Is 年寄り "neutral" or "positive"?


In English, we can refer to an old person using "elderly", or "aged person".
Comparatively, "aged person" would be more _neutral_ than "elderly", which
carries positive connotations.

As for Japanese, does the word [年寄り](http://www.edrdg.org/cgi-
bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic?1MUJ@toshiyori) carry such positive connotations?

Or is it a neutral term alike "aged person" in English?




I am not a native speaker of Japanese but I know 年寄り as a neutral word, which
gets used not just in conversation but in notices. I took the following from
SpaceALC:

> ここはお年寄りや体の不自由な人のための優先席です。
>
> PRIORITY SEATING FOR SENIOR CITIZENS AND DISABLED PERSONS

I think you just need to be sensitive when referring to people's age, as you
would in English eg use お年寄り if you feel awkward and want to express some
reserve.

FWIW, I don't really see a difference between aged-person and elderly but
these things vary from place to place and change with time. (My aged mother
would not thank you to refer to her using either word though neither word's
roots have a -ve connotation.)

