Dealing with people who have allergies to bean dip

[Dr_Manners]

I like what my mother does.  She just responds with "Old enough not to know better than to answer that question," said with a wink and a smile.  It usually makes people chuckle, and they know not to proceed further.

[Fidgets]

"I was one hundred and three last week. But people tell me I look young for my age."

Lol!  That's close to mine--"I'm 138. (pause a beat)  And a half."  Or, "I'm 138, but I have most of my own teeth!"  Occasionally, I go with, "As part of the Witness Protection Program, I'm not allowed to divulge any personal information.  Oops!  I've said too much." followed by a very obvious conversational redirect.  All of the above are said with a smile.  In actuality, I don't care if anyone knows my age, it's someone asking a personal question that I find annoying.  And this topic has gotten me thinking--my next response might be, "You know, no one's asked me that question for a long time.  Not since I was answering it with, "I'm *this* (holding up random number of fingers) many years old!"

[chibichan]

I will sometimes respond with " Plenty-nine ! "

Or " I started counting backwards after 30 , so I should be entering puberty next year ."

My favorite - " Let's just say that if I was a donkey I'd be dead now and leave it at that , shall we ? ."

Included for your handy reference :

http://sonic.net/~petdoc/lifespan.htm