retorted I-Gos, "for I am not a brave and popular son of the jeddak of Manator."''
* From ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', Ebenezer Scrooge.
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's stories featuring the Howard Families, Lazarus Long gets away with a lot of rudeness and lack of tact because he's ''The'' [[TheOlderImmortal Senior]] -- literally the oldest member of the human race, over 2400 years old by the time of ''Literature/ToSailBeyondTheSunset'' [[note]]at least on one time scale. He spends enough time on other time axes or otherwise time-traveling that it can be hard to come up with an exact figure, so 2400 is a minimum, really[[/note]]. Of course, he's like this even at the relatively young age of 213 at the start of ''Literature/MethuselahsChildren''.
* This is the attitude most elders take in ''Literature/WarriorCats''. Sandstorm even says that once she becomes an elder it will be her life's ambition to be the crankiest elder who ever lived.
* In ''Literature/IslandOfTheAunts'', Ursula the old mermaid does not make life for her daughter-in-law and grandchildren very pleasant. [[spoiler:She does become [[CoolOldLady very awesome]] when she lashes out at the sailors that kidnap herself and Queenie, screaming at them to "stop ogling my granddaughter, you plug-ugly!" and insisting that she doesn't care what they do to her because "[she's] already old!"]]
* In Creator/BillBryson's book "The Lost Continent" he mentions a woman that pushed him out of the way while looking at a display case who gave him a brief look that said "I am an old person. I can go where I want."

* Dr. Epstein of ''Literature/{{Jennie}}'' is one of the few people willing to talk openly and completely honestly about Jennie and her human family. He chalks a lot of his bluntness up to his age.
-->''"I am being facetious, of course. Don't print that. I'm eighty-five years old, and I have gotten into the habit of saying whatever I damn well please."''
* ''Literature/TheGodsOfGuilt'': David "Legal" Siegel, the elderly retired lawyer that protagonist Mickey Haller goes to for advice.. "As he had aged, Legal had lost most of the social filters normally employed in polite company."
* Lampshaded in ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People''. In [[InUniverse George and Harold's latest comic]], their grandparents say that what makes them cool is that they're old and don't care what anyone thinks, followed by them shoving people out of their way.

* A [[TheTeaser Cold Open]] of ''[[Series/TwoBrokeGirls 2 Broke Girls]]'' features four old ladies who try this trope but [[DeadpanSnarker Max]] immediately shuts them down.
-->'''Max''': Hold up ladies, you don't get a bitch-pass just because you're old! ''[gasps from the ladies, [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome a cheer from the studio audience]]''] Yes, that's right, I said it. You come in here with your gangster granny attitude, think you can get away with dumping all over the lowly gypsy waitress. No way. At this diner, we don't discriminate due to age. If you're gonna act like an ass, I'm gonna treat you like an ass. No matter how close that ass is riding to the floor.
* Jack Donaghy's mother Colleen in ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'' once provoked a Buddhist monk into throwing a battery at her. She was such an overbearing, nagging harridan that Jack delayed calling an ambulance when he discovered she'd had a stroke. Though the implication was that she had always been that way and had not mellowed with age.
* On ''Series/SixtyMinutes'', Andy Rooney complained ''all the time''. That's why everyone loved him.
* In ''Series/TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete'', Big Pete noted in the episode, "When Petes Collide", that Dad never looked forward to Grandpa's visits due to the fact that despite now being married with two boys of his own, Grandpa still treated him like a kid, regularly condescending and dismissive towards him. Things got worse in the course of the episode as he caused a rift between Pete and Pete over who would inherit the family bowling ball. It took Mom demanding that Dad finally stand up to his father and get the boys to make up or else she would stand on the roof until a lightning bolt would track down the metal plate and her head and blow her to Kingdom Come.

* The cranky, sharp-tongued octogenarian Mother Dexter became the BreakoutCharacter of ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'' SpinOff ''Phyllis''.
-->'''Jonathan''': Now, mother, you can forget that crotchety old lady routine.\\
'''Mother Dexter''': What routine? I ''am'' a crotchety old lady!

* The Website/{{Twitter}} account "[[http://www.twitter.com/shitmydadsays Shit My Dad Says]]" that led to the books and newspaper columns of the author's father's grumbling.

* A ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' comic has Calvin questioning why old people slow down and become more complacent as they get older. In the end, he resolves that when he is old he'll be "going like a maniac." Hobbes immediately states that the world can't possibly wait for such a day, his voice (most likely) dripping with sarcasm.
* Huey's and Riley's Granddad from ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'' is an embodiment of this trope. Even more so in the [[WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks TV show]].

* [[Wrestling/FreddieBlassie Legendary manager "Classy" Freddie Blassie]] also qualifies, as he regularly employed CaneFu and called anyone who crossed him a "pencil neck geek."

* Ventriloquist Creator/JeffDunham has old man Walter. [[spoiler: "Dumbass."]] In one special, Walter even ponders getting a job at UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}} now that he has retired.
-->'''Walter:''' Welcome to Wal-Mart. Get your shit and get out! ''(pause)'' [[SarcasmMode Have a nice day!]]
* Creator/GeorgeBurns: "I was always told to respect my elders. Now I'm at the age where, I don't have to respect anybody."

* Pat Cooper is in his 80s and refuses to hold back. He spent 22 years appearing on Creator/HowardStern and did not hesitate to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V_xjCVpD80 ''explode'']] on him when he felt slighted. On a subsequent [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtdmduuYw8Q appearance]] on Radio/OpieAndAnthony he spent an entire hour slagging on Stern and several other targets. The hosts noted that they are likely the last professional connection he hasn't alienated and that it will only be a matter of time before he blows up on them as well.
* Jack Dee once joked that he's looking forward to reaching that age when shouting "Don't she look like a whore in that wedding dress!" at a bride stops being a sign that you're rude, and becomes a sign that you've got "character".

* The computer game ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'':
** Jolee Bindo, a Jedi knight who is at least sixty years old and probably quite a bit older. When asked questions about his past, he will ''deliberately'' launch into long, semi-relevant monologues. One of his best lines is "I'm old, dammit! I'm entitled to be enigmatic when I want to be!"
** Kreia is a bitter old ZenSurvivor, callously ridicules everyone and everything, openly mocks the GFFA's concepts of morality, casually commits MindRape on your crew, and is completely open with the fact she's running ThePlan with your character as the central piece. She justifies it by saying, in effect, that she's seen it all, [[MisanthropeSupreme and hates it all]]. She is also a [[spoiler: Sith Lady]] so her lack of politeness is pretty understandable.
** Canderous Ordo is somewhat younger than the two above, but he's around sixty in the second game. In his case, it's less a lack of manners due to his age and more a cross of his {{Proud Warrior Race|Guy}} placing a high value on BrutalHonesty mixed with how a lifetime of battles means he's SeenItAll.
* Cranky Kong from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry''. He's exactly as his name says in most of the games (aka always thinking of the good old days of the arcade), and actually sets off the events of ''Donkey Kong Land'' over a bet with King K Rool.

* ''VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine'': Sidonus is notably less formal in speech compared to his battle brothers, bordering on DeadpanSnarker. Not many space marines speak like guardsmen for fear of being judged as heretics by their crazed Fundamentalist superiors, but he's been around too long and fought too many greater terrors to fear a little thing like that.

* Gudrun from ''VideoGame/DeadInVinland'' is a very old and eccentric Norse priestess/witch given to strange {{Cloudcuckoolander}} utterances who constantly scolds everyone, addresses TheHero Eirik (who's probably about 45) as "boy," and addresses Eirik's daughter Kari as [[MaliciousMisnaming "What's your name? Kira? Kora? Stupid name."]]
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'': Saphir, the [[VagueAge elderly-looking]] captain of Brodia's guard, downplays this. She's not overtly rude, but has a blunt and informal personality and sees no need to change it as long as she can do her job. Panette, who's much younger and adopted a sophisticated façade as retainer to Princess Timerra of Solm, seeks to teach Saphir etiquette in their supports.

%%* Dewey's grandma in ''Webcomic/{{Unshelved}}''.

* This [[http://achewood.com/index.php?date=08082008 "hot-cuss granny"]] in ''Webcomic/{{Achewood}}.''
* Deliberately invoked by Lord Shojo in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': he makes paladins clean out Mr. Scruffy's litter box, snarks back at KnightTemplar Miko, and is all around a CoolOldGuy who doesn't have much regard for authority or tradition. [[spoiler:Subverted - or maybe even played even straighter - when he reveals that his entire persona is a facade that keeps him from being assassinated: why would his noble rivals need to kill him if he's an old, senile, presumably easily manipulatable ruler? Belkar, who had already liked him before this, promptly began idolizing Shojo.]]
* Rando's grandfather (of [=RandoWis=] fame) seems to be made of this trope, as seen here: [[https://randowis.deviantart.com/art/Grandpa-568017575]]

* Oryou Sonozaki from ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''. Being a {{Yakuza}} matron doesn't hurt much, either.

* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodline'': The [[RetiredMonster retired hit man]] Ji Wen Ja is pretty abrasive and sarcastic towards the player character for a guy who's trying to hire them to murder someone. Ji Wen Ja [[NervesOfSteel brushes them off]] if they tell him to watch his mouth.