DEAR ABBY: "Browbeaten in Pompano Beach" wrote that he retired at age 62; then he went on to say, "Five years later, my wife of 55 years applied for her Social Security, etc."
Abby, if he retired at 62, five years later he was 67. And if they were married for 55 years, he would have been 12 years old when he got married. Come on! How can that be? -- K.R.J. IN GROTON, CONN.
DEAR K.R.J.: It can't. In order for it to make sense, that sentence should have read: "Seven years later my wife, who was 55 when I retired, applied for her Social Security at 62."
Wait, it gets worse. In my reply, I say, "After 55 years of togetherness, etc.," indicating that I, too, assumed they had been married for 55 years, which would have indeed made the husband 12 years old at the time of his marriage. The mathematics escaped me entirely. I plead guilty as charged. I'll take 10 whacks with a fifth-grade math book, and another 10 with a book on logic.